Is it just me or are M38 Swedes becoming exceedingly rare?

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I was lucky enough to get a really nice one a couple years ago for $475, bolt & receiver matched.

Buuuuut, I haven't seen any on the EE or anywhere for that matter, with some rare exceptions. They're few and far between, now it's exculsivly M96 Gustavs.

So is it just me, or are M38s totally dried up?
 
There was never a huge number on the market to start with. Maybe someone can correct me but the big imports of Swede rifles were 20+ years ago - and once they end up in people’s collections, they tend to stick. I have two that have gone into the sell pile a couple times but they always come back out, mostly because I know that anything I sell to make a few bucks now will cost me a premium to replace later.

Put up a WTB in the EE, you’ll find one or two.
 
In the last few years some M96 rifles have been imported, those rifles coming mostly from Swedish shooting clubs. The last large scale import of M38 rifles was at least 25 years ago.
 
I bought my M38 back in the '80s from Lever Arms when they were in downtown Vancouver. The run of the mill M96 was $54, but I liked the shorter length and turned down bolt of the M38 and coughed up the extra $5. Sold it on EE not that long ago.
 
Exceeding rare is a bit much. I wouldn’t even call them rare. Uncommon maybe. I’ve seen a few for sale offline. Gun shows and collections, also there are a lot more websites for gun sales these days, so make sure you check around.
 
Wasn't too, too long ago bought a 1900 mfg Mauser-Orbendorf '96 full rifle and a 1942 Husqvarna M38 at a gunshow for $150 for the pair! Still have the M38... :cool:

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NAA.
 
They seem to be few and far between... I have two "M38s" but in reality they are M96/38. They consist of modified M96 rifles with shortened barrels. But the bolt handles are straight, not bent, which makes sense I suppose as the Carl Gustafs receivers are dated 1903 and 1911.
 
bet I saw 20 of them at the Calgary show. first time I saw M96 rifles for sale was SIR wiwnipeg for $49 sure glad, or I wish I lived close to that store back in the day. they had some amazing rifles nobody else had for a while
 
CanadianAR said:
Exceeding rare is a bit much. I wouldn’t even call them rare. Uncommon maybe. I’ve seen a few for sale offline. Gun shows and collections, also there are a lot more websites for gun sales these days, so make sure you check around.
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Rare seems to be a common "flavor word of the month" these days. If we look at the EE, it is amazing the number of fairly common items described as "rare."

That being said, I would say SCARCE for the M38 rifles these days. You run across a good deal every once in a while, but as mentioned, the supply is pretty well dried up.

There some pretty high prices asked at Gun Show for them. At the Ancaster gun show a few weeks ago, there were two of them offered for sale, and both were hovering around the $500 mark. Both were factory cut down from M96 conversions, and one even had the crest and receiver bridge ground down, but it was a "rare" M38 so the guy was asking $500 for it.

There are more of our younger generation starting to collect military arms today, thus creating a demand for the firearms. Witness the price of 98 Mausers, and even more, U.S. M1 Garands are cutting the $2000 mark.
 
I suspect that people aren't too anxious to unload them in the 4-500 range. I know I'm not. Plenty of guys willing to part with their K31 and Garands though ;)
 
Philthy1 said:
I suspect that people aren't too anxious to unload them in the 4-500 range. I know I'm not. Plenty of guys willing to part with their K31 and Garands though ;)
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Yeah, I wouldn't let me M38 go unless I was getting over $700 for it... Plus shipping.
& I really want a Garand but damn are they expensive.
I remember when you could get $300 K-31s at Canadian tire.
 
Mongo62 said:
bet I saw 20 of them at the Calgary show. first time I saw M96 rifles for sale was SIR wiwnipeg for $49 sure glad, or I wish I lived close to that store back in the day. they had some amazing rifles nobody else had for a while
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I got one of those in 1979 and still have it.

Went to Lever Arms around then too and the M38 rifles were around $70.00.

Chose not to buy one because I thought the threaded barrel ends were for grenade launchers and I thought that would be bad for the bore.

Before the Internet it was hard to find out details about guns. Took me years to figure out what the stock disc on those Swedes meant.

I got 200 rounds of 6.5x55 fmj on that trip to Lever's though, 1976 Norma production. Sealed in a heavy plastic carry pack. Still have a few boxes
 
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The "real" 1940s produced M38s with bent bolts made by Husqvarna are quite scarce. Grabbed mine a few months back for $450. Steal of a deal. Ammo is hard to find and pricy, unfortunately.

The M96 long rifle and converted M96/38 are much more common as others have stated.
 
I have two bent bolt M38's. First one purchased at Le Baron's in 1980 for about 80 bucks. Stock shows some use. Bore shows some wear as well BUT does it ever shoot. My brother and I attended many gravel pit/hunt camp turkey shoot matches in the 80-90's- Those were the good old days. I remember matches put on by local Lion's Club and Catholic Church as an example.Lions Club shoot was in town ball park in Monkton Ont. Back stop was a pile of sand bags at 100 yds. No CFO inspection required. Catholic Church used a local gravel pit near Bancroft. M38 won a lot of turkeys shooting against everything from 788- 222's to 243 and 308 sporters- all open sights of course. At that time only factory ammo available was Norma. Expensive and hard to find. Never put a factory round through mine.

My 2nd M38 was bought at a LGS for 150 bucks about 20 yrs ago. It looks mint. To tell the truth it doesn't shoot quite as well as my old veteran. I haven't shot it much and maybe never found it's best load.

In my opinion if you want a great shooting military rifle at a reasonable cost the M38's are a great choice. Being a handloader is almost a requirement if you plan on shooting much
 
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