Since there's been a little interest in Schultz & Larsen rifles lately, I thought I'd put up some pictures that show the advance with this brand over a period of 60-70 years. I think most CGNers know something about S&L rifles and the esteem in which they are held. To many, they represent the height of factory-rifle excellence in terms of design, function, fit and finish, accuracy, and smoothness of operation, among other attributes. I gave something of a rundown in a recent thread here of the early S&L series of hunting rifles. That can be found at Post #16 in the thread:
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/2388297-Schultz-and-Larsen-model-65-DL/page2
I’ll start with that series.
1. The Early Period of S&L Hunting Rifles
This is the period of 1954 to 1970 when the S&Lcenterfire hunting rifles employing the rear locking system appeared. The first in that series was the M54J appearing in 1954, along with the introduction of Phil Sharpe’s 7x61 S&H cartridge (included in all succeeding models). It was an interesting design—but a pretty radical departure from Mauser principles. It suffered in the North American market from its ####-on-closing feature, its size and weight, its somewhat ungainly appearance, and its magazine system. Not more than a few hundred were made. Roy Weatherby used this action (in slightly modified form and labelled the M56A, with the "A" for American) in his first rifle chambered in the .378 Wby. cartridge.
Next was the M60, introduced in 1957. It offered some improvements over the M54J, mainly in aesthetics, but remained ####-on-closing and didn’t make much of a dent in the market, with only about 1,100 made. In 1960, a more refined rifle using the same basic action, the M65 (and deluxe version, M65DL) appeared. It did hit a responsive chord with the shooting public, offering ####-on-opening, better stock design, and some other improvements. Although only 4,720 were ever made, it was considered a very desirable rifle. And then in 1967, the M68DL was introduced. This was essentially the final rifle in this series and represented the best of that series of S&L rifles, but only 2,238 were ever made. So, in total, fewer than 10,000 S&L rifles were made in this series that ran from 1954 to about 1970--probably not more than a couple of week's worth of production of the Remington 700. Pictured below is my M68DL, this in 7x61 S&H chambering.
2. The Modern Period of S&L Hunting Rifles
At some point in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Schultz & Larsen began work on a front-locking action. In many respects it carried over a lot of features of the earlier rear-locking action, but the placement of the locking lugs was the major change. By the early 2000s (and I’m guessing a little about the timing, as I don’t have precise dates for this period), the company had perfected a full line of front-locking switch barrel rifles, and these are what S&L are selling today (although not in Canada unfortunately). These current S&L rifles reflect the high quality of design and construction of the earlier rifles. Throughout their history of building hunting rifles (from the 1950s to the present), S&L have continued to use the time-consuming method of single-point cut-rifling, followed by lapping, their barrels, and the quality of S&L barrels has been known far and wide for decades. Many custom rifles over the years have been fitted with S&L barrels. Pictured below is my modern S&L Victory model with barrels in .270 Win. and .243 Win.
3. A Very Unusual Schultz & Larsen Rifle
Until very recently, I'd not heard of a Schultz & Larsen hunting rifle built on a modern non-S&L action (there were a few early ones built on the Mauser M98 action before the birth of the M54J). Much to my surprise, I ran across one built on the Husqvarna 1900 action (actually the Viking Arms iteration of this action) and acquired it—the Schultz & Larsen M1990. This action has been seen as one of the very best bolt actions ever designed. To my knowledge, all the HVA, Carl Gustaf, Viking Arms, and Antonio Zoli rifles built on this action have had alloy bottom metal—seen as a shortcoming by many. However, this S&L Model 1990, in 6.5x55 SE chambering, has all-steel construction (as is true for all S&L rifles), with a detachable steel magazine and steel trigger guard/magazine surround. From a pretty careful inspection, it appears to bear the hallmarks of quality found in all S&L rifles. Picture below.
One interesting (at least to me!) observation that may be worth sharing centers around the similarity of stock design between the modern S&L rifles and the S&L 1990 built on the Viking Arms 1900 action. Around 1990, or the late 1980s, Jørgen Nielsen, a Dane, and Swedes Lars Wågeson and Viggo Olsson were involved in the new Viking Arms enterprise, started by Wågeson, and featuring an improvement of the Husqvarna 1900 action. Nielsen supplied the stocks for the Lux version of the Viking and then went on to purchase Schultz & Larsen in 1994, which he sold later to Morten Krogh. The stock lines and trim enhancements of the Lux grade Viking 1900 (which I have) and this Schultz & Larsen 1990 (and actually all more recent S&L rifles) are very similar. This S&L 1990 rifle would have represented a very brief period in the life of Schultz & Larsen between the time of the earlier rear-locking models and the later switch-barrel rifles they are making today, and it illustrates, I think, the extent of intermingling of these Scandinavian firearms figures and their ideas.
