My new Swede from Tradex (Range Report)

buffdog said:
Two things. First of all, it does not have a stock disk. This is indicative of a FSR (Swedish Civilian Shooting Association) rifle. Military rifles had stock disks so that an Armourer or Inspection Station could tell the condition of the rifle compared to when it was last inspected. Your rifle has a Crown on it, which indicated military acceptance, so it was originally a Military owned rifle. Many of these rifles were sold to Civilian shooters or sold/loaned to Gun clubs for Competition shooting. When this was done, the stock disk was usually removed. Although a removed stock disk is not a 100% indicator because sometime in it's life someone could have removed it. However, the big thing that does indicate a Competition rifle is the black rear part of the upper handguard. You will notice that this Black area is between the rear portion of the slot where the back of the rear sight base is, and the rear end of the handguard. The finish and wood in this area has been heated by an open flame, that is a match, candle, or small burner that produces soot. The reason for this is that Target Shooters burned any fuzz or dirt away from the rear sight, and blackened the rear sight so that they get a sharp, clear sighting picture. While doing so, the flame carries over onto the wood of the handguard in this area. Note that there is no black area in front of the rear sight hole in the handguard. So now you know! I would start off with some Prvi Partisan, Igman, or some of the European stuff. The North American Winchester, Remington and other brands seem to be loaded a bit lighter. Your sights were originally made for 156 grain round nosed m/94 Swedish ammo, and the later m/41 139 grain Spitzer will probably shoot to a bit different point of impact. The 139 grain stuff should work well though. Whatever you use, save your empty brass. You might not reload now, but you never know what will happen in the future. To get the best accuracy out of these rifles, reloading your ammo can really make them shine. .
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great advice here
 
Great thread! This has done more to promote Swedish mausers (and Tradex - an excellent company), than any thread I can remember. Tradex is notorious for under-grading their bores, and "slightly dark" usually means "a bit of the bright gleam has faded!". Very nicely cleaned up.

That rifle is a beauty and your pics do it justice. Quite a few 1915 to 1917 had an Elm stock, and many 1918's had a Beech stock, but yours has nice Walnut.

Makes me want to get one out and shoot it.
 
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Andy said:
Great thread! This has done more to promote Swedish mausers (and Tradex - an excellent company), than any thread I can remember. Tradex is notorious for under-grading their bores, and "slightly dark" usually means "a bit of the bright gleam has faded!". Very nicely cleaned up.

That rifle is a beauty and your pics do it justice. Quite a few 1917 and 1918 M96's had an Elm stock, but yours has nice Walnut.
Makes me want to get one out and shoot it.
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My 1917 has a nice walnut stock as well.
Those Swedes must be the nicest (shooting, looking and workmanship) Mausers ever built.
 
AdrianM said:
I shot Privi Partisan 139 gr. SPBT.

The thing I forgot to mention was that the whole group was about 6 inches high of my POA but that made sense to me since it was such a short shot. It was dead on center.

I forgot to grease the stock when I put it back together. I will at some point soon and try it again. I'll also shoot slower. I shot 3 shots in about a minute. My bad.
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It depends upon what range distance you intend on shooting normally, but 6 inches high is about right for the closer range. The military sights are zeroed at 300 meters so try a few rounds at that distance if your range is long enough and see where they hit for elevation. At 100 yards, you might even be a bit higher.

You could possibly put a taller front sight on it, but that would throw out the longer range point of impact according to the sight setting markings.

What we forget with military rifles is that they were intended for shooting enemy soldiers, more than targets. As such, a soldier is more a vetical target, thus a center hold will still put down your target even if you ar 6 or 8 inches high or low. If the sights do not have a "T" on them, they are graduated for the m/94 load which is 156 grain bullet. The m/41 load of 139 grain bullet will shoot to a different point of impact.

The big thing is GROUPING. As long as it lands on paper at first, when you get a good load that the rifle likes, the sights can be adjusted or front sight replaced to center your group into the bullseye.
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Re: M96

I just took mine to the range yesterday for the first time. I was told they are super shooters, and hell yah !!! Open sights, with great groups at 200 yards with handloads. A beautiful long range gun. Glad you got it, enjoy !
 
Cool,

I got mine 30 years ago from SIR Winnipeg ($49.99) and I've never taken it apart.

Kinda tempted now. I've had the cleaning rod off but Ive never even taken the bolt apart.
 
They're definitely nice guns! I bought mine on the EE here for $175 bucks. It looks a little rough, but after working up a decent handload it shoots like I wouldn't have thought possible for a milsurp rifle. NNY (prvi) brass, cci #200 primer, 139gr hornady sst and 42 grains of BL-c(2) had me shooting 2" at 100 yards with the irons, which is quite a feat for me as my eyes are what they used to be :)
 
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