Yugo M48 Markings

[cpdpad16]

I'm a newbe that needs some assistance with an M48. Questions I have are:
Does the Letter before the serial number have any significance? One I'm looking at is K58771.
Is it possible to determine DOM by the serial number?
I have seen on previous post pictures "PREDUZECE 44" I am looking at one(see pic) that is stamped in non-english letters. Any extra significance in that?

Thank you for your knowledge and assistance to a rookie.

Pete

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Flying10uk]

Welcome to the Forum.

Are you able to post some pictures, please, because it would be a great assistance, for members, in determining exactly what you have.

There should be a thread somewhere on this Forum giving advice on posting pictures which may be helpful to you.

[Screwball]

I have a M48A, but not that up on Yugo Mausers. I'll check the book in a little bit and see what I can find out.

[Aragorn243]

The letters before the serial numbers are a prefix. It is part of the serial number. They would start with 00001 and then work up to 99999. If they needed more numbers, the prefix comes in, A00001-A99999, then B00001-B99999 and so on. Some would start with the A prefix, just depends on the country. Some countries also assign the prefix blocks to certain times or manufacturers so it may not mean that many rifles were produced prior. It isn't real helpful generally to tell when the rifle was made.

[cpdpad16]

Welcome to the Forum.

Are you able to post some pictures, please, because it would be a great assistance, for members, in determining exactly what you have.

There should be a thread somewhere on this Forum giving advice on posting pictures which may be helpful to you.

I have downloaded the photo instructions and am looking it over. Thanks

---------- Post added at 08:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 AM ----------

Welcome to the Forum.

Are you able to post some pictures, please, because it would be a great assistance, for members, in determining exactly what you have.

There should be a thread somewhere on this Forum giving advice on posting pictures which may be helpful to you.

I presently am looking this rifle over. Price is $300, trying to determine if priced a little high.

[Aragorn243]

The value really depends on the condition, not the year it was manufactured. Earlier ones will have milled floor plates. Later ones will have stamped floor plates. I've never noticed this to have a large impact on value either but I imagine the milled type would be preferred by most.

$300 seems to be a good average these days. You won't find many in decent condition for less than that. $400 is about the max for one that looks unissued unless it's a Mitchells collector grade, they price them around $500 but its still only worth what it's worth based on condition so I would never recommend paying Mitchells premium. You can find beat up ones for $200-$250 and really bad ones for $150 but there really aren't many really bad ones.

[Flying10uk]

"PREDUZECE 44"

Isn't this the name of the factory in Yugoslavia where the rifles were made and refurbished? It's on some of their bayonets as well if memory serves me correctly.

non-english letters

I did read somewhere that they switched to English style letters after a certain date? Is anyone able to confirm this, please, and provide a date if correct?

[Screwball]

The letters before the serial numbers are a prefix. It is part of the serial number. They would start with 00001 and then work up to 99999. If they needed more numbers, the prefix comes in, A00001-A99999, then B00001-B99999 and so on. Some would start with the A prefix, just depends on the country. Some countries also assign the prefix blocks to certain times or manufacturers so it may not mean that many rifles were produced prior. It isn't real helpful generally to tell when the rifle was made.

In regards to Yugo M48s, it is not a prefix... but a batch number.

They are only present on the first 100,000 M48 rifles, then was dropped and just the numbers were given per model from that point on. The "K" indicates that rifle was in that number batch. From the alphabet in Bogdanovic's book, would seem to be the 13th batch (judging the example he made in the book).

With M48s, they did somewhere around 52,000 to 53,000 rifles in the first year of production (1950). Your serial number works out to 1951 production, which was about 92,000 rifles. There are some discrepancies in the production numbers, which is mentioned in Bogdanovic's book.

My M48A does not have a prefix... and is the 51239 M48A rifle produced. Works out to 1953 production.

[cpdpad16]

In regards to Yugo M48s, it is not a prefix... but a batch number.

They are only present on the first 100,000 M48 rifles, then was dropped and just the numbers were given per model from that point on. The "K" indicates that rifle was in that number batch. From the alphabet in Bogdanovic's book, would seem to be the 13th batch (judging the example he made in the book).

With M48s, they did somewhere around 52,000 to 53,000 rifles in the first year of production (1950). Your serial number works out to 1951 production, which was about 92,000 rifles. There are some discrepancies in the production numbers, which is mentioned in Bogdanovic's book.

My M48A does not have a prefix... and is the 51239 M48A rifle produced. Works out to 1953 production.

Thanks so much guys for all the help.
Pete

[amadeus76]

The value really depends on the condition, not the year it was manufactured. Earlier ones will have milled floor plates. Later ones will have stamped floor plates. I've never noticed this to have a large impact on value either but I imagine the milled type would be preferred by most.

$300 seems to be a good average these days. You won't find many in decent condition for less than that. $400 is about the max for one that looks unissued unless it's a Mitchells collector grade, they price them around $500 but its still only worth what it's worth based on condition so I would never recommend paying Mitchells premium. You can find beat up ones for $200-$250 and really bad ones for $150 but there really aren't many really bad ones.

You'd be surprised... Here in Texas at a gun show a few weeks back some old guy was trying to pass one off as a 'Yugoslavian WWII K98' and asking $900 for it. He also had a couple of nice Lee-Enfield's that were decently priced, but at figures if he was trying to gouge people on a M48 and lying about what it was, I wasn't going to take a chance on anything else he had.