Husqvarna Sporting Rifles #### - ALL MODELS!!!
- Thread starter Baribal
- Start date
OK, here's a question....
The 1600 I got came with a Weaver #35 front and #25 rear....they fit like a glove, no gaps, haven't been lapped, look like they were made for it and still look new.
Tried a #46 front, and #55 rear and they don't mate up very well at all. The radius is too tight ie the edges touch but not the middle and there is a gap.
So no problem, I'll live with the #35/#25 combo, except the #25 has the old style round notch (front #35 is square) for the ring recoil lug, and my rings have a square lug. So I get a new #25 with the square notch and the raidius is too wide.....contact in the middle but none on the edges.
Did the 1600's vary with the front and rear dimensions for bases?
The 1600 I got came with a Weaver #35 front and #25 rear....they fit like a glove, no gaps, haven't been lapped, look like they were made for it and still look new.
Tried a #46 front, and #55 rear and they don't mate up very well at all. The radius is too tight ie the edges touch but not the middle and there is a gap.
So no problem, I'll live with the #35/#25 combo, except the #25 has the old style round notch (front #35 is square) for the ring recoil lug, and my rings have a square lug. So I get a new #25 with the square notch and the raidius is too wide.....contact in the middle but none on the edges.
Did the 1600's vary with the front and rear dimensions for bases?
The correct bases are #46 and #55. I've done hundreds of these from the begining of the prosuctuon 'til the very gew last. If they don't fit, something was changed. The Swedes often used #35 and #25, but they, most of the times, are shimmed.
I've recently purchased a 1957 made 1600 series rifle and installed the number 46 and 55 bases on it that came off an m96 Mauser in 6.5mm. I used millet medium height rings but the scope tube was no where near parallel to the bore. The rear of the scope was considerably higher than the front. I ended up using a low height ring on the rear and the medium on the front mount to make it close. Is this normal for these rifles or am I missing something? As close as I can measure, the scope is now about 1/32 low at the rear. I hate to have to start shimming at this point. Suggestions?
Something is wrong, then, as the M/94/96/38 is the same contour as the 1600, number 46 front and 55 is what is used since years, I've installed douzains of these without a problem.
Sounds like you used 46 and 45 or something similar... the difference you point is about right for a LR vs a SM....
Sounds like you used 46 and 45 or something similar... the difference you point is about right for a LR vs a SM....
Johnn Peterson
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Chemainus B.C.
358 NM, #146 & #155
To add to my last post on this thread a little over three years ago.
For my birthday (and retirement from the CAF) yesterday, my family solved my fullstocked Husqvarna dilemma by giving me a fullstock they found on Tradex. No more agonizing over what to convert to what.
Anyways, I have what appears to be a Series 456 in 30/06. S/N 225378. The usual alloy floorplate and triggerguard. Plastic/micarta/something pistol grip cap and buttplate. Single leaf solid rear sight; no multiple leaves or elevator. Round cheekpiece instead of teardrop like the Huskys. Has somebody's #35 scope mount on the front of the receiver, a #25 at the back. Sling mounts appear to be for something narrower than a standard sling, but haven't tried threading one of my Latigo slings through it yet. The joint for the two piece stock appears to be about an inch in front of the front swivel. Appears to be like my Huskys in every respect except for the full length stock.
Too dark right now to take pictures, but the wood and metal is in very good condition. In fact, looking at the bolt face, it appears the rifle was rarely fired.
But the dilemma continues...
So the original Husky 30/06 is now a 30 Newton - the 30/06 AI chambering in the new barrel never did work out and Bill Leeper couldn't find out why. So he ate the cost and rechambered it to 30 Newton. Not an original Husky chambering, but an interesting old vintage chambering that works very well in the Husky for hunting the mountains around here. Anyways, I now have the 30 Newton, the .308 Winchester, a 30/06 - and now this 30/06. I'm afraid to shoot it for fear it will turn out to be a tackdriver like the 308 Winchester. But I have more than enough 30/06s already, and I've always wanted a light, handy .35 caliber.
The "for sure" plans include buying a set of Cone-trol mounts and rings and putting a Leupold 3-9 Compact on it, along with a Timney trigger if they still make them. After that, I'm torn: do I just have Bill put a new .35 caliber barrel on the action, same length as before, turned down as far as safely possible, and see how much the stock and nose cap have to be opened up? That would be the least expensive, but the stock (while in excellent shape) is about as plain Jane as you could possibly imagine stocks. So I'm thinking of putting the original full stock aside, buying a really nice stock blank, and having Bill replace the stock on the rifle as well as rebarrel/rechamber. Then put up the original barrel and stock for sale, so that some other guy who wants a full stock Husky can just install the barrel and stock on his action - with a bit of fitting.
Not sure what will become of it, but very pleased with this classy new edition to the Husqvarna platoon that make up my hunting rifles.
For my birthday (and retirement from the CAF) yesterday, my family solved my fullstocked Husqvarna dilemma by giving me a fullstock they found on Tradex. No more agonizing over what to convert to what.
Anyways, I have what appears to be a Series 456 in 30/06. S/N 225378. The usual alloy floorplate and triggerguard. Plastic/micarta/something pistol grip cap and buttplate. Single leaf solid rear sight; no multiple leaves or elevator. Round cheekpiece instead of teardrop like the Huskys. Has somebody's #35 scope mount on the front of the receiver, a #25 at the back. Sling mounts appear to be for something narrower than a standard sling, but haven't tried threading one of my Latigo slings through it yet. The joint for the two piece stock appears to be about an inch in front of the front swivel. Appears to be like my Huskys in every respect except for the full length stock.
Too dark right now to take pictures, but the wood and metal is in very good condition. In fact, looking at the bolt face, it appears the rifle was rarely fired.
