Mitchell's little darling: the M63 "Tanker" Mauser

Guns Magazine, Oct, 2005 by Holt Bodinson

Among the many existing Mauser variants, possibly one of the most universally appealing is the petite police carbine. The little gun just exudes character. It begs to be handled, so when I saw what appeared to be a brand new police carbine in 8x57mm on Mitchell's Mausers Web site, I had to have one.

Mitchell's Mausers calls theirs the Model 63 "Tanker" Mauser and explains that the Yugoslavians originally designed and produced the model for their armored units. OK, but it's a spitting image of a Mauser police carbine. In fact, except for the caliber, it's the image of the earlier Yugoslavian Model 24 carbine purchased from FN to arm local gendarmerie units. The new "Tanker" is being produced by the Zastava factory in Serbia.

You've undoubtedly seen the Mitchell's Mausers ads for stunning, unissued M48 Yugoslavian Mauser rifles. The man behind Mitchell's Mausers is Don Mitchell, whose family roots go far back into Serbia and Montenegro. Fluent in Serbian, Mitchell has been able to collaborate with the Zastava factory like no one before. The development and importation of the M63 Tanker is evidence of just how well the working relationship is going. Indeed, Mitchell now spends several months a year working with Zastava on new product development.

If "Zastava" sounds faintly familiar, then you may remember the Mark X Mauser sporting rifles produced at Zastava and imported by Interarms. Interarms was owned by the well-known international weapons dealer, Sam Cummings, who was buying Enfields for $1.50 from the British government in the 1950s. In fact, we can thank Cummings for the great surplus bargains we enjoyed throughout 1950s and 1960s. He owned the market.

The Zastava factory is located in the town of Kragujevac, which is in the middle of Serbia, just south of Belgrade. During WWII, the Germans invaded Yugoslavia in 1941. It was paramilitary units like Marshall Tito's that resisted the Nazis and, after the end of the war, the Yugoslavians under Tito steered a uniquely independent course between the West and the Warsaw Pact countries. They also developed an independent arms industry.

New Mausers

When Zastava ceased the manufacture of M48 Mausers, they began making high quality AK-47s. Now the factory is retooling once again to produce models like the Tanker to stimulate non-military sales. Don Mitchell playfully hints at the possibility we will soon see a new tactical rifle and maybe even a Mark X-like sporting rifle, so stay tuned.

The M63 Tanker action is a faithful copy of the 1898 military Mauser. It's made of real machined steel and incorporates the mechanical features that have kept the Model 98 at the head of the class for 107 years such as controlled round feed, (to eliminate double charging) and a positive, non-rotating extractor. The solid, inner-collar breeching strengthens the receiver, encircles the bolt head and minimizes cartridge head protrusion. A three-position, direct-acting safety and an interlocking relationship of parts prevents the firing pin from falling if the bolt isn't fully locked. Topping it off is a combined bolt stop and mechanical ejector, unobtrusive safety lug, outstanding gas handling characteristics and a rugged, staggered-round box magazine.

The Tanker is a short, little runt. The M63 barrel is 17.4" long compared to the 24" tube of the standard 98K. When you compare the models side-by-side, what's been done to produce the M63 look is to shorten the forearm and move the front band and bayonet lug back proportionally. The overall length of the M63 is 37" compared to the 43.5" OAL of the M48. In fact, the M63 is within millimeters of the OAL of Winchester's Model 94 carbine.

This 7.4-pound little baby is handy. Not only is it compact, but its neutral balance point is right under the front receiver ring. You can just wrap your hand around it at that point and head for the hills. Don Mitchell remarked that the M63 would be a great carbine for the deer woods. As far as milsurps and calibers go, it would be ideal.

The light, almost blond-colored stock of the M63 is distinctive. I asked Mitchell about the wood since it looked a lot like birch. Mitchell said it was a variation of teak. The wood is fine-grained, dense and, because of its natural color, sets off the blued parts nicely.

Yes, all the metal is well polished and deeply blued. The buttplate caught my eye. It's corrugated. I've seen a similar design on FN contract Mausers.

The sights are typical Mauser--an inverted V front and a tangent rear. The rear tangent is graduated from 200 to 1,400 meters. OK, 200 meters is a good battle zero, but why on a carbine oriented toward the civilian market to be shot at targets ranging from 25 to maybe 200 meters? It would make more sense if the rear sight were graduated from 50 meters to 500 meters in 50-meter increments. Scoping is an option to consider and Mitchell can furnish a mount that replaces the rear sight leaf, providing a scout rifle-type forward scope placement.