Husqvarna Sporting Rifles #### - ALL MODELS!!!
- Thread starter Baribal
- Start date
Johnn Peterson
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Chemainus B.C.
Okay, here's one to revive this thread.
Have been offered way too much money for it. What do you guys think?
Ted
Hi Ted. It's been a while so how have you and Marg been? As you now know, in addition to having a 'soft spot' for Schultz & Larsens, I have a similar weakness for nice Husqvarnas. A very nice rifle and once again, you're making me drool
. What are the details on it, including the offer you've received? Oh,Syl says to say hi.
My apologies for the late reply, Guys. Have been half way all over the continent the past eight days, and still not home.
vviking, the aperture is an old Redfield that came on the base from the factory. Redfield used to offer all their bases with this feature, if you wanted it. They are adjustable and fold down neatly out of the way when the scope is mounted. There are still a few of them around.
Like almost all receiver sights, it requires a higher front sight, and this rifle has an original Tradewinds front sight of the correct height, made especially for Husqvarna rifles, that they called the "Snapshooter Front Post". It is a heavy (strong) Patridge style flat top that can be picked up very quickly in dim light or heavy bush, and still has enough definition for very accurate shooting. I will try to get a few pictures of both the flip up and the post when I get back.
Jon, it was good visiting with you and Syl last evening. I guess you are right, that a rifle is worth whatever a person is willing to pay. The other side of that coin is whether that is enough to allow the rifle to leave home, especially knowing you will probably never see another one like it.
Good to be back,
Ted
vviking, the aperture is an old Redfield that came on the base from the factory. Redfield used to offer all their bases with this feature, if you wanted it. They are adjustable and fold down neatly out of the way when the scope is mounted. There are still a few of them around.
Like almost all receiver sights, it requires a higher front sight, and this rifle has an original Tradewinds front sight of the correct height, made especially for Husqvarna rifles, that they called the "Snapshooter Front Post". It is a heavy (strong) Patridge style flat top that can be picked up very quickly in dim light or heavy bush, and still has enough definition for very accurate shooting. I will try to get a few pictures of both the flip up and the post when I get back.
Jon, it was good visiting with you and Syl last evening. I guess you are right, that a rifle is worth whatever a person is willing to pay. The other side of that coin is whether that is enough to allow the rifle to leave home, especially knowing you will probably never see another one like it.
Good to be back,
Ted
Johnn Peterson
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Chemainus B.C.
My apologies for the late reply, Guys. Have been half way all over the continent the past eight days, and still not home.
vviking, the aperture is an old Redfield that came on the base from the factory. Redfield used to offer all their bases with this feature, if you wanted it. They are adjustable and fold down neatly out of the way when the scope is mounted. There are still a few of them around.
Like almost all receiver sights, it requires a higher front sight, and this rifle has an original Tradewinds front sight of the correct height, made especially for Husqvarna rifles, that they called the "Snapshooter Front Post". It is a heavy (strong) Patridge style flat top that can be picked up very quickly in dim light or heavy bush, and still has enough definition for very accurate shooting. I will try to get a few pictures of both the flip up and the post when I get back.
Jon, it was good visiting with you and Syl last evening. I guess you are right, that a rifle is worth whatever a person is willing to pay. The other side of that coin is whether that is enough to allow the rifle to leave home, especially knowing you will probably never see another one like it.
Good to be back,
Ted
Welcome home. Good to have you back and good chatting with you.
I have a model 4000 Husqvarna in 30-06 I inherited from my Dad. As 'pretty' as yours looks, and sounds, if it was in a calibre I didn't already have, I'd be in the bidding
. The model 3000 Husqvarna in 270 Win I purchased from you, may get the call for my AB Mule Deer draw this fall. Either that or my S&L in 7x61 S&H, not sure yet. And the model 1651 Husqvarna in 358 NM I acquired from you is a keeper, even if I find that calibre in a Schultz & Larsen that I want so badly. I've grown quite fond of that Husqvarna in 358 NM. As I made mention of in a previous post, I have a soft spot for Schultz & Larsens and nice Husqvarnas. Wouldn't mind a nice Husky with full length wood and in a more traditional European calibre. One day............Another lovely 9.3X62 Husqvarna.
