sporterizing a swedish mauser?

[ACKLEY ABE]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Howdy Abe!
BTW, I need my Bob Wollack book back!!
Cat

Bob wollack book???? Remind me what it is. I don't recall, but if I have it, I'll get it back to you

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by ACKLEY ABE

Bob wollack book???? Remind me what it is. I don't recall, but if I have it, I'll get it back to you

you were stuill smoking when I met you.
Sold me a Bear Kodiak at Vicher's.
I sold you an Anschutz free rifle sock for Cam at Premier, and loaned you the book.
It's titlle is "American rifle design" by Bob Wollack.
Ring a bell?
My name is David henry Todd, BTW, form Ft. Mac!
Cat

[ACKLEY ABE]

Cat... I don't remember you or the stock. I think I do have that book!!! I don't remember borrowing it but if I have it and it's yours, by all means I'll get it back to you. Okay if its next week, if I forgot all the other stuff, I should probably read the book again.... Iffn I saw you and talked to you...everything would come back. Man ...thats a long time ago.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by ACKLEY ABE

Cat... I don't remember you or the stock. I think I do have that book!!! I don't remember borrowing it but if I have it and it's yours, by all means I'll get it back to you. Okay if its next week, if I forgot all the other stuff, I should probably read the book again.... Iffn I saw you and talked to you...everything would come back. Man ...thats a long time ago.

I shot a Martin long bow in those days, and a Damon Howatt as well.
Fred Bear leather back quiver.
Stetson ( open road madel I think)
Cat

[ACKLEY ABE]

CAT.....I have it. I drove straight home...into the study and there it is. I sorta remember tht it must of been borrowed because I bought a copy for myself. How do you want me to get it back to you?

Are you ever in Edmonton? I go down to LocknLoad every Saturday morning for a coffee and a gab....or I can mail it to you ...or whatever. I'm only home for a few minutes (got a dog class) so I won't be back on till tomorrow morning. I'' stay on now for about 15 minutes.

[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.

[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

[goodold303]

Thanks Cat, think that this might be a good gun for conversion, will check to see what the cost is going to be, hopefully not to much for a conversion.
Who builts stocks for the sweds, that is not to heavy?
Is a new trigger a must, or just a nicety?
Did Dick say that I need a new bolt aswell? if so, where to get it?
thanks so far,
goodold303

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by goodold303

Thanks Cat, think that this might be a good gun for conversion, will check to see what the cost is going to be, hopefully not to much for a conversion.
Who builts stocks for the sweds, that is not to heavy?
Is a new trigger a must, or just a nicety?
Did Dick say that I need a new bolt aswell? if so, where to get it?
thanks so far,
goodold303

The bolt needs to be either reworked or cut off another welded on.
This is only mandatory if you are mounting a scope BTW.
You should be able to access site such as Ellwood epps and get an idea of how much the cost will be....
Cat

[Iron Brew]

Originally Posted by ACKLEY ABE

Cat... I'll try and find a ref for you. I think I've got it in "Military Mausers of the World". Apparently it WAS used as a grenade launcher, infrequently, but there was a device that threaded on that was a "bullet Splitter". The Swede's had wooden bullets in their blanks and this device split the wooden bullet. LOL Makes for good cut n crown practice though.

Snipped

Why would they do this with a bolt action? I know they did this with the Bren gun (Ummm... apparently Dad got into a bit of trouble in the territorial army in Scotland when he (and 2 or 3 other Bren gunners) flipped up the deflector and let fly at an armoured vehicle that wasn't following the "rules". Seems the officer in charge didn't like the sound of bullets bouncing off the vehicle... even if they were just wooden). My understanding was that the regular blanks for the lee enfields were the same as "modern" blanks...

For the semi autos, they used it to cycle the action, but with a bolt... kinda redundent... I would think...

[ACKLEY ABE]

Originally Posted by Iron Brew

Why would they do this with a bolt action? I know they did this with the Bren gun (Ummm... apparently Dad got into a bit of trouble in the territorial army in Scotland when he (and 2 or 3 other Bren gunners) flipped up the deflector and let fly at an armoured vehicle that wasn't following the "rules". Seems the officer in charge didn't like the sound of bullets bouncing off the vehicle... even if they were just wooden). My understanding was that the regular blanks for the lee enfields were the same as "modern" blanks...

For the semi autos, they used it to cycle the action, but with a bolt... kinda redundent... I would think...

Dunno...ask the Swede's.

[catnthehat]

The wooden bullets apparantly were needed to build pressure in the case.
The splitter was there to, well split the bullet !
Cat

[ACKLEY ABE]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

The wooden bullets apparantly were needed to build pressure in the case.
The splitter was there to, well split the bullet !
Cat

AHHHHHH.......somebody did some research.

[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.