But the dilemma continues...
So the original Husky 30/06 is now a 30 Newton - the 30/06 AI chambering in the new barrel never did work out and Bill Leeper couldn't find out why. So he ate the cost and rechambered it to 30 Newton. Not an original Husky chambering, but an interesting old vintage chambering that works very well in the Husky for hunting the mountains around here. Anyways, I now have the 30 Newton, the .308 Winchester, a 30/06 - and now this 30/06. I'm afraid to shoot it for fear it will turn out to be a tackdriver like the 308 Winchester. But I have more than enough 30/06s already, and I've always wanted a light, handy .35 caliber.
The "for sure" plans include buying a set of Cone-trol mounts and rings and putting a Leupold 3-9 Compact on it, along with a Timney trigger if they still make them. After that, I'm torn: do I just have Bill put a new .35 caliber barrel on the action, same length as before, turned down as far as safely possible, and see how much the stock and nose cap have to be opened up? That would be the least expensive, but the stock (while in excellent shape) is about as plain Jane as you could possibly imagine stocks. So I'm thinking of putting the original full stock aside, buying a really nice stock blank, and having Bill replace the stock on the rifle as well as rebarrel/rechamber. Then put up the original barrel and stock for sale, so that some other guy who wants a full stock Husky can just install the barrel and stock on his action - with a bit of fitting.
Not sure what will become of it, but very pleased with this classy new edition to the Husqvarna platoon that make up my hunting rifles.
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...
Go all the way! Restock it, and swap to the steel floor plate while your at it. That's my preference. But wait, then it wouldn't match your others ......
By the way, I like the look of the Conetrol rings and bases, is that the 2-7 II in the photos above? It sure fits good anyway. Might have to get one for one of my Husqy's.
By the way, I like the look of the Conetrol rings and bases, is that the 2-7 II in the photos above? It sure fits good anyway. Might have to get one for one of my Husqy's.
I've thought of going full meal deal, but a couple of things to sort out anyways. First, I would prefer a steel floor plate/triggerguard - except I find that magazine release fugly. My alloy triggerguards are still in pretty good shape after 40 years of being dragged around, and this one is almost unmarked. If I go full restock, there probably is some other make of triggerguard/magazine that would fit or be able to be made to fit if I wanted to go steel.
Second, I'd want a new nose cap, grip cap, and buttplate. That only makes sense to those who have spent years searching for the missing pieces to restore/build a rifle - like I have for my Ross and a few others. I'd feel pretty good offering the complete original stock and barrel for sale, knowing some guy wanting a full stocked Husqvarna could just buy one of the many lower priced 1600s at Tradex, do some swapping and fitting, and have what they are looking for with all original parts. I am not a Husky collector per se; they are just among the nicest hunting rifles I have ever picked up for the mountain hunting around here (don't need to explain that to anybody). Well, the BSA Majestic Featherweights have the same light weight and feel in the hands, but the Huskys were what I've been able to find and I've stuck with them just like you tend to stick with a breed of hunting dog (make mine a Griffon, please).
The buttplate would not be a big deal; I don't have a problem with the hard buttplate on the Husky in 30/06, but the 30 Newton built on that action with the original buttplate is on the verge of unpleasant. I just put this rifle on the scale; it weighs 6 lbs 1 oz as is, and a rebarrel to .35, Con-trols, and a Leupold Compact probably ends up at around 7 lbs and change. In a 35 Whelen slinging 225 grain bullets and the same rifle weight, I am pretty sure I would decide I needed at least a small recoil pad in a hurry if I didn't put one on to begin with.
The pistol grip cap also not a big deal; not looking for an exact replica look of the original rifle, so any number of classy grip caps that Brownell's sells would do.
The nose cap might be a problem. Most of the nose caps with flares, ridges, abrupt lips, etc are (I think) fugly. From the pics I just found on the Web, but not having an example in front of me, the end caps on Ruger's International and Remington's Model 7 MS look appealing, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to get one.
Anyways, haven't even fired it as is, just because, much dragged it out to Bill's to see what he thinks of the project. Still just thinkin' about it.
That's actually the 3-9 Vari-X II in that picture. I bought a bunch of Compacts from Premier Reticle some years ago when they would build you a custom reticle and set the parallax to where you wanted it for very little over the price of the scope. The 2-7s are all now gone to other homes, and everything is 3-9 Compact with a plain crosshair subtending .4 MOA on 9x and parallax set for 300 yards. I think Premier Reticle is still around, but I don't know if they do stuff like that at a reasonable price anymore. The Tacti-cool market seems to have both moved the focus and jacked up prices everywhere.
And it looks like I won't be just ordering a Timney trigger for this one like I did for the other Husky's, either.
So thats a 3x9x33 compact/ultralight in the photos above?
I originally did not like the floorplate release and even thought about replacing it somehow, but it actually grew on me and now I like its elegant simplicity and clean lines. It does work very well. I've always wondered what the weight difference between the steel and the alloy bottom metal is. I did have an alloy one once but never got around to weighing it.
My current desire is to replace the bakelite buttplate with something rubber. Recoil is not an issue on my rifles, but I would like something quieter, and less likely to slide when I lean the rifle up somewhere. I would not cut the stock, I like the factory curve in the wood.
I originally did not like the floorplate release and even thought about replacing it somehow, but it actually grew on me and now I like its elegant simplicity and clean lines. It does work very well. I've always wondered what the weight difference between the steel and the alloy bottom metal is. I did have an alloy one once but never got around to weighing it.
My current desire is to replace the bakelite buttplate with something rubber. Recoil is not an issue on my rifles, but I would like something quieter, and less likely to slide when I lean the rifle up somewhere. I would not cut the stock, I like the factory curve in the wood.