Look at the fine checkering on this rifle, and the near perfect grain flow through the pistol grip. Imagine what it would cost to have a stock like this crafted today.
The Lyman 4X is a classic, too.
Ted
Look at the fine checkering on this rifle, and the near perfect grain flow through the pistol grip. Imagine what it would cost to have a stock like this crafted today.
The Lyman 4X is a classic, too.
Ted
Johnn Peterson
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Chemainus B.C.
Another lovely 9.3X62 Husqvarna.
Look at the fine checkering on this rifle, and the near perfect grain flow through the pistol grip. Imagine what it would cost to have a stock like this crafted today.
The Lyman 4X is a classic, too.
Ted
And once again
, very nice.
What are you fella using for Weaver mounts on your 1640's? I am having some issues getting bore sited, it's as if the rear mount is too low or the front is too high. I do not want to shim the rear mount. I am using raised rings for a little more clearance on the bolt handle and a Bushnell Trophy 4 X 14 40mm scope. I am still 2" high with no adjustment left.
Cheers!
Marcel
Cheers!
Marcel
Love those Huskies...
Interesting thread here.
I'll admit my interest extends strictly to the "Huskies" that were imported into Canada for a few years. I grew up around them and they were widespread among the local sheep and goat hunting fanatics of the 60's, of which my father was one. So I grew up simply assuming they were the perfect big game rifle... and scarce around here they are not, even today.
By the mid 70's I was out on my own, feeling my oats, and suddenly deciding that the 30/06 Mom & Dad had given me when I was a kid simply wouldn't do anymore. And I was collecting a miner's paycheque, which left cash in my jeans when I wasn't investing it in bars, fast cars, and faster women. Kept looking for Husqvarnas at all the sporting goods stores, but was being told they didn't make them anymore. And the guys who owned them weren't selling.
Then I heard through the grapevine that the gunsmith in Nelson had gone crazy and had an attic full of new Husqvarna's. So I blew a shift at the mine, threw my sleeping bag in the car, and headed for Norm's Sports Center in Nelson. I can't remember his name nor the name of his shop now, but he was wailing and speaking in tongues when I arrived there to check the rumour out. Decades later, I realize he probably was suffering from Alzheimer's and realize what a terrible time his wife was having as she tried to settle up the business he was clearly incapable of participating in any longer.
Anyways, she knew a thing or two about firearms herself, and invited me to go upstairs and look around for myself. Wow... I remember seeing European stuff I had read about in Jack O'Connor columns and books, but not yet actually seen in person - drillings and lots of other "weird" guns... at least to an East Kootenay kid. Oh, to have had the foresight to have bought them all...
But I did find what I had driven to the Weird Kootenays (as we called it then) looking for - a whole pile of brand new Huskies. Well over a dozen as I recall. I looked them all over and took two: a 30/06 like Dad's, and a 358 Norma Magnum (why I took that at the time I'll never know). I still have the hang tags and literature that came with the rifles; unfortunately, I didn't squirrel away the boxes as well.
The wife of the gunsmith demanded the outrageous sum of $500 for each of them. It was outrageous because the literature in the box said - right there in front of us - that the Husky was $139.95. But she knew a firmly hooked customer when she saw one and I suspect was no dummy in the gun business to begin with. So I pulled out my checkbook and wrote her a cheque for them... still have that as well...
