I Need Help With Information About My Swedish Mauser

[MartinRiggs]

Hey Everyone, thanks in advance to anyone who replies and gives me a hand.
I am new to firearms and collecting firearms, and I have become obsessed with milsurps. I have a few favourites I know I want to one day own, but I am on a tight budget so it's going to be a slow start to the collection. I am not crazy about them being pristine, as I want to collect real shooters, and shoot the s*&t out of them. I wanted to start with something I could also take hunting, because of my budget ( so accuracy was a key feature in this first pick ).

I found a Carl Gustaf Swedish Mauser I was able to afford and I picked it up. The 6.5x55 is a great hunting cartridge so thats a +1. There was a little bit of rust here and there, its missing the rear sight, and the correct safety (theres a mark II safety on it that works ok, not well though). I took it out shooting, and it seems to shoot great. I haven't done a proper accuracy test yet but I'll go and group some rounds soon. The previous owner mounted a scope on it, so there are holes in the receiver. One whole covers up the 3rd number in the date stamp. So it reads 19*8. Its a Carl Gustaf so i've narrowed it down to 1918 or 1938 I believe. It has a serial number that matches with Mausers produced in 1918. HK 459676. It is almost all matching numbers. The receiver matches the bolt, bolt handle, butt plate, floor plate, barrel band. It is a turn down bolt handle thats matches the 1918 serial number. So I figure this is an m96 that was converted to an m38. I know they converted many before starting to make dedicated m38's. But the converted ones are supposed to have straight bolt handles. Mine has the turn down bolt handle. So did they also produce conversions with turn down bolt handles? I am having trouble finding the info I need. I am wondering if I have found an interesting variant or if this is a common m96/38 Swede.

I am still deciding if I want to keep it or sell or trade it. Undecided if its the Mauser for me.

Thanks I appreciate any information or replies.

 

[Ganderite]

I have several Swedes and they all shoot well. The 6.5x55 is an excellent hunting cartridge, so it will perform for you.

I should not be difficult to get the correct safety for it, although it may now have an after market safety so it can clear the scope.

For hunting, I prefer to leave the bolt handle up for maximum safety. I don't trust safeties.

The mods to your rifle mean it does not have much collector value. It is now a shooter, with some history. It should be a very good shooter.

 

[MartinRiggs]

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate the reply. I feel comfortable now turning this into my regular shooting/hunting rig. I see, I think the different safety is on it for scope clearance, I think I am going to get a stock safety and shave it down a bit. The one on there right now is a poor fit and only allows for 2 positions. It also almost falls out if you point the rifle up.

Any mods to recommend to this guy, since its a shooter? (its pretty dang good as is, but I enjoy tinkering and playing with stuff).

 

[kawicrash]

1918 is correct. HK are the inspector's initials, not part of the serial number. I have a 1918 CG with serial 455### that was converted to a CG 63 target rifle by Norma in 1976. It is one of my absolute favorites.
Some 96/38's had bent bolt handles, but most were straight I believe.
I have four Swedes, a 1916 CG FSR target rifle, the CG 63, a 1943 Husky M38, and a sporter 1944 Husky 96, and always keep my eyes open for other interesting models. You can never have just one!

 

[Londonshooter]

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate the reply. I feel comfortable now turning this into my regular shooting/hunting rig. I see, I think the different safety is on it for scope clearance, I think I am going to get a stock safety and shave it down a bit. The one on there right now is a poor fit and only allows for 2 positions. It also almost falls out if you point the rifle up.

Any mods to recommend to this guy, since its a shooter? (its pretty dang good as is, but I enjoy tinkering and playing with stuff).

Here's a tip: whenever/whatever Ganderite says- that's gold.

 

[Ganderite]

"Any mods to suggest...?"

Your rifle is one of the "small ring" Mausers. (M93, M95, M96). It makes an excellent hunting rifle. Slick action.

Mausers are "controlled feed" That is, the new round is fed up from the magazine and slipped in behind the extractor. You can chamber a round in a Lee Enfield and then close the bolt. The extractor will snap over the rim. Not so a Mauser. You must put the round into the mag, and load it from there. If you are hunting and put a round into the chamber, you will find the bolt won't close and the round might be stuck in the chamber, putting the rifle out of commission until you find a cleaning rod.

I take two rifles on each hunting trip. My main rifle (usually scoped) and a back up rifle, in case my rifle gets knocked out or if there is very heavy rain or snow. My back up rifle has iron sights, for bad weather.

Here is a pair of Mausers I made for hunting.

The first is a back up rifle made on a M96 rifle like yours. The barrel is a Remington 700 barrel in 7-08. It has the Remington front sight and the open rear sight. It was sighted in with the open sight, the ramp was marked, and then the rear sight slid down, out of the sight line. The open sight is there as a backup, in case the peep sight gets damaged.

The front cap is made by grinding off the bayonet lug of the issue rifle.

This is a M95 fitted with the issue 7x57 barrel cut down to 20". The safety is a two position after market that works under the scope. It is very comfortable to shoot and I like the look of the full wood.

The front cap and the barrel band have been re-shaped and used.

 

[MartinRiggs]

Those are some sweet Mausers! I appreciate the help and info, I'll take it all into account. I really like the look of that peep sight on there too. I also like the full wood, I am keeping all the wood on mine. Its already so well balanced with the full wood as well I feel (from my experience with just my own). It feels just right. That's really good thinking with the 2 rifles, scoped and iron sights. I guess I am going to have to find another one!!! I prefer iron sights right now, I suppose because of my inexperience as a marksman. I find the scope is more difficult for me to use, while the iron sights are easy and intuitive. Is hunting purely with iron sights to start out with an ok idea? My Mauser is scoped like I stated before, but I want to take the route that will be the most beneficial to my improvement as a marksman/hunter (Baby steps). Ganderites setup seems to be right on the money...both. I know people say to work up to a scope... just want to know if thats sound advice? I'd like to get a peep like that one on Ganderites!(Williams peep? From what I can tell)

 

[Ganderite]

I hunt in Ontario. Deer are shot (for me) at 15 to 50 yards. I want a sight I can shoot fast and accurately. That translates to a large peep or a low power scope.

An open sight (the kind with the notch) blanks out the bottom half of your target. When hunting you re not shooting at a high contrast bullseye target, but a semi camouflaged target, so taking away half the target does not help. The peep solves that.

Beyond 50 yards, i would rather have a scope. I use fixed 2.5X and 2-5 or 2-7 variables.

 

[MartinRiggs]

Good to know they made some with bent bolts, and that the serial number is correct for a 1918. I was shooting it the other day, and shooting my buddies savage 30-06 back to back with it, and I have to say, I preferred the Swede hands down. It was just much more of a pleasure to shoot, the weight of it with the lower recoil of the 6.5 just felt really good, and I was quite accurate. The savage in the synthetic, although I like it, I find it a lot more difficult to do well with it. Thanks Kawicrash for the info.

Thanks a lot Ganderite, this is great information. I like the range you hunt in for I would/will do the same. I want to (down the line) bow hunt as well, so getting as close as possible to my prey is a goal I will strive for. I want to take the animal as cleanly as possible.

I'll practice a lot with the scope to see if I can get good enough with it to feel comfortable knowing I'll put the animal down cleanly. I'll grab a peep as well, put it on another mauser or if I can find a k31 (I like and want one of these), something like that would be great for a backup rig.