Yugo m48 BO

[Jimbo55]

Hello everyone, New member here,

just trying to get some information on my newly acquired, what seems to be, Yugo M48 BO model. Its cleansed of all marking except the serial numbers and the numbers on the bolt and barrel match each other. It came with the Bayonet, scabbard, frog and cleaning kit

the serial number is W14607

Information

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[tbhupe]

IIRC Marstar was selling them for $499 when they had them in stock. I got mine for a case of Stella cans.

[Jim]

I had to do a double take. I use almost that same handle on another forum. For me, "55" reflects my birth year.

I realize this is somewhat late to it but, somebody may 'profit' by the knowledge so, here goes...

About that M48bo. I'll assume you know nothing and go from there. The "bo" simply stands for "bez oznake" meaning 'unmarked' or 'w/out markings.' These were sanitized rifles for folks that wanted to put their own markings on them or simply wanted a rifle that didn't have somebody elses markings on them. It has been suggested that is was also for "plausible deniability" due to their being given to a number of political "Liberation Armies" typical of the period but, that makes no sense whatsoever since Yugoslavia was the only nation in the world building these specific Mausers.

From 1956 on, the M48 was manufactured configured as the model B strictly for export. It was made with Yugoslav stamps and concurrently as 'bo.' It is noteworthy that the mode "B" continued to be stamped as "M48A."
The M48 series was manufactured in three variants;
M48- 1950-'52 all parts milled from solid steel.
M48A- 1952-'56* Stamped M48A on the receiver ring. Stamped floor plate only.
M48B- 1956- ~1965, Still stamped M48A on the receiver ring, Best identified by a rib running around the outside edges of the trigger guard. The trigger guard/ magazine well has become a stamped and welded assembly. Other stamped parts include but are not necessarily limited to the floor plate, mag follower, & H-band.
M48bo- unmarked. Prior to 1956, rifles were either made in specific batches or scrubbed and refinished as bo. From 1956, the rifle M48B was produced as a full time production model.
* The M48A is practically unseen here. To date, the former Yugoslavs consider this variant the best of the series and yet retain the majority of them as emergency war reserves. In watching for nearly 10 years, I have not yet been able to positively identify any alleged M48A as such. All have proved to be M48B.

The serial number tells us nothing. Rifles were serialized on a start and stop basis based up commercial and government orders. The letter prefix specifically refers to purchase orders. In first model bo's especially, the prefixes "V" and "W" are commonly observed with, "I think" the "W"s being associated with Syrian M48s.
There are no remaining records to identify the commercial orders. In some cases, especially with first model bo's, it is possible the serial numbers were changed from the initial manufacture serial to fit the the new p/o.

Some sources claim this model as
"rare." Do not be mislead by Marstar advertising. The M48bo is by far the most numerous M48 variant made with numbers in excess of 300,000. However, many if not most were exported during the Cold War, nobody actually knows how many are available or were imported here (North America).

Still, on the open market the M48bo typically brings only little if any more than any other M48 and values typically do not exceed $350 (USD). That is not to say some have not been sold for higher, Marstar and Mitchell's come to mind but, those are the exception, not the rule.

Hopefully this helps understand this model better.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

So if I remove the stamped floorplate and the mag well and triggerguard is one assembly it is
actually an M48B? Picked one up last week and still learning.
Thanks

[Jim]

Assembly is the key word. Prior to 1956, the trigger guard and magwell were machined from one solid billet of steel.

From 1956, they stamped and formed sheet metal into sub assemblies, ie, the trigger guard, the sides of the mag well, etc, and formed and welded them together into the whole assembly. And yes, this configuration makes an M48B,

A bo is merely an unmarked rifle and in theory can be any model. I have a first model M48bo. In practice, to my knowledge we've never seen an M48A (stamped floor plate only) rendered as a bo (unmarked) rifle.

Still learning is fine. Actually, all of us are 'still learning." At least, the smart ones are!

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

It looks like Numrich has the missing sight hood and cleaning rod as well as the bubba butcherd barrel band although I think it is milled rather than stamped. Should have her back in shape soon.