A few decades later, I bought a very unused looking Husky in .308 Winchester, bringing the count in the safe to three. The original plan was to turn the .308 into a Mannlicher stocked Husky in something like 35 Whelan, but it turned out to be so damned ridiculously accurate that I haven't yet touched it. Bill Leeper was telling me I need a 35 Newton the last time I dropped by to see if he wanted to go dual sporting and showed me some Newton brass he has. Hmmm, it will horrify some, but maybe that Husqvarna needs to be a Newton... with or without a Mannlicher stock... I do know where a 7x57 Husky lives, probably not so carefully looked after, so perhaps that's worth checking as a project rifle to start with.
For the curious, the 30/06's S/N is 286111, the 308 is S/N 231986; both of them have the three leaf rear iron sight. The 358 Norma Magnum is 265997; It has a single leaf adjustable rear sight. The 308 and 358 NM have an "A" just before the "Nitro" on the barrel; the 30/06 does not. All have the anodized trigger guard and inevitable (apparently - I remember being horrified when they first appeared) hairline cracks at the wrist of the stock right behind the tang.
All three wear Cone-Trol mounts and rings and Leupold scopes. 2x7 Compacts on the 30 calibers, 3x9 Vari-X II's on the 358. I haven't hunted much with the 308, but the other two have shot an awful lot of deer, elk and moose in the last 30 years or so.
Well, picture time. Your typical Husky (all three look almost identical right up to the scopes and mounts, except for barrel length and the fact the 358 Norma has a recoil pad... which it really does need):
Well, not so typical - I've known Bill Leeper since his Guncraft days and always liked how well he does his work. So with him living so close, I never seem to be able to stop myself from having him do stuff to my rifles. He rebarreled both the 30/06 and the 358 NM for me, in the same calibers with the same barrel profile. Well not quite - the 30/06 is now 30/06 AI as Bill's 30/06 reamer was shot by then and he only had a new 30/06 AI reamer at the time. No surprise to anyone here, no real gains in accuracy with the Ackley Improved treatment. Anyways, I was trying for a little more accuracy, you see... I got it with both, without going after the wood in the stocks, and I still have the original barrels carefully greased and stored away. So the barrels can always go straight back to original.
I did have him alter the bolt handles on the Huskies as I just didn't care for the way the bolt stuck out there:
And I kind of like the European bolt look when done well anyways... The other change was putting Timney triggers in the two new ones I bought, not long after I got them. Have the original stuff from them as well stored away, along with the front sight hoods.
So that's the story of those three. The 308 will probably become a 35 Newton, just because I need one, and because the guy at the Calgary Gun Show this year with a badly mistreated Husky that would have been an excellent platform action wanted a ridiculous amount of money for it... $350 if I remember correctly.
Some additional Husky #### for the fans out there. Here's the ad that used to run constantly through the 60's that kept my appetite for owning my own new-in-the-box Husky whetted:
That's scanned out of a 1961 gun magazine I still have laying around here somewhere.
And the "owners manual" (or the closest thing to it) that was packaged up with the Huskies when I bought them:
The actual page/poster is 11x17 when unfolded; the other half lauds "The Imperial Custom" Series 6000, with a picture of it superimposed over a really, really cheesy taxidermy mount of some sort of rodent in a tyrannasaurus rex pose...
And if pics of Husky's in the field are good, here's one snapped by my brother with his Spotmatic of the 30/06 when we were on a late season Bighorn Sheep hunt up around Todhunter Creek, prior to the bolt-ectomy, circa about 1976 I would guess...
Rifles and memories... interestingly, my brother went the other way and bought one of the equally popular locally BSA Majestic Featherweights with that horrible BESA recoil reducer at the muzzle. Years before dragon calls became popular gunsmith options on rifles. We both thought it looked cool on an elegant gun when he bought it, but after hearing it the first time he fired it at the range, I have despised dragon calls on rifles ever since... he nearly deafened me with that thing every time he shot something with it while I was beside it.
Thank Christ Husqvarna never decided to put those things on the Huskies...
Interesting thread here.
I'll admit my interest extends strictly to the "Huskies" that were imported into Canada for a few years. I grew up around them and they were widespread among the local sheep and goat hunting fanatics of the 60's, of which my father was one. So I grew up simply assuming they were the perfect big game rifle... and scarce around here they are not, even today.
