Yugo 24/47 restoration

[Aragorn243]

Remember these?



Mike got them a few weeks ago after a gun show. I met up with him in Scranton and picked one of them out, not sure which from the above photo but suspect it's the one on top of the pile middle left. Made a rookie mistake and grabbed a nice looking one that was in an M48 stock without thinking. Missing the handguard and some of the metal stock bits I figured I'd make a shooter out of it and would keep an eye out for a hand guard and the metal bits in the meantime.

A complete 24/47 stock showed up the other day on ebay, not in the military category which is probably why it didn't get noticed but I was able to snag it for $37. Wasn't supposed to come until Thursday and I figured I'd need to do a deep cleaning on it but when it arrived today, I figured I'd just do a wipe down and see what it looked like. Not too bad. Stock has no major dings, hand guard matches stock, quite a few letter stamps and a few small cartouches that didn't show up in the photos. The barreled action was in pretty decent shape. Finish rough in spots and some active rust in a few places but cleaned up well.

So thanks Mike, this came out really nice.





















Stock looks a little dull now but with a few fresh coats of oil should get a nice glow to it.

Information

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[Jim]

Not bad at all considering from where you started!
Just for the record, your front bbl band is a second choice type. That would be from a modified M1924 carbine band which typically is associated with a modified carbine stock on the 24/47s. Still, it is seen just like that on many 24/47s so is still 'correct.'

Just for the record, the 24/47 was rendered from the M1924 rifle design the Yugoslavs acquired from FN before WWII. It was used in three configurations-
Rifle- sling attachments on bottom of stock and straight bolt;
Carbine, type I- dual sling attachment points and bent bolt- for cavalry
Carbine, type II- dual sling attachment points and straight bolt- for mounted troops other than cavalry.

After WWII the Yugoslavs were unable to manufacture whole weapons so set out a program to refurbish what they had. In the case of the M1924, they decided they did not need 'carbines' so converted all (or nearly all- that's another topic) they had to 'rifles. They removed the side slings and plugged the stocks and cut the side loop off the front band. That's what produced the wide bands.
Some pics to help...
Attachment 75287 Attachment 75288 Attachment 75289

The composite photo on left and center photo show a "rifle" and a "carbine" type II. In Yugoslav military parlance a "carbine" was any long arm with side or dual sling attachments. Size or length did not enter into it. The only difference between the type I and II carbines were the bolt and the last image R show the type of bolt that was used on the type I. It differed from the later M40 bent bolt in having more of an ess or "S" shape sometimes called 'serpentine' profile and the flat on the bottom of the bolt arm ball was finely checkered compared to the M48 which is flat.

The 24/47 stocks you see with the plug in the wrist/butt are former carbines converted to "rifles" by the Yugoslavs.

That should help some folks to a better understanding I hope.

Congrats on a good job of rescuing a fine arm.

[Aragorn243]

Thanks Jim. Barrel band came with the stock set so it's correct for it. Doesn't have a side hole filled in the butt so perhaps a bit odd that it has the wide band.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Now you are just showing off.
Very nice work. I will be posting soon the results of my attempt to keep up. 1893 Spanish contract Mauser preservation/restoration.
I tried the electrolysis trick. The results are nothing short of miraclious

[Aragorn243]

Got the bayonet for it yesterday and the sling came today so it is now complete as I picked up a cleaning rod for it two weeks ago.

Thinking about these made me curious. Why are the M48's nearly all in very good condition with many being unissued while the 24/47's run from beat to crap to decent condition? Common sense says they must have used the 24/47 as their issue rifle with the M48's being backups or for export.

I actually have nothing else in the works right now with no prospects. Seems really weird not doing my thrice daily parts searches.

[Jim]

The Yugoslav M24/47 is a refurbished Yugoslav model 1924 manufactured before WWII and used through it. The war left Yugoslavia's industry so savaged they literally could not manufacture a whole rifle. Refurbishing the war weary weapons they had was the best they could do. They began with captured and repatriated German K98s in 1946 and their model 1924s in 1947. Those weapons saw a considerable amount of use settling grudges and dissidents to Tito's rule in the years right after the war.

They finally got where they could manufacture a whole weapon again and that's where the M48 comes in. The number denotes the beginning of the design, manufacturing did not begin until 1950.
Production was 1st model M48- 19502-52 (added stamped floor plate only.)
M48A made 1952-56
M48B (but still stamped M48A) made 1956-65 about. The model M48B incorporated a number of stamped parts and can be recognized by the rib running around both sides of the trigger guard as a result of the manufacturing processing of the trigger guard/mag well as a stamped and welded assembly instead of a part machined from 1 solid billet of steel as was done in the previous models. This model was manufactured for export only and by far and large represents most of the M48s in this country.
They did not make that many first model rifles (I'd have to look up the reference to give you numbers) and hang onto the M48A as the best of the M48 series rifles for a last ditch reserve even yet. Without exception, every M48"A" I have been able to examine has been in fact an M48B.
So the later M48 rifles saw little use unless in the wars of the 90s and remain in excellent condition.

Here's an M1924 manufactured in 1929 for the CXC- Kingdom of Serbs, Croats & Slovenes. (This is a restoration of mine as a matter of fact.)

The crest compared to post WWII

Here are examples of solid and M48B assembled trigger/guard/mag wells
Attachment 75324

That explain things fair enough?

Got the bayonet for it yesterday and the sling came today so it is now complete as I picked up a cleaning rod for it two weeks ago.

Thinking about these made me curious. Why are the M48's nearly all in very good condition with many being unissued while the 24/47's run from beat to crap to decent condition? Common sense says they must have used the 24/47 as their issue rifle with the M48's being backups or for export.

I actually have nothing else in the works right now with no prospects. Seems really weird not doing my thrice daily parts searches.

[Jim]

They finally got where they could manufacture a whole weapon again and that's where the M48 comes in. The number denotes the beginning of the design, manufacturing did not begin until 1950.
Production was 1st model M48- 19502-52 (added stamped floor plate only.)
M48A made 1952-56

I garbled that line above marked in bold.
It should read;
1st model M48 from 1950-52.
M48A 1952-56 a stamped floor plate replaced the previous milled ones.

Sorry about that

[WarPig1976]

They did not make that many first model rifles (I'd have to look up the reference to give you numbers)

I'd like to know, I have one. If you don't mind of course.

[Jim]

I'd like to know, I have one. If you don't mind of course.

The source is SERBIAN & YUGOSLAV MAUSER RIFLES, by Branko Bogdanovic 2005
He cites two sources that give different sets of numbers.
He counts Zastava Arms Factory, Kragujevac as the primary source; 1950- 53,790... 1951- 91,086... 1952- 94,476
Secondary source Military Archives, Belgrade; 1950- 52,002... 1951- 92,037... 1952- 94,874

Heck. The book is out of print. Here's the original table as Branko gave to me except I edited it to only show M48s. The book divided it and it's a little awkward.
Attachment 75341

Now, you cannot take this table and date your rifles beyond the first 2 years. They were not made sequentially so production numbers will not be reflected in the serial numbers.

By example, the army might have ordered X many, then a batch for the State police, x# for so many schools, another batch for the army and another batch here and a batch there. Sometimes a batch order would have it's own serial numbers sometimes not and if rifles were pulled 'off the shelf' they may have had serial numbers and had them changed.... It was all jumbled up.

I hope this helps. And no, I don't mind.