6.5x55 Swedish Mauser...need advice

[M67]

If "M67" is still around six years later, can you share a little about my rifle?

He is.
He doesn't have anything to add though, Float Pilot seems to have it covered. Except that the Swedes did sell rifles to civilian shooters, but that may have been only the rebuilt target rifles (CG63 and CG80), don't know about the "original" military rifles until they were surplused out in recent years.

The cleaning rod is of the "three-piece" variety, isn't it? Like the German Mausers. You're supposed to team up with two of your squad mates and make one cleaning rod out of three short ones.

 

[Float Pilot]

M67 is correct, there were civilian sales as well. I just mentioned the semi-government sponsored shooting groups since they could have their rifles worked on my the Army repair depots. Or could rotate weapons through that system. There is even a list of civilian gunsmiths who were approved to work on Military rifles. Remember that at one time everyone was expected to have a rifle at home for the denfense of the country.

My friends who live in Sweden say that the political situation has really changed. We see many rifles coming into the USA that have custom name plates on the side as they were awarded for winning various target matches. I cannot see any family willing giving up such a piece of family history. So things cannot be all that great over there for the average gun owner.


The m/96 (1896) and m/38 cleaning rods are longer than the M/98 style cleaning rods. The German m/98 system requires three guys to get together and combine their rod sections. The Swedish system was similar to the old M-1891, M-1993 and M-1895 mauser systems with the longer rods.
But they were still about 75mm (3 inches) short, so you need to have the adapter piece.

The m/94 (1894) Carbine did not have a rod. the cleaning kit for the Carbine had a pull through piece of cord.

I just tried to take a photo of the Swede cleaning kit and my camera died...it has been dropped into the water one too many times.

Anyway the field kit has two chambers made of metal. They look like they could be made to go into a butt compartment in a rifle stock,,,,BUT,,,, the Swedes did not use butt trap compartments for their M/96 and M/38 rifles... I always wondered why not...

 

[skidooman603]

Wow! Interesting Mauser thread

 

[Rubio]

Hi Everyone!

This is truly an extensiv thread. I've read a lot, but not all of it.
The year of my Carl Gustafs is not particulary mentioned. I got it only last Saturday and I didn't pay much for it. No idea what it would be worth.

On top of the chamber is stamped:
CARL GUSTAFS STADS
GEVARSFAKTORI.
1919
above it has the crown and... something like a moon cresent with a... fancy letter..., may be a "T" or the number "1", inside the cresent.
On the left, just behind the chamber is the serial number, 462781 , it has H.K. stamped in front of it.
The bolt, the bottom plate and everything else has the matching numbers (781).
The shoulder strap just about seems original. It is pretty worn and has a crack too.
The brass medal/coin on the right of the stock says on the outer circle:
"Overslag" and than there is a "punch mark". On the other half of the outer circle it says:
"2345", than a little separate is the number "2" stamped in.
On the inner circle it says "Torpedgm". On the other half of the inner circle it says:
"901" with a "Punch mark" above the 0 (zero). And again separate the number "1", but also with a "punch mark" above this number 1.
The rifleing in the bore is in good to very good shape.

Unfortunately someone has shortened the stock, I was told.
It looks good and the job was done very neat.
And the last downturn, the butt at the bottom of the stock is missing.

I would appreciate, if someone could give me a rough idea of the value of this Swedish Mauser here in North America/Canada.

Also, it would be great, if someone could point me in the right direction, where I may be able to find the butt for the stock.

Thanks in advance for all your advise and support!

 

[Float Pilot]

Need pics to assess the damage

 

[jbech123]

The 6.5x55 is a fine cartridge, exceptionally accurate,still used for serious target shooting. An off the shelf rifle should give you 1" groups, a good one 1/2".

It is a fine cartridge indeed and has some high bc bullets available. Hoever I certainly wouldn't expect 1/2" accuracy out of a surplus swedish mauser from the early 1900's. Certainly anything is possible as an exception, but that is not the rule for even a good one. Heck even with all the internet chatter to the contrary, very few stock rifles of today will consistently shoot 1/2moa out of the box.

 

[Float Pilot]

The up side of the Swede Mauser's is that they were used (issued) until the 1970s. They had their barrels replaced when they became worn and many were stored with new barrels. Plus you have the rifles that were issued to shooters in the FSR. Many of those were target grade rifles.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=472517

It does help if you know what you are looking for when shopping for a shooter Swede.

 

[JohnKSa]

Hoever I certainly wouldn't expect 1/2" accuracy out of a surplus swedish mauser from the early 1900's. Certainly anything is possible as an exception, but that is not the rule for even a good one.

All I can say is I've never shot one that wouldn't shoot better than 1MOA, and that's using iron sights.

Buying a surplus rifle and expecting 1/2MOA accuracy out of it is probably going to result in disappointment but on the other hand, with good ammunition it's been my experience that a decent example of a Swedish Mauser is capable of better than 1MOA. That seems to be true regardless of the date of manufacture.

A local club used to have military rifle matches that were shot from a rest. When the Swedes started hitting the market some years back they had to change the match rules. Several people bought Swedish Mausers and their accuracy was so uniformly good that no one else could win. The non-Swede shooters complained and they changed the rules to eliminate the benched shooting so that the field would be evened up a bit.

 

[Float Pilot]

A couple of our range guys either try to change the rules or make sure the match is held when I can't come.. All because I started using Swede Mausers.
And here one of them was using whimpy velocity cast lead hand-loads in his Swiss K-31, while I was using full house loads. My little m/94 carbine is fairly accurate so I may try using it next with the long bayonet attached. That should rub some salt in the wound.

 

[Float Pilot]

RUBIO:

Your m/96 rifle was built at the Carl Gustaf State Rifle Factory Eskilstuna Sweden in 1919. It was inspected by H.K. who was Helge Gustaf Ludvig Kolhoff. Born 08/07/1878.
He inspected rifles for acceptance from April 1, 1912 until Feb 28, 1923. He was a Lt. in the 6th Artillery.

They made around 18,000 m/96 rifles in 1919. Yours was made during the very first part of 1919.
If your is still in m/96 form it will have a 29 inch barrel. I say IF because many m/96 rifles were cut down into m/38 rifles with 23.5 inch barrels just before WWII.

Here is a good place that explains the bore condition disc.

http://dutchman.rebooty.com/disc.html

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/swede/index.asp

 

[scotjute]

I have one in which I had the barrell free-floated. The gun shot 3/4 MOA at 110 yds. It had a #2 barrell.
Doesn't seem far-fetched to me that some of the Swedes are capable of 1/2 MOA.