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Please let me know what you think of this transitional period HJ knife
Thanks // JMM

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The M48 series are arguably the last original production bolt action rifles meant for general issue to an army. The design is an amalgam of features from the FN 24 including the intermediate length receiver, late model K98k cupped butt and stamped metal parts as well as original features such as the rough wooden finish and half bent bolt handle.

After WW2 the Yugoslav state rebuilt its arms production capacity at the Kragiyervac arsenal set up in the 1920s and 30s by the FN company. Damaged during the war, it started by repairing and refitting the survivors of the prewar rifles along with captured German K98ks and then producing new rifles as the M48, it was designated as ‘Factory 44′ by the new Communist regime-these are well made in the traditional methods, later models using more stamped components to reduce cost. As well as being produced for Yugoslavia, they were widely exported to middle Eastern countries and others in the 1950s and early 60s but as automatic rifles rapidly came into use during the same period they were relegated to training or put into reserve storage. Many of the Yugoslav rifles were sold off in the late 80s but many also ended up being used in the Balkan wars of the 1990s especially as sniper rifles.

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