Swedish M96/M38 156gr Factory Ammo?

[Hastur]

Hi, i am new to the sport, I wanted to ask is it safe to use the heavier round nose Norma white tail, S&B or Fiocchi heavier grain ammo (usually 156 or 160Gr) through a Swede M96 or 38? I am thinking this is closer to the pre-spitzer ammo their sights were set with and would shoot lower.

I am new to this but I assume the pressure would be the same, just the geometry has changed.

Thank you

 

[Eaglelord17]

Any commercial 6.5x55 should be safe to use in a Swedish Mauser of any type. The only 6.5x55 guns that you need to have some level of concern for is Norwegian Krags, those I would recommend light handloads for due to action strength.

As to accuracy you aren’t going to know how any round will act through your rifle until you try it. The sights were sometimes updated to the later spitzer rounds, sometimes they just had that chart on the side of the butt stock. There was also a variety of sights used mainly by civilian shooters who have had these rifles for years.

 

[Meroh]

Hi, i am new to the sport, I wanted to ask is it safe to use the heavier round nose Norma white tail, S&B or Fiocchi heavier grain ammo (usually 156 or 160Gr) through a Swede M96 or 38? I am thinking this is closer to the pre-spitzer ammo their sights were set with and would shoot lower.

I am new to this but I assume the pressure would be the same, just the geometry has changed.

Thank you

I believe that the 96s were sighted in for 300 yards with heavy bullets. Mine was shooting about 6-8" high at 100 yards; I bought a taller front sight guessing which one I needed; it was a bit too short, but now i use one notch of elevation and I am pretty much right on at 100. My M38 is pretty much right on at 100. Not as accurate because it has a very heavy trigger, while the 96 is a 1900 Obendorf and has what I would consider, a target trigger; still two stage, but smooth, slick, with a light clean break.

My 96 and 38 like heavy bullets. These rifles have a long throat, and theoretically, long round nose bullets should make the jump more easily that bullets with shorter rifling contact surfaces. Fast twist in these rifles, again theoretically, should favor heavy bullets. I have not shot enough to verify these theories. Just keep in mind that in Europe these style of bullets in ammo such as S&B and PPU have taken a lot of game from small deer to Red Stag and moose, boar and bear.

I have shot 6.5 x 55 since the first surplus rifles came in to Canada, however many new hunters and shooters are only discovering it and other cartridges like 7 x 57, 8 x 57, 9.3 x 57, 9.3 62; all of which have been kicking around for over 100 years.

 

[Paul_T]

Military loads in the day for those rifles was a 156 grain round nose at 2300 fps

My handloads for M96/38 are 160 grain Hornady round nose running 2330 fps. They shoot well with no issues.

A heavy bullet with a velocity around the 2300 mark should work. If the sights were modified for the then new spitzers in the early 40's the sight will usually have a T on the sight base (and may have a chart stuck on the stock), otherwise round nose are the way to go to have the sights close.

 

[jakester]

All '96 Swede's with factory iron sights were originally regulated to 300m with the 156gr round nose (M96) round. The rear sight leafs lowest setting was 300m which is why they were regulated at that distance. If your rifle still has the barley corn front sight, and "V" groove rear sight, then it is as originally manufactured. Around WW2, the rifle's sights were modified by filing the rear sight groove to a "U" shape, and replacing the front blade with one having a rectangular profile. They were then regulated to 300m with the 139gr (M41) spitser round. Some rifles had metal plates attached to the butt, others had a decal, these showed incremental aiming adjustment markings for use with the earlier 156gr round.

Many M38's were were originally regulated to the 156gr round. On these, the sight leafs lowest setting is 100m. The updated rear sight was marked with a "T" for "Torped" aka the 139gr spitser round. These sights had a low setting of 150m.

Hopefully, with this information you can determine which round your rifle was originally regulated for.