By the mid 70's I was out on my own, feeling my oats, and suddenly deciding that the 30/06 Mom & Dad had given me when I was a kid simply wouldn't do anymore. And I was collecting a miner's paycheque, which left cash in my jeans when I wasn't investing it in bars, fast cars, and faster women. Kept looking for Husqvarnas at all the sporting goods stores, but was being told they didn't make them anymore. And the guys who owned them weren't selling.
Then I heard through the grapevine that the gunsmith in Nelson had gone crazy and had an attic full of new Husqvarna's. So I blew a shift at the mine, threw my sleeping bag in the car, and headed for Norm's Sports Center in Nelson. I can't remember his name nor the name of his shop now, but he was wailing and speaking in tongues when I arrived there to check the rumour out. Decades later, I realize he probably was suffering from Alzheimer's and realize what a terrible time his wife was having as she tried to settle up the business he was clearly incapable of participating in any longer.
Anyways, she knew a thing or two about firearms herself, and invited me to go upstairs and look around for myself. Wow... I remember seeing European stuff I had read about in Jack O'Connor columns and books, but not yet actually seen in person - drillings and lots of other "weird" guns... at least to an East Kootenay kid. Oh, to have had the foresight to have bought them all...
But I did find what I had driven to the Weird Kootenays (as we called it then) looking for - a whole pile of brand new Huskies. Well over a dozen as I recall. I looked them all over and took two: a 30/06 like Dad's, and a 358 Norma Magnum (why I took that at the time I'll never know). I still have the hang tags and literature that came with the rifles; unfortunately, I didn't squirrel away the boxes as well.
The wife of the gunsmith demanded the outrageous sum of $500 for each of them. It was outrageous because the literature in the box said - right there in front of us - that the Husky was $139.95. But she knew a firmly hooked customer when she saw one and I suspect was no dummy in the gun business to begin with. So I pulled out my checkbook and wrote her a cheque for them... still have that as well...
A few decades later, I bought a very unused looking Husky in .308 Winchester, bringing the count in the safe to three. The original plan was to turn the .308 into a Mannlicher stocked Husky in something like 35 Whelan, but it turned out to be so damned ridiculously accurate that I haven't yet touched it. Bill Leeper was telling me I need a 35 Newton the last time I dropped by to see if he wanted to go dual sporting and showed me some Newton brass he has. Hmmm, it will horrify some, but maybe that Husqvarna needs to be a Newton... with or without a Mannlicher stock... I do know where a 7x57 Husky lives, probably not so carefully looked after, so perhaps that's worth checking as a project rifle to start with.
For the curious, the 30/06's S/N is 286111, the 308 is S/N 231986; both of them have the three leaf rear iron sight. The 358 Norma Magnum is 265997; It has a single leaf adjustable rear sight. The 308 and 358 NM have an "A" just before the "Nitro" on the barrel; the 30/06 does not. All have the anodized trigger guard and inevitable (apparently - I remember being horrified when they first appeared) hairline cracks at the wrist of the stock right behind the tang.
All three wear Cone-Trol mounts and rings and Leupold scopes. 2x7 Compacts on the 30 calibers, 3x9 Vari-X II's on the 358. I haven't hunted much with the 308, but the other two have shot an awful lot of deer, elk and moose in the last 30 years or so.
Well, picture time. Your typical Husky (all three look almost identical right up to the scopes and mounts, except for barrel length and the fact the 358 Norma has a recoil pad... which it really does need):
Well, not so typical - I've known Bill Leeper since his Guncraft days and always liked how well he does his work. So with him living so close, I never seem to be able to stop myself from having him do stuff to my rifles. He rebarreled both the 30/06 and the 358 NM for me, in the same calibers with the same barrel profile. Well not quite - the 30/06 is now 30/06 AI as Bill's 30/06 reamer was shot by then and he only had a new 30/06 AI reamer at the time. No surprise to anyone here, no real gains in accuracy with the Ackley Improved treatment. Anyways, I was trying for a little more accuracy, you see... I got it with both, without going after the wood in the stocks, and I still have the original barrels carefully greased and stored away. So the barrels can always go straight back to original.
