Yeah, it's a real shame but it seems all the Swedish mausers I see all have something wrong with them- A drilled and tapped reciever, a beaten/cracked/cut-up stock, bad bore, or rough finish,
Was it that much to ask people to take good care of their arms?
The first batches of M94, then M96, followed by the M38 rifles were the cream of those in storage. Most were fresh from a factory thorough repair and they were cheap.
They were cheap because ammunition was next to non existent, unless you could find some Dominion or European manufacture ammo. There was a lot of surplus ammo around but it was all corrosive primed.
A lot of new surplus rifle owners had no idea what the effects of corrosive ammo would have on their rifles and happily placed them in the closet, without cleaning properly to take care of the problem.
That's where most of the badly pitted bores came from.
A bunch of M41 sniper rifles came in at one point, without mounts or scopes. Some of the dealers had no idea what these rifles were. I bought two at a discount, because of the D&T holes on the side of the receiver.
Right after that, the M38s arrived and they were also fresh out of FTR for the most part. Again, they were cheap. $25 each or 5 for $100 from International. If you bought a hundred, they were all hand selected and shipped for $1500, taxes in. People loved them and bought them to turn into sporting rifles. Bubba is a harsh master and far to often his work leaves a lot to be desired.
Many had after market stocks put on them, available from International as well. Made from died dark brown Beech and checkered, inletted for a drop in, at $35 they were a steal. That's when a lot of them were drilled and tapped. Some folks liked them just the way they were and loved the accuracy, so just d&t to accept a scope with high rings. Usually on the bend bolt purpose built M38,
M96/38 were conversions to intermediate length during the FTR and retained their straight bolts.
The last batches of Swede Mausers were a hodge podge of their version of the Civilian Marksmanship Program.
These rifles went from plain vanilla issue to having diopter rear sights added and most of these also had match front sights. There were all sorts of variants, depending which venue the owner was shooting.
Right about the same time, the dregs of what was left in the warehouses in Sweden were sold off. That's where most of the worn and abused specimens came from.
A lot of these later rifles were used a lot but well maintained. Their bores are often worn to 50-75%
