Swedish m/38 short rifles. You got one post it here.

[SVT-40]

I was going thru my accumulation looking for a particular Swedish rifle. In doing so I had to pull out some of my Swedish hoard. For kicks I grouped my Swedish m/38 short rifles on my rack and took some pic's.

The6.5x55 mm Swedish Mauser is my favorite Mauser rifle. They are nothing but quality. They are the only military rifle which had a disc imbedded in the stock to document actual bore size, as well as bore condition.

Swedish Mauser rifles were produced by two different factories in Sweden Husqvarna and Carl Gustafs as well as Mauser Oberndorf in Germany.

Husqvarna was the only company to produce purpose made m/38 rifles.

Some m/38 rifles were converted from existing m/96 rifles by Carl Gustafs Stads. The conversion consisted of replacing the barrel and cutting down the longer m/96 stock. In addition m/38 sights were installed. Sometimes the straight bolt of the m/96 was retained and sometimes it was replaced with the typical bent bolt found on purpose built m/38 rifles.

Collectors here in the US use the term m/96-38 for these converted rifles. But the Swede's just called them m/38.

Some m/38's had their muzzles threaded for a blank firing attachment. These rifles were given the model designation m/38B. The "B" indicating use with the BFA.

According to the book "Crown Jewels the Mauser in Sweden" there were Approx. 55,000 m/96 rifles converted into m/38 short rifles and Approx. 65,000 m/38 short rifles made by Husqvarna.

Husqvarna made m/38 short rifles from 1941 through 1944. True production numbers for each year are unknown, but based on serial numbers the below numbers are close.

1941 28,700
1942 38,700
1943 14,200
1944 2,000

The reason exact numbers are not known is from 1942 through 1944 Husqvarna also made 18,000 m/96 long rifles. The long rifle production wasn't broken out of the numbers of m/38 short rifles.

These m/38 short rifles are a pleasure to shoot due to the low relative recoil of the 6.5x55mm cartridge. They along among the most accurate shooting military rifles ever made.

Many tens of thousands of Swedish Mauser rifles and carbines were imported into the US after the import ban on surplus military firearms was lifted in 1986.

A very very few of these imported rifles and carbines have what looks like masking tape with two numbers taped on their stocks. These numbers are inspection date codes used by armorers when inspecting rifles held in Swedish armories. Only a few were marked. One of my m/38's has the tape showing a last inspection date of "74" for 1974.

Some m/38 short rifles also had range plates affixed to their stocks to denote hold over for the two different types of ammunition used by the Swedes. There were also decals showing the same information sometimes applied to stock.

So, that's a short treatise on the Swedish m/38 short rifle.

I have nine Swedish m/38 rifles in my collection. Seven purpose built by Husqvarna. two made in 1941, two made in 1942, one made in 1943 and two made in 1944

I have two Carl Gustafs Stads converted rifles one dated 1915 and the other dated 1901.

If you have a Swedish m/38 please feel free to post pic's of your rifle here. It's always good to see what other guys have!

Pic's.

[SVT-40]

M/38 range plate and bore disc pic.



Bore disc translation. If there is no mark above the 1,2 or 3 that indicated a new bore. If, during an inspection a bore condition was found to be over a "3" the barrel was replaced and a new bore disc installed on the rifle.



A exceedingly few m/38 rifles had unit discs substituted for their bore condition disc. The below pic is of the unit disc on one of my 1944 dated M/38 rifles. "OVG" is the unit abbreviation for the "Goteborg naval dockyard". the number is the rack number.

The range data plate is mounted upside down on the rifles so when in the shooting position and looks over the stock the shooter sees the plate right side up.

[smle-man]

Very nice! I've owned a lot of M38s and one 94 over the years. Great rifles.

[BrokerB]

whats up with the dial on the leaf site?
What are your kids going to do with all your rifles: )

[SVT-40]

whats up with the dial on the leaf site?
What are your kids going to do with all your rifles: )

The sight on the 1915 dated m/38 Carl Gustafs converted short rifle is a Vasteras micrometer sight insert. It replaced the standard sight slider for adjusting the rear sight height for different ranges. This particular rifle being a converted m/96 apparently kept it's Vasteras sight through the conversion process.

This is a early type Vasteras insert which can only be adjusted from 250 meters to 600 meters.

These and other types of micrometer rear sights were installed on Swedish Mauser rifles.

The micrometer sights allowed for more precise aiming.

Pic of the Vasteras sight on the 1915 m/38, as well as three extra uninstalled Vasteras micrometer sights.

As for what will become of my collection. My son will get it. He's a collector also. But in the future I'll probably sell off duplicates including some of these rifles.







In order to discuss sights on the Swedish m/38 short rifle as well as all other Swedish Mauser rifles we first have to discuss Swedish 6.5x55mm ammunition.

When first designed the Swedish Mauser m/94 Carbines and m/96 long rifles were designed to shoot the Swedish m/94 ammunition.

