I'm looking at an 06. Rings and bases are they the same as Brno 600?
Are the ZG47s accurate?

The Galas rifle (ZG 47) is arguably one if not the very best Mauser clones ever made.

It was the invention of Otakar Galas of Brno and is a continuation of the dynasty that started with the work done by Rudolf Jelen of Brno.

The first Galas rifle was in caliber 9.3x62 and was exported and sold by the now defunct BREN Arms in Cape Town South Africa. The rifle resides with the son of the former owner of BREN arms.

Thanks ALF! Are the rings the same as Brno 600s and CZ550s?

Yes:

Just to add: The ZG 47 was made with Poldi Steel barrels. At one time before the final collapse of the Soviet Union this was bar Krupp the best barrel steel in Europe. Sadly with the collapse of the Soviet Union the once great steel works of Poldi in Kladno collapsed.

Nice! I believe I'll pull the trigger on this one. It'll go nicely with my 358 Norma.

Fantastic rifles.

Does anybody know if these actions can use the same barrels as a standard large ring mauser 98?

The threads on a ZG-47 are different than a standard LR Mauser.

quote:

Originally posted by ALF:
The Galas rifle (ZG 47) is arguably one if not the very best Mauser clones ever made.
It was the invention of Otakar Galas of Brno and is a continuation of the dynasty that started with the work done by Rudolf Jelen of Brno.

Alf,

The manufacturing techniques on some ZG47 actions are from wartime production.
In some cases they used different machining techniques/shortcuts for faster production.
SO you will see things on some ZG47s, that we won't see on other commercial LR mauser actions.

- ZG47 early production used identical receiver underside milling to wartime spec.
- The ZG47 utilises many of the war time type bolt bodies[2 grooves at the joining of the guide rib with the bolt body].
thats bcause some precise cutter making and sharpening was eliminated.

the unusual machined grooves either side of the guide rib, ive not seen on any other commercial M98 other than the ZG47.

ITs OK for a ZG47, because of the influence/effects of the war at the time,
-but if one of todays new manufacture custom made M98 action was delivered with a shortcut machining technique- resulting feature like that,
I would not be aT all impressed.

I'm not sure what to make of the aforementioned post ?

The ZG47 is hardly a custom, to the contrary its a fricken crowbar with a paddle for a stock
built at a time when the great and venerable Mauser was all but dead and gone !

The stocks in particular are of shitty quality and have a tendency to crack behind the tang or the bolt root slot.

So comparing it to the original Pre war Mauser sporting rifle or any modern custom in terms of finish is way way off base!

The ZG 47 is no Oberndorf Mauser ! Period !

However: its exactly the fact that it was a crowbar that made it what it was ! It was cheap,it was available and it was made in the right caliber (9.3x62 originally)

As to machining marks or anything else cosmetic.... never seen it's owner even notice that there are machining marks or not !

What I can say is try a wrestle a early 9.3x62 from a african hunters hands and see how far you get ? It will take more than a swipe at cosmetic appearances to get a old time hunter to part with one.


The ZG 47 was for many the "poor man's Mauser" or rather the replacement for the Mauser.

It was very very popular in Rhodesia and South Africa, so popular that the whole production of first ZG47's were sold in Cape Town South Africa

So then we come to the early editions of this rifle ? What is early Rifle no 1 or perhaps no 3 or how about number 8 and 9 ?

I have very early editions in my collection. Very early ! All have no machine marks around the guide rib. The later rifles however and I have a few have the machine marks.

The model 22's which are of earlier vintage, some from the war years have no marks at all in fact I have a 22 F with no guide rib. Of these I have an example of each of the calibers they were made in. In 7x57 alone I have 14.

Alf,

I just posted it out of historical interest concerning the ZG47.
and despite the ZG47 rifle being a 'crowbar',.. People still use that action as basis for pricy custom rifles.

quote:

The ZG 47 is no Oberndorf Mauser ! Period !

I believe that was the kinda point I was making, but I was referring specifically to the action.

quote:

in fact I have a 22 F with no guide rib.

The Guide Rib feature was deleted to speed up war production.

The commercial Brno small ring receivers were made using tooling that was used to produced the vz33 & G33/40.

Brno commercial small ring[without bolt guide rib],was result of the decision to use up WW II factory inventory from the days of German occupation.
Late '44 and 1945 bolt bodies for the Reich were made without the guide rib at many plants, including occupied Czechoslovakia.

I believe Tom Burgess would slot the 22F rear bridge to accept FN mauser bolts with had the orig mauser guide-Rib feature,

One can come across 22F rifles that have the G/Rib and rear charge-slot from the factory,
and one can also find them without G/Rib and without Charge slot(but still with the ummachined hump).
I quite like the plainer less featured version.

Here I was under the impression the the ZG47 was the ZG you wanted over and above the 24 & 33. Oh well.

Rule 303: I was very much tongue in cheek on this one.

The ZG 47 is definitely the rifle and action you "want" !

They are fantastic !

It is not a 21 or 22 F.
It's a step up from already good rifles and actions ! The only crit i have personally is the stock wood and in some examples stock design. It's of poor quality and you will see many develop small hairline cracks at some point behind the action.

I have a whole collection of them.

Alf, Thanks for the carification.

IMO, the finest Mauser ever produced as a commercial gun is the Brno mod. 21 and 22..and in a milsurp it had to be the G33-40 or the 1935 version of the G33-40 made exclusively for the German Customs Service..All small rings.

I have favorites in LRs such as the 1935 Chilean, Puruvians, and many of the Oberndorfs.

My best one is a 1936 Obendorf single square bridge "06 length action" and only built for the WR to use on the .318 WR on special order, so they are incredibly rare. Mine is on a Jack Haugh 35 Whelan rifle.

The commercial ZG47 are an awesome rifle IMO, but hard to come by these days and fetch a pretty penny..I would not want a milsurp ZG47 as they were made at the last days of Germanys fall and you might get pot metal or adobe!

The Galas Rifle (ZG47) was not made during the war but after. It was not a Milsurp ! They were as with the Square Bridged M21's non Milsurp rifles. The tooling setup for the Square bridges are stricly a post war development.

The SN's for the M21's with square bridges and their respective date stamps bear this out !

The design was only in 1947 by Otakar Galas of Brno and the first production was in 1950 !