Yugo M48 Markings

[Aragorn243]

The large stock numbers are Yugoslavian. Germans didn't do that. X looks faint, could be a German mark but if so, no idea of meaning.

[amadeus76]

I think that some of the confusion may creep into the Yugo post war M48 being WW2 because Yugoslavia also refurbished WW2 K98s, post WW2, and not everyone knows/is aware of the difference between the 2. Didn't some M48s use up some left over WW2 parts which adds to the confusion even further? Post war Yugo made military kit often seems, to me, to be well made but massively under valued by people in general.

When it explicitly says 'M48A' on the receiver, there's no room for confusion...

[Aragorn243]

When it explicitly says 'M48A' on the receiver, there's no room for confusion...

Well, it's nice to believe that but with Mitchell's Mausers around advertising the things as such and plenty of people willing to give them their arm and left leg for one against all rational thought, it's going to be around.

Seriously, when someone picks up a magazine at the grocery store and they see that nice shiny ad and it tells them they can own a piece of real history, they believe it, they don't know.

[Flying10uk]

And the Post War Yugo bayonet which is pictured in my post 20 is occasionally advertised as being WW2 vintage, perhaps because it has a 44 marked on the blade.

[Jim]

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.

This reply is entirely incorrect, concerning Yugoslav serializing which, quite frankly, was chaotic at best.
The letter prefix indicated the purchase order that rifle was part of. It could have been applied when the rifle was made, applied later, or changed if made for the 'shelf' and sold as part of a later order.
That is why the serial numbers (excepting only true 1st model M48s which were all straight run for the military) are useless for dating post war Yugoslav rifles.

[Jim]

When it explicitly says 'M48A' on the receiver, there's no room for confusion...

Actually, there's a LOT of room for confusion, just not with German Model 98s.
The Yugoslavs made M48A rifles, which added a stamped magazine floorplate as the only difference, from 1952-56, from then on, they made model M48B rifles, which added a number more of stamped parts.
The thing is, the Yugoslavs have retained the M48A rifles as the best of the breed. Therefore, virtually ALL M48A rifles in North America are in fact, M48B. Confused yet? The tell is in the trigger guard. The M48, & M48A will have milled trigger guards. The M48B has a trigger guard/magazine well made up of an assembly of stamped parts welded together. There is a rib running around both sides of the trigger guard.
In the second photo, the M48 & M48A milled guard is above right. The last image right shows detail of the ribbed guard.
I hope that helps.
One more note. The cutaway drawing in Branko's book shows an M48B but identifies it as a model A. That caption is an error.
Attachment 84397 Attachment 84398 Attachment 84399 Attachment 84400

[Flying10uk]

According to Branko's book it wasn't just ex German army model 98 Mausers that the Yugoslavs refurbished post WW2; there were other variants too some of which had been captured by the Germans who did their own mods/refurbs to the rifle.