I did have him alter the bolt handles on the Huskies as I just didn't care for the way the bolt stuck out there:
And I kind of like the European bolt look when done well anyways... The other change was putting Timney triggers in the two new ones I bought, not long after I got them. Have the original stuff from them as well stored away, along with the front sight hoods.
So that's the story of those three. The 308 will probably become a 35 Newton, just because I need one, and because the guy at the Calgary Gun Show this year with a badly mistreated Husky that would have been an excellent platform action wanted a ridiculous amount of money for it... $350 if I remember correctly.
Some additional Husky #### for the fans out there. Here's the ad that used to run constantly through the 60's that kept my appetite for owning my own new-in-the-box Husky whetted:
That's scanned out of a 1961 gun magazine I still have laying around here somewhere.
And the "owners manual" (or the closest thing to it) that was packaged up with the Huskies when I bought them:
The actual page/poster is 11x17 when unfolded; the other half lauds "The Imperial Custom" Series 6000, with a picture of it superimposed over a really, really cheesy taxidermy mount of some sort of rodent in a tyrannasaurus rex pose...
And if pics of Husky's in the field are good, here's one snapped by my brother with his Spotmatic of the 30/06 when we were on a late season Bighorn Sheep hunt up around Todhunter Creek, prior to the bolt-ectomy, circa about 1976 I would guess...
Rifles and memories... interestingly, my brother went the other way and bought one of the equally popular locally BSA Majestic Featherweights with that horrible BESA recoil reducer at the muzzle. Years before dragon calls became popular gunsmith options on rifles. We both thought it looked cool on an elegant gun when he bought it, but after hearing it the first time he fired it at the range, I have despised dragon calls on rifles ever since... he nearly deafened me with that thing every time he shot something with it while I was beside it.
Thank Christ Husqvarna never decided to put those things on the Huskies...
Nice story. You're a real HVA lover.
The "tang crack" is not that common on the 1640/1600 serie, it's much more common in the 640's serie, especially those having beech stocks. Anyhow, the crack is symptomatic of most Mauser type bolt guns, especially those with staggered column magazines and thin stocks. A good bedding and keeping the action screws tight should take care of the problem.
The "A" in the serial number is related to the introduction of the "alloy" trigger guard / floorplate, as they were still producing the 1640/1600 with leftover steel trigger guard / floorplate assembly for a while after the introduction of the "alloyed". The word "Nitro" is the proof mark of the gun.
The 30-06 in the picture and the 308 seems to both be "5000" or "Husky" model, with barrel lenght was 560mm (22" from the bolt face to the muzzle).
Your .358 NM should have a slightly different fore end shape with a cross bolt (only very early don't have them). This one is a model "1651".
The "tang crack" is not that common on the 1640/1600 serie, it's much more common in the 640's serie, especially those having beech stocks. Anyhow, the crack is symptomatic of most Mauser type bolt guns, especially those with staggered column magazines and thin stocks. A good bedding and keeping the action screws tight should take care of the problem.
The "A" in the serial number is related to the introduction of the "alloy" trigger guard / floorplate, as they were still producing the 1640/1600 with leftover steel trigger guard / floorplate assembly for a while after the introduction of the "alloyed". The word "Nitro" is the proof mark of the gun.
The 30-06 in the picture and the 308 seems to both be "5000" or "Husky" model, with barrel lenght was 560mm (22" from the bolt face to the muzzle).
Your .358 NM should have a slightly different fore end shape with a cross bolt (only very early don't have them). This one is a model "1651".
