sporterizing a swedish mauser?

[goodold303]

One more question for you guys, I got a swedish mauser (m96) in the cabinet and sometimes think about putting another stock on it, and mount a scope on it. The stock is so so, no matching numbers if I remember correct, but for the rest the gun is in good shape. I just dont seem to take it anywhere, and thought if I could make it a bit lighter and add a scope, it just may become a nice hunting rifle. I would not change the calliber though.
Have any off you guys done this??
How did you like the result??
What was the cost of doing it??
Thanks for all the info.

Goodold303

[catnthehat]

Done lots of them.
First question, is it the rifle or the M38 carbine?
The rifle will have a slower twist than the casrbine.
The carbine is the one to do up.
You can get aftermarket triggers, stocks, evrything you need to build a nice
aforadable ( depending on how much you paid for the rifle) for hunting.
Cat

[goodold303]

Thanks Cat, as to your question, I do believe it to be a rifle, and it is built in about the mid teens, give or take a few years.
And as it seems that you have forgotten more about guns then the average green horn (me ) seems to know I got two additional questions for you,
1 why is the end off the barrle threaded on this gun.
2 underneed the barrle there is a (cleaning) rod mounted, but the problem is that the head is way to big to go through the barrel, is this the wrong rod, or is it something else??

goodold303

[sharrozap]

This is my Swedish Mauser M38.

[b72471]

All the swede rifles model 96,38&94 have the same twist rate, approx 1in 7.8.
As for sporterizing your rifle, by the time you finish it may cost you more than buying one from Tradex all done up.
You may be further ahead to sell yours and buy one.
Take care Bill

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by b72471

All the swede rifles model 96,38&94 have the same twist rate, approx 1in 7.8.
As for sporterizing your rifle, by the time you finish it may cost you more than buying one from Tradex all done up.
You may be further ahead to sell yours and buy one.
Take care Bill

The rifle has a slower twist than the M38 does, IIRC...
Cat

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by goodold303

Thanks Cat, as to your question, I do believe it to be a rifle, and it is built in about the mid teens, give or take a few years.
And as it seems that you have forgotten more about guns then the average green horn (me ) seems to know I got two additional questions for you,
1 why is the end off the barrle threaded on this gun.
2 underneed the barrle there is a (cleaning) rod mounted, but the problem is that the head is way to big to go through the barrel, is this the wrong rod, or is it something else??

goodold303

Yup, wrong rod.
The threaded portion is for a grenade launcher - and NO, you cannot put one on for flocks of geese!!
How long is the barrel?
Cat

[goodold303]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Yup, wrong rod.
The threaded portion is for a grenade launcher - and NO, you cannot put one on for flocks of geese!!
How long is the barrel?
Cat

I made it back to the gun cabinet, and looked up the old rifle, and the lenght of the barrel is about 23 inches.
would this be the rifle??
goodold303

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by goodold303

I made it back to the gun cabinet, and looked up the old rifle, and the lenght of the barrel is about 23 inches.
would this be the rifle??
goodold303

M38, yup!
Cat

[Gonehuntin']