The m/94 6.5x55mm ammunition was adopted in 1894 along with the m/94 carbine. The ammunition was developed by a joint commission between the Sweden and Norway. The Norwegians adopted it for use in their Krag Jorgensen rifle.

The ammo had a blunt "ogival" 156 grain round nose bullet. This round nose heavy bullet was typical of similar bullets being used in other Mauser cartridges at the time.

This round served Sweden until 1941 when Sweden adopted their m/41 cartridge. The m/41 cartridge had a much more modern bullet, which had a boat tailed 139 grained spitzer torped "torpedo" style.

Oddly this round was developed by Norway in 1925, but it took the Swede's until 1941 to adopt and begin manufacture of this more modern and effective cartridge / bullet combination.

Below are pic's of dummy m/94 156 grain cartridges as well as the m/41 139 grain "Torped" cartridges in stripper clips.





Since the Swede's had many millions of rounds of m/94 ammunition when they adopted the m/41 cartridge, as well as over a hundred thousand rifles and carbines with sights calibrated to the m/94 ammunition it was decided to leave the sights alone and simply place a range plate or decal on them so soldiers could compensate for the difference in bullet impacts at longer ranges.

Early m/38 short rifles many were equipped with sights for the older m/94 ammo. Later production pieces had new rear sights marked with a large "T" to designate they were calibrated for use with the newer m/41 ammunition.

Pic of a early m/38 rear sight calibrated for the m/94 ammo. They have ranges marked 100 to 600 meters.



Pic of the later "T" marked m/38 rear sight calibrated for the m/41 ammo. this sight is marked 200 to 600 meters



When the new "T" marked sights would be installed on m/38 rifles during a arsenal rebuild the armorer would also stamp a large "T" on the right side of the front sight to show the rifle had been calibrated for the new ammo. Different armories across Sweden had different stamps with different fonts. Two different "T" stamps on two of my m/38's

[SVT-40]

In some of my photos you may have noticed little "crown" stampings on various parts of the rifles. These marks are proof marks indicating the individual part was inspected and passed inspection.

Looking closely at the crown proof marks you may have noticed that most seem to be tilted to one side. These tilted crown proof marks indicate the part was made and proofed at Husqvarna.

There were three different manufacturers of Swedish Mauser's and Swedish Mauser parts.

Husqvarna, as I mentioned, Mauser and Carl Gustafs. Each had their own style of crown proof mark. The Mauser crown has a rounded bottom and the Carl Gustafs crown has a flat bottom.

Knowing which proof belongs to what manufacturer is important as it's good to know when trying to verify if a particular rifle is "all matching parts". In that line most Swedish Mauser rifles had the last two or three numbers of it's serial number stamped into most of it's parts so that is usually a good indicator.

However sometimes during a arsenal refurbishment parts from a different manufacturer were used and the part restamped with the last two or three numbers of the serial number. This is most often found when Carl Gustafs refurbished Mauser or Husqvarna made rifles or carbines.

So here are some pic's of the different styles of crown proofs.

Mauser Round bottom crown proof.





Carl Gustafs flat bottom crown proof.


Husqvarna tilted crown proof.



All three on the same part, the bolt sleeve.

Mauser


Carl Gustafs.


Husqvarna.

[BrokerB]

excellent detail.

I wish I could become as accurate as the dials Seems like overkill for military use rifles

[Mustang]

I've got 5 M38's, including two of the Husqvarnas...sweet shooting rifles to be sure.




The Huskys

[Mustang]

I like the square front sight/"U" rear sight much better than the barleycorn "V" sight on most Mausers.

[Mustang]

Great rifles and great information, SVT!

[SVT-40]

Nice m/38's!

Is the top m/38 conversion a 1915 Carl Gustafs? It looks like it has a maple stock. The maple stocks were only used for a short time in 1915 on original m/96 long rifles.

[Mustang]

Nice m/38's!

Is the top m/38 conversion a 1915 Carl Gustafs? It looks like it has a maple stock. The maple stocks were only used for a short time in 1915 on original m/96 long rifles.

As a matter of fact, it is. Good catch!

[Mustang]

One of my other M38's is also a 1915...the second one down from the top.

[Mustang]

I forgot about this one...so I guess I've actually got 6...

[SVT-40]

Sweet! maple stocked rifles are a real rarity. I have a maple stocked m/96. I don't think I've ever seen a m/38 conversion with a maple stock other than yours.

The figure in the wood of your stock near the butt is pretty amazing.

I bet your m/38 sporter is a pretty accurate shooter. I also have a m/38 sporter it was originally a 1914 made CG rifle. It's really really accurate.

Based on the SN of your sporter it should be a 1900 made Mauser m/96 receiver. Also pretty rare as not many Mauser made m/96's were shortened to m/38 length.

Pic of the flame in the maple of my m/96 stock.