Not very knowledgeable on model numbers, but I do know it is common on these Huskies, M-5000's or whatever they designated them as. I don't think I've seen one yet that didn't have the cracks - usually, just hairline cracks like mine, but they're still there. The cracks haven't gone anywhere, but the first thing I do with any rifle is check the action screws and they've always been tight. I did accraglass bed the 30/06...
Yep, all alloy. Been tempted to say the hell with weight savings, I don't like alloy on rifles, and look for metal replacements that will drop in as replacements.
Any idea of years of manufacture? Curious how long that gunsmith had those rifles gathering dust in his attic before he went completely demented and his wife started selling them off.
The "Husky H-5000" was a "budget" rifle.
From the serial numbers you provided, the 30-06 was made around mid-64, the 308 Win late '58 and the 358 NM was made in 1962.
The "Husky H-5000" was introduced in 1963, so from the s/n the 308 was not one of those. It might have been a 4000 (or "Lightweight", 520mm or 20.5" barrel).
You can't easily swap the original steel trigger guard with without altering or changing the stock. The original steel trigger guard have a slimmer shape than the alloy one. The 1640/1600 series used the same action screw pattern as the M/98 Mauser.
From the serial numbers you provided, the 30-06 was made around mid-64, the 308 Win late '58 and the 358 NM was made in 1962.
The "Husky H-5000" was introduced in 1963, so from the s/n the 308 was not one of those. It might have been a 4000 (or "Lightweight", 520mm or 20.5" barrel).
You can't easily swap the original steel trigger guard with without altering or changing the stock. The original steel trigger guard have a slimmer shape than the alloy one. The 1640/1600 series used the same action screw pattern as the M/98 Mauser.
I have 8 of the H-5000's, and none of them have cracks. None of the other five or six 1600's that I have are cracked either.
I missed the sights issue. The H-5000 orignally have a fixed rear sight, but since the rifles were rebarreled, there should be no more H-5000 stamping on thop of the barrel, if there was any to begin with. But yes, if they originally had folding leaf sights they might have been both 4000. But a lot of gunshops also used to install Lyman of Marbles folding sights on new HVA 1640/1600.
Actually, early 4000/4100 had rear sights. I have one here made in 1953 with the folding sight. There is a dovetail cut in the barrel and they had folding sights for 100/200/300 meters. Late 4000/41000 have single leaf (blade type) adjustable sights.
A lot of Euro models have fixed sights.
The only 1640 model I can see without sights is the "Skogis", sold as a barreled action to Folke Dahlberg. These rifles are easily identifgied, as the Folke Dahlberg stocks are somewhat original.
Hey Baribal
I have to correct you on a couple things. The early 4000s had no dovetail cut in the barrel and no rear sight. The ones I have seen/owned were all between serial # 200,000 and 220,000 with the steel bottom metal. All the 4100s had the same sight through out their production which is the sporting rear with a manual elevator. The later 4000s had the 3 leaf(two folding one standing) type. The OP has the original barrels and I assumed he would have known if they were 5000s since that model is stamped on the barrel. Hope this clears things up.
Regards
Greg
I have to correct you on a couple things. The early 4000s had no dovetail cut in the barrel and no rear sight. The ones I have seen/owned were all between serial # 200,000 and 220,000 with the steel bottom metal. All the 4100s had the same sight through out their production which is the sporting rear with a manual elevator. The later 4000s had the 3 leaf(two folding one standing) type. The OP has the original barrels and I assumed he would have known if they were 5000s since that model is stamped on the barrel. Hope this clears things up.
Regards
Greg
I really don"t 't want to argue and start a fight with you, but;
Regarding the OP's barrels;
I can show you a big bunch of photos of actual rifles of early and late production.
1967
1958
1957
Guns Magazine 1955
Gun Digest 1967
Regarding the OP's barrels;
I can show you a big bunch of photos of actual rifles of early and late production.
1967
1958
1957
Guns Magazine 1955
Gun Digest 1967
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