Eric needs help with ID an usual rifle~~

[danielsand]

Rifle in question was made in "PREDUZECE 44" (written in Cyrilc on this rifle at that time, meaning "enterprise" or factory 44), sometime after after WW2. There were many produced with lettering stamped in Latin also.

"Preduzece 44" was a wartime code for Zastava factory in the city of Kragujevac, in today's Serbia. At the time the rifle was produced, Serbia was one of the states in the country called "Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia" (Federativna Narodna Republika Jugoslavia). Rifle is also stamped FNRJ (in Cyrilic). Country changed it's name to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the later produced rifles were stamped SFRJ. Some were stamped in Cyrilc, and some in Latin lettering (Yugoslav state of Serbia, and today's Serbia uses Cyrilic alphabet, and other five republics use Latin alphabet). All former Yugoslav republics are independent countries today, to include (from West to East) Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hertzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia. Serbian province of Kosovo declared independence, but is not recognized by UN as of today.

M48 rifle was a standard battle rifle of JNA (Yugoslav People's Army - Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija), that was officially adopted as such in 1948 (superseded by SKS Simonov type made by Zastava with official nomenclature of M59/66 chambered in 7,62X39). Shortly after 1948, the model pictured in the OP was created, and labeled M48A, and the difference was the sheet metal stamped magazine floor plate, front barrel band, and trigger guard (original M48 version had those parts from milled steel).

I own an earlier example (milled M48) in "never issued" condition with three digit serial number, among my collection of Yugoslav small arms from 1943-2000 (the period in which SFRJ existed as a country). Since I've seen these rifles with six digit serial number, mine is really an "early" one! I own one specimen (in MINT condition) of every single infantry weapon from that period made by Zastava, that has a rifled bore (to distinguish from smoothbore mortars, grenade launchers, and flare pistols) .

If you folks are interested, visit Zastava website, and read about the history of the factory from the times of Austro-Hungarian Empire (prior to WW 1), till today. Factory is still producing some fascinating weaponry, and supplying Serbian military at this time, despite being extensively bombed in 1999 by American B1 Stealth Bombers, flying sorties from Ramstein in Germany, and Aviano in Italy. Zastava also produces MANY civilian weapons (hunting rifles and pistols), and is distributed in USA by Mitchell for the last 40+ years.

The rifle in question is the first firearm I ever live fired (at 14 years old), and it was a painful experience. Kicks like a mule, and the steel metal butplate doesn't help. Since I grew up, it didn't hurt any more, and I REALLY enjoy shooting it today on my ranch. Mine is a 2" MOA rifle (at 100 meters) with mint bore, and I use PPU ammo, produced in the 70s. I kept mine in the original condition (iron sights), but MANY of these rifles were used in action during the Balkan wars of the 90s, in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo, equipped with optics.

I can consistently hit a frozen milk jug at 600 meters with mine (open sights). All Zastava arms are built VERY beefy, and made to last MANY generations. None of the weapons made in Yugoslavia at that time have chromed bores, and the Yugo ammo is corrosive. This means immediate cleaning after shooting, and for me that's a non issue, because I was drilled to do this, and I actually enjoy it.

P.S. for Sergio

The rifle you describe as "having K98 parts" is most likely a REAL K98. MANY thousands of these were captured by Yugoslav Partisans in 1945, and many more delivered by Germany as a part of war reparations, to SFRJ in the early 50s. They were scrubbed of Nazi markings, restamped and put in reserve. Many thousands were issued to the units of TO (Teritorijalna Odbrana - Territorial Defense in translation, or basically the equivalent of National Guard in US) as late as 1980s. Some of these (if carefully examined) can still have some tiny Nazi markings missed by the "scrubbers" (scrubbing was done by bored conscripts!), or deemed insignificant by the inspectors. Most had their stocks replaced, but quite a few still have original German laminated stocks.