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/2388297-Schultz-and-Larsen-model-65-DL/page2
I’ll start with that series.
1. The Early Period of S&L Hunting Rifles
This is the period of 1954 to 1970 when the S&Lcenterfire hunting rifles employing the rear locking system appeared. The first in that series was the M54J appearing in 1954, along with the introduction of Phil Sharpe’s 7x61 S&H cartridge (included in all succeeding models). It was an interesting design—but a pretty radical departure from Mauser principles. It suffered in the North American market from its ####-on-closing feature, its size and weight, its somewhat ungainly appearance, and its magazine system. Not more than a few hundred were made. Roy Weatherby used this action (in slightly modified form and labelled the M56A, with the "A" for American) in his first rifle chambered in the .378 Wby. cartridge.
Next was the M60, introduced in 1957. It offered some improvements over the M54J, mainly in aesthetics, but remained ####-on-closing and didn’t make much of a dent in the market, with only about 1,100 made. In 1960, a more refined rifle using the same basic action, the M65 (and deluxe version, M65DL) appeared. It did hit a responsive chord with the shooting public, offering ####-on-opening, better stock design, and some other improvements. Although only 4,720 were ever made, it was considered a very desirable rifle. And then in 1967, the M68DL was introduced. This was essentially the final rifle in this series and represented the best of that series of S&L rifles, but only 2,238 were ever made. So, in total, fewer than 10,000 S&L rifles were made in this series that ran from 1954 to about 1970--probably not more than a couple of week's worth of production of the Remington 700. Pictured below is my M68DL, this in 7x61 S&H chambering.
2. The Modern Period of S&L Hunting Rifles
At some point in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Schultz & Larsen began work on a front-locking action. In many respects it carried over a lot of features of the earlier rear-locking action, but the placement of the locking lugs was the major change. By the early 2000s (and I’m guessing a little about the timing, as I don’t have precise dates for this period), the company had perfected a full line of front-locking switch barrel rifles, and these are what S&L are selling today (although not in Canada unfortunately). These current S&L rifles reflect the high quality of design and construction of the earlier rifles. Throughout their history of building hunting rifles (from the 1950s to the present), S&L have continued to use the time-consuming method of single-point cut-rifling, followed by lapping, their barrels, and the quality of S&L barrels has been known far and wide for decades. Many custom rifles over the years have been fitted with S&L barrels. Pictured below is my modern S&L Victory model with barrels in .270 Win. and .243 Win.
3. A Very Unusual Schultz & Larsen Rifle
Until very recently, I'd not heard of a Schultz & Larsen hunting rifle built on a modern non-S&L action (there were a few early ones built on the Mauser M98 action before the birth of the M54J). Much to my surprise, I ran across one built on the Husqvarna 1900 action (actually the Viking Arms iteration of this action) and acquired it—the Schultz & Larsen M1990. This action has been seen as one of the very best bolt actions ever designed. To my knowledge, all the HVA, Carl Gustaf, Viking Arms, and Antonio Zoli rifles built on this action have had alloy bottom metal—seen as a shortcoming by many. However, this S&L Model 1990, in 6.5x55 SE chambering, has all-steel construction (as is true for all S&L rifles), with a detachable steel magazine and steel trigger guard/magazine surround. From a pretty careful inspection, it appears to bear the hallmarks of quality found in all S&L rifles. Picture below.
One interesting (at least to me!) observation that may be worth sharing centers around the similarity of stock design between the modern S&L rifles and the S&L 1990 built on the Viking Arms 1900 action. Around 1990, or the late 1980s, Jørgen Nielsen, a Dane, and Swedes Lars Wågeson and Viggo Olsson were involved in the new Viking Arms enterprise, started by Wågeson, and featuring an improvement of the Husqvarna 1900 action. Nielsen supplied the stocks for the Lux version of the Viking and then went on to purchase Schultz & Larsen in 1994, which he sold later to Morten Krogh. The stock lines and trim enhancements of the Lux grade Viking 1900 (which I have) and this Schultz & Larsen 1990 (and actually all more recent S&L rifles) are very similar. This S&L 1990 rifle would have represented a very brief period in the life of Schultz & Larsen between the time of the earlier rear-locking models and the later switch-barrel rifles they are making today, and it illustrates, I think, the extent of intermingling of these Scandinavian firearms figures and their ideas.
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