Info needed on Swedish Mausers

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I am about to give my spouse a Swedish mauser I picked up a couple years ago. A gunsmith buddy of mine gave it to me. It has been rebarrelled to 308. My spouse wants to replace the stock (basically pretty it up). I also need to replace the trigger. Is a Swedish a small ring (what ever that is?) What do I need to know about getting or installing a stock?

I know little about about Swedish mausers. Is there a good internet refernce available to help me with my silly questions?

Thanks.
 
I'd be a bit leary of shooting full powered .308 loads in a Swedish mauser.If you handload use .300 Savage data.Are these built on commercial actions [no cutout for stripper clip]There was a company name escapes me that rebarrelled a bunch of these to .308/.243 etc and had some problems with action strength.Maybe someone can enlighten us as to who it was. Kimber?..........Harold
 
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I agree with mbogo3.
If it's a ####-on-closing, it's a M/94/96/38, but if it's a ####-on-open, it's the more desirable 1640 (more desirable for higher pressures rounds).
There are reports in the USA of Kimber rifles made on ex-mil M/94/96/38 and rechambered for high pressure rounds showing lug set back.
Swedish Mausers were (and still are) victim of their own good reputation.
The Swede have tried their CG80 in the .308 Win caliber, but it was never done at large because of the same issues.
The steel used for these action is somewhat soft, this was a safety feature against fragmentation under case head separation, and the escaping gas handling is not even close to be as good as on the M/98. We should always remember that by the time these rifles were made, the 6.5X55 caliber was one of the most powerful of it's time, and the action was designed to safely handle this particular caliber.
Some commercial loadings are kept at quite low pressure, but to get these, you usually will have to stay away from "Premium" loadings and rely on simple soft points.

As for stocking, yes, the M/94/96/38 are small rings, but so is the 1640 series too. The 1640 series have the same action bolt pattern as the FN/98 but is not the same action.
 
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Spanish Mauser was updated to 7.62x51. I have one and it's the same action as my Swedes. You can argue all you want that a 96 action is unsafe for .308 round. Have you seen one blown apart yet? Some have been converted to 30-06 too. I have pulled apart and rebarreled quite a few now and the bolt lugs and setback wear are normal. Steel is casehardened and soft and that is a good thing.
This has been an old argument thrown around for decades. People have been hot loading their 6.5x55 Swedes and Ackley Improving them too for a long time now. I have one that has worn out three barrels by Swede target shooters that I converted to a hunting rifle. Still going strong, smooth as silk. Enjoy your rifle.
Yes, it would be foolish to use high pressure or proof loads constantly in the old actions. I think I could get lug setback in any action given time with those.

Boyds would be my choice for stocks.
 
The Spanish round was not for 7.62x51 AKA .308 Win [same dimensions] but 7.62 CEMTE operating at lower pressures.Use at own risk there will be no warning if it lets go.............Harold
 
for what you pay for a new stock why not just buy a complete gun from tradex. they have some great 6.5 and 308 sporters for under 200
 
When the FR7 and FR8 rifles were first sold off surplus, and imported into the United States, the importer, Samco, was concerned about the issue, the US being a rather litigious society. Tests were commissioned, to be performed by an independent lab. No problems emerged.
The biggest improvement of the '98 Mauser was in gas handling. The '98 Mauser is almost as good in this regard as the M700 Remigton type rifles. The earlier Mausers handle gas about as well as the pre-'64 M70 Winchester.
 
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I don't hand load. I have been routinely firring 140 Grain soft point Core-lokts form my original M96 Swedish Mauser. Is anybody suggesting that it may not be safe because they are not built for todays' higher ammo pressure specifications?

And what exactly you mean by " Premium" ammo that should be avoided by M96 owners?
 
Yes, I've seen and actually have in hands, quite a few blown M/94/96/38. But blown actions are mainly because of case head rupture, from different causes - really bad heaspace from using a non-headspace-checked replacement bolt and SEE). So, for gas handling, I can say they are no so good. You can see what it does in the No. 1 Norma reloading manual on p. 141. Then, the SEE is briefly explained on p. 149.

