Thanks Ugly Sauce. I hope its a shooter but it looks like a fine specimen of an Oberndorf M96. I am of the age where I missed out on the "good 'ol days" of hunting, gun collecting and fishing. I love all these things and I am fortunate enough to be able to participate in these things and have the money to have a modest hobby in it all. I envy the stories like yours and how people would get a deer or an elk every year or the steelhead and salmon were so plentiful you could walk across the river on their backs. Now, I rarely see game during hunting season (I am by no means an experienced hunter but done my share and game was more plentiful when I was a kid), the fish are few and guns are expensive. I love flyfishing and speycasting but you must put in a lot of time hunting fish to land some these days. Luckily, I enjoy reloading and getting old guns I bought into shape. Spent the last 9 months trying to get my 1888 Trapdoor to shoot well and got it to shoot 2 MOA!!! And I just got 2nd in a military single shot competition with it. I'm very happy with this gun and the work I put it. When I got it, I thought it was a lost cause but pays to do research and make sure you try everything.
Thinking about acquiring foreign milsurp rifle
- Thread starter Chief TC
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Speedo66
Member
I bought two Swedes when they were first imported and they and their surplus ammo were inexpensive.
A M96 for $89, and a M38 for $79.
Great guns, sold them both for a nice profit, but I do miss the M38.
OP, good luck with your new gun!
A M96 for $89, and a M38 for $79.
Great guns, sold them both for a nice profit, but I do miss the M38.
OP, good luck with your new gun!
Ignition Override
Member
CapnMac: You realize that Czech Mausers were often considered to be of the same quality as the German Mausers, at least among the pre-war production. Some claim that the Czechs could exceed the German level of quality.
Unfortunately I've seldom seen an unmolested/original C. Mauser on Gunbroker, or at a show/shop/ which didn't exhibit a high level of wear and tear from the WW2 Eastern Front or such.
Unfortunately I've seldom seen an unmolested/original C. Mauser on Gunbroker, or at a show/shop/ which didn't exhibit a high level of wear and tear from the WW2 Eastern Front or such.
Ugly Sauce
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Nice! I have a carbine that is a very good shooter. Old one too, vintage 1876. (100 yards) It's more accurate than my TD rifle.
"Affordable" is a relative term, depending on one's income. For many a $700 rifle today would be like a $100 rifle to me, back then. My wife used to work with a gun dealer, or that was his side-line. He'd send a really nice rifle home with her, "see if your husband wants this for $100". Of course I'd buy it. She got wise after three or four rifles, and stopped bringing them home. One was a FR8 I still have, I believe it was unissued and unfired. No proof of course. The stock has fiddle-back in the wood, and came with bayonet. That one was a whopping $110.00! It's super accurate too. (I issued it to myself!)
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I put in lots of searches and I can't find anything on settings for the Pramm diopter. Found plenty of material on the diopter but not settings. I understand where the elevation and windage knobs are but my question is - are the measurements in 1 MOA or 1/2 MOA? Or are they even in MOA?
Ugly Sauce
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Yes, the Persian Mausers are Czech also. The one I have is a nice example, and a fine rifle, I don't think any of them saw much if any combat. Still wish I had not traded the Swede off to get the Persian, but I just thought I had to have one. !!! The one I had looked just like eastbank's, was a "Husky", and man the blue was the nicest blue, deep dark and perfect.
Ugly Sauce
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That's a nice example. I have the long-tom version, which is "neat" and "cool" but she's a heavy beast. I'd trade it for a carbine like yours for sure. I wish. !! But I like it, it's a keeper. Yeah I bet you get some flash and blast with the 7.92 out of a short barrel. My load for my long barreled version is the Woodleigh 220 grain bullet. Long barrel, long bullet I guess. !!! I forget exactly what my barrel length is, (26", 28", ??) but I think it produces some good velocity.
CapnMac
Member
Wow, another gem I forgot about. Those are typically gorgeous, and have excellent reputations as shooters.
Terry G
Member
Got one, shoots good. Never find one as cheap as this was.
Ignition Override
Member
Ugly Sauce: Oh.... I forgot about the "Persians".
Had I only realized about ten years ago that they were Czech, when the 'late' Samco advertised some pristine Persians in Shotgun News, there is no doubt that one would have been mine.
Kicked myself about such ignorance.
They should have been designated "Czech contract". This isn't any actual consolation, but at least I discovered the Czech VZ-58's quality and bought a Sporter nib (2019).
