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A history of all Yugoslavian rifles long read

1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Poot 
#1 · (Edited)
yugo_serb



Long read and I don't know how accurate it is.

Very imformative. The link is almost a decade old.

It covers All firearms used in the region and how it came about.

It did shed some light on all the different Mausers and SKSs etc. made and used in the region.


At the end it has the 48/62 "tanker model" hyped by MM here in the U.S.



Zastava made these and MM marketed them in the U.S.
They were also sold by other importers here in the U.S. as well as earlier models used in other countries.

Interesting info. on these.
 
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#2 ·
Definitely old info, and not regarded as reliable. Branko's book, even with its discussed errors and sometimes confusing organization, is more dependable.

Thanks for sharing, though!
Pat
 
#4 ·
'Turmoil' is putting it mildly!
Seems to be a region of war interrupted on occasion by incongruous periods of uncomfortable peace...

Pat
 
#6 ·
Michael Kreca, was the primary author of this piece. He put this together before Branko published his "Serbia & Yugoslav Mauser rifles." He used Branko's older works "Great Century of Guns," and some other works.
I am not informed enough to comment on the historical information and no doubt it's accuracy would be debated considering the ethnicity of the reader but, that likely could be said of any recent work about that war torn land.


As relates to the 20th century firearms, this work is so flawed as to be unreliable as a reference.
Some examples chosen at random.

Item; The 100,000 intermediate length large ring action type 7.92mm Model 1924 short rifles which were purchased from Fabrique National DeGuerre (FN) in Herstal, Belgium began arriving in 1926 and ended delivery was completed in 1928.
Wrong: Delivery was made in 3 separate batches the last (IIRC) was in 1934. (Branko & FN archivist)

Item; In 1938, Yugoslavia purchased another consignment, unknown quantity, of Vz24 Mausers.
Who knows? This is completely unsubstantiated. Branko coud find no records, either Yugoslav or Belgian, of any such transaction and has no idea where Kreca pulled this from. Kreca unfortunately is now deceased.

Item; In 1947, the first postwar Yugoslav Mauser rifle, the short action 7.92x57mm M24/47 appeared but the "new" M24/47 rifles were rebuilds using recycled Belgian, Yugoslav, German, Belgian and Czechoslovak parts.
Highly debatable; I have personally seen non-M1924 rifles reworked as 24/47 (2 maybe 3) and we have all seen mongrel parts in the series rifles but, by far the vast majority of 24/47s started out as M1924 rifles. To suggest this series rifles was made up of all variety of rifles is inaccurate at best.

Item; The lesser known Model 24/52c, is composed of Mausers made in Czechoslovakia as Vz24, As reworked, the receivers were wiped and given the new Yugoslav crest and the marking M24/52c on the left side of the receiver ring. Existing stocks were used with rear swivel on left side removed and hole in wood plugged. ;
Uh uh. As is well known, the model # was stamped under the crest on the receiver ring, NOT on the left. Also, as a rule, the side swivels were generally left intact on this model.

To wrap up, Kreca makes the claim of the M48bo having been made in only a few thousand rifles. This of course is now known to be utterly incorrect.

These are just examples I snapped up in a quick scan. I think it makes the point that the quantity of known errors invalidates just about any remark made not otherwise supported elsewhere. It is too bad he didn't source or footnote his work. He makes some interesting claims. Of course, Branko has a lot more info than he was able to put in his book. Heck, the Serb edition has more info in it, can you find and care to pay the high cost of the limited edition.
He is primed and ready to update his work in a second edition but, it doesn't look like that is going to happen- not on his part but, by lack of interest by the publisher.
 
#7 ·
Time for another publisher...

Third Party Press, maybe ('Karabiner 98k' and 'Kriegsmodell')?

Hmmmm......!!!!
Pat
 
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