I was given an old functional Husquvarna in 6.5x55 still in plain military form. I took it in to a reputable smith for a workover, and it came out all right (in the beginning). it cost me about $500 for the conversion.Ram line plastic stock, bolt handle turned down, timney trigger installed, drilled and tapped, remington style safety. It shot great until one day something went south. Actually it was the floor plate and stock pieces that went south. Everything else was sent flying in other directions.The damn thing blew up so bad it blew out the receiver where the bolt lugs lock in, blew the scope into a couple of pieces and directions.The fracture followed a line between the holes tapped in for the front weaver type base.The bolt bent, saving my head a significant rearrangement. Rear action bolt sheared clean. Stock broken in half.Bits of brass in my face and a suspicious brown stain in my shorts. Minimum load of H4350+ Barnes X 140 gr. Funny thing is though, it wasn't the first round of IDENTICAL ammo that this happened on, but the second round. The first round fired and extracted perfectly, also smoking the bullseye.The handloads were prepared by me with a very experienced reloader peeking over my shoulder, double checking my work. A few months before, while working up loads for the same rifle, I had one round stick the bolt shut, which took considerable effort to lift the handle and extract.(Developing test loads) Needless to say, I pulled the ammo apart and started over.I'm thinking the rifle could have had a hairline crack(microscopic) in between the tapped holes for the base from the round that stuck the bolt shut , possibly a problem just waiting to happen.Another theory is a detonation instead of ignition or hang fire.The rifle had a long throat, and the bullets were seated out from the lands a bit, no contact, smoked dummy round and no problems chambering.I'm thinking that seating them out farther would have increased internal volume significantly, and with a minimum load may have detonated instead of ignited, or hangfired.Anyway, I would not go to the trouble or expense to have another one built, as the price was comparable to new centerfire rifle's worth.Plus the fact that the metallurgy and quality control with new rifles is beyond reproach, no possible wartime shortcuts in quality to reach a quota or save a buck. Although the experienced reloader friend mentioned above had one made by Carl Gustav sporterized by the same smith with the same parts and that thing shoots like a hot damn and funtions well, he passed on and left it to his brother, who treasures it. Bottom line, IMHO, if there is sentimental value, MAYBE a sporterizing, if it's just a reasonably priced rifle you're after, for the same money you can get a stevens or savage that will do admirably ( and not be a YEAR AND A HALF in the shop and big bucks for an old rifle that is nowhere near original or worth the $$$ you put into it.) I wouldn't do it again.

[catnthehat]

Gonehuntin' , I am sorry to hear of your misfortune, but please don't think that it was simply because it was a surplus action.
Granted, Ii have seen failures on Milsurp before, but
new rifles are NOT beyond reproach as far as QA goes, either!

A few years back Sako had a bunch of bad steel slip through there QA department, and there were some BAD metal failures.

Remington also has had some failures , as had Savage and Winchester.
Swiss Arms, a very good company as well, has had some issues,
I've seen them .

The turnaround time on your rifle was horrendous, the amount of work that went into the gun could have been done in one shift, minus the metal finishing.
Cat

[ACKLEY ABE]

Gonehuntin: Wow.... I'd agree with Cat about the action, 96's were strong and wartime quality concerns are mainly about late WWII 98 actions. I have known of one that came apart but it was a 95 in 7 x 57 and that was a reduced load, pistol powder with a cast bullet. Minimum (book?) load of 4350 would not cause detonation, I don't believe. Metalurgy in the Swede's is normally known to be very good.

Failure between the base mounting holes is interesting. If the holes were drilled at too fast a speed or without coolant, could this have caused a hairline crack? Dunno.... not a metalurgist.

You mention a sticky bolt handle. Did you, by chance, have an oportunity to chk the headspace before everything went downhill?

Anyway, good to hear that you came through the event without loosing any important body parts.

A year and a half..wow. LOL...reminds me of what Bob Prestash has always said about gunsmiths. "Gunsmiths are people that can work on guns....but don't".

[Gonehuntin']

No, I didn't have a chance to get the headspace checked prior to the incident.I also forgot to mention that I fired acouple of 120gr ballistic tip handloads (the original load I used before thinking I needed a 140 x bullet for moose) through it before i tried the x bullet loads(same day).I spoke to the smith that did the work and what he had to say was-"pressure, too much pressure".Very helpful. I'm basically grasping at straws as to the cause of the problem.I had been loading my own ammo for years prior to this, and have been loading for several years since.I am a bit of a stickler for routine when loading trying for quality, safety, and consistency in my ammo.Therefore, not knowing the cause of this pi$$es me off, and keeps me wondering.

[wayne daley]

i just bought a swedish mauser from tradex its missing the rear sight but has scope mounts installed has anyone run into this before and what is my course here.cheers..

[bat119]

Depends on what you want to do with the rifle?

If you want to shoot iron sites talk to Tradex about a back site they should have one. if you want to go with a scope you won't need the back site.