What is the most common failure with hot loads is lug set back (either bolt lugs or receiver lugs). I never said blown receivers, and still have to see a M/94/96/38 blown from high pressure loads (but I am not talking of OVERPRESSURE here).
There might be a reason why P.O. Ackley and De Haas beyond others were not feeling safe in rebarreling any of those those pre-98 actions to high pressure rounds.

Home3,
I guess your gunsmith friend did check the rifle. So, unless he did not, you should be safe. Lug set back increases headspace.
Just use standard availlable commercial ammunition. Premium are these "light magnum" or 'High Energy" or "High Performance" loads, intended for modern guns, made of modern steel. Speer Nitrex as an example. Even if the .308 Win is having a MAP of 60 000 PSI, the commercial loaders don't really load it to that pressure and stay quite conservative most of the time.
 
Baribal said:
So, for gas handling, I can say they are no so good.
Click to expand...
Here's a can of worms. The same could be said for the pre 64 M-70, but nobody wants to go there.

If in doubt check headspace, I agree and check everyone now before I shoot them. Believe it or not, I just blueprinted an 80's Rem 700 that I bought recently and found the NO-GO gauge closed easily on it. .006 over headspace must be within Rem QC. Complaints of shaved brass at the ejector, one lug barely touching and creepy trigger. This was a factory gun with no alterations and hardly shot. One hot load and you can imagine the rest.

All is good now and smooth as silk.
 
The same could be said for the pre 64 M-70, but nobody wants to go there.
Click to expand...

This is totally true. And PO Ackley blew a couple of those M/70, just for the sake of proving it.
The main difference between (almost all) Mausers is the soft material they were made of (SAE 1020-1030). It can't really be compared to the Winchester material because they used Chrome-Moly steel for their M/70 while most Mausers were made of the low-carbon mild steel. It won't suddenly let, but once set back is initiated, it's not as easily fixed as shaving the damaged areas. The same goes for the second chosen material for the '03 Springfield, wich was Nickel steel.
Same thing goes when lapping Mauser bolt /receiver lugs - removing the thin layer of hardened steel will encourage set back to occur.
 
Thanks all.

So now I can determine what ring this action is by comparing to the info I found on Boyds site. That's good.

I can worry (or not worry) about the safety of a rifle rebarrelled by a smith with decades of experience.

I can also now consider scratching the entire project and instead buy a sporter from Tradex.


Hmmm.....
 
At bit of an update:

I should have mentioned before that the action is a Husqvarna.
After looking around the net a bit I still can't be certain if this is a "small ring". I am not sure how to properly identify this. I hate to bother a gunsmith with something that is likely trivial. How do I measure the ring? Also, do I just measure the distance from the center of the outer most screw holes and look for the 1/4 inch diffference?

Thanks again.
 
Of course a picture of the action would be the best way to go.

First, I popose you to identify the action used for making this rilfe;
Does the front receiver ring have a Husqvarna roll stamp with a date? If so, it's an ex-military M/38 receiver (of the small ring design).

If there's no date, you have a civilian or "commercial" action. It can be of three different actions;
M/94/38 - Is there a thumb cut-out on the left receiver wall? This action was used in two different configurations; one with and the other without the thumb cut-out. The action screws distance must be 8.500" (it's the two bolts retaining the magasine to the action) This action is a Small Ring.

The FN M/98 action also have both solid left side receiver rail and thumb cout-out. For easy identification, remove the bolt and look under it; it there are large oblong holes, it's a M/98 action. The floorplate does not have a hinge. This action is of the Large Ring.
The action screws distance is 8.750".

Finally, on the left side of the receiver, if there is only a very samml tab as a bolt release catch, it's a 1640, wich is very similar to the FN M/98, but of the Small Ring Design. Actions screws are 8.750" apart one from the other and have a hinged floorplate, of alloyed metal or steel.

Below is a picture of both action side by side. Top one is a "commercial" M/38 and bottom a CG-made (M/94) used by Husqvarna on their early "commercial" rifles. Both are in fact, the same action but under different configurations. Also note they tried the "commercial M/38" to produce Target and Sniper rifles in caliber 7.62X51, but did not go further.
Both these actions are small rings.

comparatifmod46vsmod6491a.jpg


The picture below is the bolt release latch of the 1640 series;
late1640boltrelease02a.jpg
 
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