Question on Non-matching Bolts

[firstchoice]

Years back, I bought a couple of the Turkish Mausers and one of the Yugoslav M-48 Mausers. All were in very good + condition, the M-48 being in exc. condition. All three had matching part numbers, except for the Bolt. Since that time, it seems like the majority of the Mausers that I see, if they're not all-matching, it's just the Bolt that is non-matching. The wear on the receiver is not an issue on any of my Mauser rifles. So, it wasn't for worn out parts' sake that they're gone. What was the reason for such a number of non-matching Bolts on these old Mausers? (IIRC, the Turkish rifles are early-mid 1940's mfg.) Just trying to understand why the Bolts were separated from the rifles to begin with, and then mismatched for sale? Thanks for any insight given on this. 

firstchoice

[Loose}{Cannon]

I have heard the bolts weee stored under lock/key wile not in use to prevent rogue situations.

[Greasemonkey]

My best guess, most went through a refurb at some point. much like German K98s that went through a Russian, Yugoslavian or Romanian refurb shop, they were not worried about rematching numbers, war was raging, and those numbers in no way, shape or form affect the weapons operation. Same with Vz24s, and the Turkish Mausers, weapons were captured, always swapping hands, being refurbed, updated, rebarreled, reused etc.  Being most of all these European Mausers were 8mm, and designs were all close, why chuck usable good weapons if you capture a bunch, they didn't, they ground off most markings, inspected/refurbed and sent it back out for use for the next nation to capture.

  Now, some later refurbs, these can be found with a electro-penciled serial on the bolt handle. Or take the M24/52, a Yugoslavian rework of the Czech Vz24, updating weapons, is yet another way to mismatch.  Possibly another way, is capturing troops pulling the bolts, chuck them all in a container to disable it until it hits the refurb, which may have been standard operating procedure. Or capturing troops sitting idle, telling stories, swapping parts and mixing pieces around the fire.


Most Yugoslavian Mauser bolts match. Which is pretty much the norm for the M24/47 and M48 series, they were built post war and most sat in storage facilities after being built, only to be inspected for their entire life. The M24 on the other hand is a prewar, so a mismatched bolt is likely due to a refurb, capture or mix up of parts. Most post war Mausers, like the FR8, FR7, M24/47, and M48 series, Swedish Mausers, and most South American Mausers will typically have matching bolts.  Most of South America Mausers, never saw the horrors the European variants did.