Had I only realized about ten years ago that they were Czech, when the 'late' Samco advertised some pristine Persians in Shotgun News, there is no doubt that one would have been mine.
Kicked myself about such ignorance.
They should have been designated "Czech contract". This isn't any actual consolation, but at least I discovered the Czech VZ-58's quality and bought a Sporter nib (2019).
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theotherwaldo
Member
Several of my Turks are also Czech built.
Even my 88/05 Commission rifle has a Czech replacement bolt.
Even my 88/05 Commission rifle has a Czech replacement bolt.
CapnMac
Member
Threads like this really make me miss my Chilean Engineer Mauser in 6.5x55. I had more in the bayonet ($95) than in the rifle, so, when a cash offer came my way, well, a deal is a deal.
Terry G
Member
Super cheap when I bought thousands of rounds of 8 MM. I'm still shooting it and haven't had a misfire or hang fire yet. Bolt action guns are snap to clean after corrosive ammunition is fired. GI Bore cleaner still works great.
eastbank
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i don,t shoot corrosive ammo out of my semi auto rifles due to the gas systems and cleaning them./ however in my bolt action rifles i will use it and clean it soon after wards, in my youth 3006 corrosive ammo was every where at what today would be give away prices and i shot thousands of rounds thru several 03-03a3 springfields.
Capybara
Member
If you can get a hold of some brass, I've owned hundreds of milsurps and by far the most amazing one for accuracy, precision and interesting stories with the troop tags you
are sometimes lucky enough to receive, hidden under the buttstock pad, is the Swiss K31. Basically a precision rifle in the guise of a milsurp. It's a very interesting rifle, beautiful to shoot and the Swiss GP11 ammo, very hard to find, is basically precision loads from the factory. How many milsurps are straight pull bolt too? These rifles are a utter delight and so much more refined than Mausers, Enfields and M38s.
are sometimes lucky enough to receive, hidden under the buttstock pad, is the Swiss K31. Basically a precision rifle in the guise of a milsurp. It's a very interesting rifle, beautiful to shoot and the Swiss GP11 ammo, very hard to find, is basically precision loads from the factory. How many milsurps are straight pull bolt too? These rifles are a utter delight and so much more refined than Mausers, Enfields and M38s.
kennedy
Member
back when mil surp were cheap I tried to collect one from every country but stopped when I started buying junk, no matching numbers etc, so sold them except for my first, a mosin m44 and my all matching M96 I reload for. its the second best shooter after my rem 700 308 varmint
Ugly Sauce
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I think that FR8 I have is the most accurate of mine. But I've never extensively tested the others. My O3A3 could be as or more accurate.
Well got my M96 out and wow! Everything you guys said it would be. Shoots like a dream. I’m accustomed to shooting at lot of 30-06 and 45-70 so it feels like almost no recoil. Rifle is super long but does not feel heavy.
the target sights cap at 300m so didn’t get to shoot it further and with standard sights. I will do some reloads and use the original sights next time. Thanks everyone.
the target sights cap at 300m so didn’t get to shoot it further and with standard sights. I will do some reloads and use the original sights next time. Thanks everyone.
eastbank
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i fould the swiss 31 to be like a fine watch, my only complait was extraction if i shot dirty or heavy reloads, extraction was not as positive as mausers or springfields./ in rough combat conditions, with dirt-mud ect, i would prefer a bolt action.
So been putting this M96 through its paces and it is very accurate and feels like nothing in terms of recoil. I wonder how many of you really had to mess with the original sights. Mine will shoot 6" high at 100m and dead on at 200m with sights set at 300m with 140gr ammo. I bought a shorter sight to get it to shoot at 300m set at 300m. I have the Pramm diopter sight but the elevation taps out at 300m, so I prefer to use the original sight for longer range. What sight modifications did everyone have to do with their rifles?
Update. I found the magic load using 140gr SSTs and IMR4350. I miscalculated the Pramm target sights and determined with my load, the sight maxes out at 500 yards. This rifle is a sub-moa shooter and can make an average shooter appear better than they are. In addition, I also found the magic load for my M1917 using 178gr match bullets and AA4350 and was able to shoot 1 MOA to 300 meters. Amazing what the old rifles can do!
Jim Watson
Member
Normally a shotgun writer, Don Zutz once did an article on that. He concluded that in those days, barrels were better than bullets; an old rifle can surprise you when given fresh bullets.