Sighting a Swedish Mauser (unfired M96)

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Home3

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At the risk of exposing my lack of knowledge of Swedish Mausers, I am going to ask this question.

I have bought an original military M96 that could be unfired or not fired for a long long time. The disk says 1 for bore condition. No alterations and I intend to keep it that way.

Here is the problem; I have taken it to the range (sorry collectors!) a few times with Winchester 140 gr. ammo. At 100 meters, it consistently hits one foot above the bull’s eye! (Very consistently I may add, so I am not the problem!)

I have noticed that their Iron sights are adjusted for minimum of 300 meters range (start from 300 Meters). Could it be the culprit? It doesn't make sense to have to visually adjust for 100 meter each shut.

I have talked to other Swedish Mauser owners who don't have such a problem. Is something wrong with my gun? I will appriciate any advise.

By the way, I found another thread under the same name, but that one was for M38 and different subjects, so I opened a new thread. My apologies.
 
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...all the Swede's I have shoot high like that. They are designed to shoot at 300m. However, I got a replacement front sight for mine that lower the POI to right on at 100m.
...these sights are available, I have seen an Ebay seller based in Calgary who seems to have an unlimited supply of them. Not expensive.....I got the ones I have for 10-15 bucks. :)
 
I remember someone offering me advice that involved using a piece of wire tubing or other plastic tubing and placing that over the front sight to make it taller. Slowly file down the plastic until you're hitting where you want. No need to change the front sight with this technique, but I've never actually tried it.
 
I have run into that same problem with most milsurps. My 96 was fixed by purchasing a taller front sight. I believe from Numrich. After I installed it, it hit low. Filing it to make it shorter raises the point of impact. File to suit where you want to hit.

I personally waited until I had a hand load I was happy with group wise before I finished filed the site. One problem, if you file off too much, you are pretty much pooched. Sights are relatively cheap though.

One advantage of buying a second sight is that you pull off and save your original so you can always put it back on if you want to restore your beauty to 100% original.

You can also try Gunboard Forums. They have a specific forum for Military Swedes. Great source of information on specific milsurps from collectors on both sides of the Atlantic.
 
Here yah go...

http://forums.gunboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

They did have different height front sights available...But I have been told that this was more to compensate for issues the rifle may have had.

Methinks the real problem is that I doubt Winchester 140 gr. ammo is loaded to Swedish Mil spec.
And this will most certainly effect the point of impact as this is what the original sights are set to.

Methinks using Swedish milspec surplus , or better yet reloading your own ammo to the proper specs will improve the situation.

Also your rifle may have needed a rear sight insert that got removed over the years.
 
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If a rifle is to hit point of aim at 300m, it is going to shoot high at 100m.
As pointed out, you will need to change the front sight. Be careful, and no harm will be done. Install a higher sight, and adjust it for the load you will be using, at the range you will be shooting.
 
Thank you everyone. Great site Calum. Just took a look at it. I will do some more reading there.

Notwithstanding, I think Tiriaq and others have got it right. The rifle is probably still set on the original 300 meter sighting and therefore, hitting high at 100 m. I am guessing that most other M96s in the market have already been re-adjusted (front sight) to the "Normal" North- American standard, whatever it is! (100 yards?)

I am vary of tempering with this gun's originality, as it is a beautiful thing. Not worth hiring a gunsmith either, so I will start searching and learning more. As many of you have mentioned, there must be ways to re-adjust the front sight without permanent changes to the gun.

Re: Winchester 140 gr load, I don't think this is the culprit. I have a few boxes of 20 years old Swedish 6.5 x 55 NORMA Ammo, which I have not fired yet, but they are 140 gr too. I have heard that they are actually "Hotter" than the N. American ammo, which should actually hit higher! I will try a few of them next time around.
 
Remember, 140gr. ammo came later. All M96's were sighted for the 156gr. load, unless they have a "T" on the rear sight. Most Husqvarna M38's are sighted for the lighter M/41 bullet, and most M96/38's aren't. Also keep in mind that messing with the sights so you can shoot at 100 yards will bugger up the sight calibration if you ever want to shoot at longer ranges.
 
On other rifles, I've seen where a piece of wire was used on the muzzle side of the front sight to raise the site picture. Just hot glue it in place, and it can be removed anytime.
 
Home3 said:
Re: Winchester 140 gr load, I don't think this is the culprit. I have a few boxes of 20 years old Swedish 6.5 x 55 NORMA Ammo, which I have not fired yet, but they are 140 gr too. I have heard that they are actually "Hotter" than the N. American ammo, which should actually hit higher! I will try a few of them next time around.
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Dude take it from someone that reloads for several 6.5x55 swedes.
The ammo is the culprit.

There is no way in hell the modern Winchester ammo is even on the same ballistic page as military spec ammo of Sweden c 1890 to 1945. It's a modern load designed for rifles that have scopes on them that can be adjusted after a few test shots.

The Swedish Military rifle had the sights set specifically for two versions of ammo, and the later version required a rear sight insert to adjust the point of aim. BTW those inserts are often worth a lot these days so if you find one save it.

If for some reason the rifle had an issue or fault then they used different front sights...and no they are not as cheap and plentiful as some here would have you believe.

So as I see it your choices are if a collector:
Using mil surp ammo (clean well afterwards).
Reloading to mil spec
Safe queen
Sell the rifle

If not a collector:
Adding Swedish diopter sights
Scoping
or
The hot gluing of wire on the front sight trick that Hitzy mentions is a very clever idea as it is not permanent...one can also use coloured acrylic rod to make a home made red dot. :)
 
Another option is to install Mojo aperture sights if you don't need to have it 100% as issued. They allow proper adjustment to less than 300m and offer a much better sight picture. Google Mojo sights to find them.

Mark
 
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