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I've had my C&R for a couple months now and would like to take advantage of it. Where would be a good place to purchase a Swedish Mauser 96 and what should I expect to spend? Also, can these old rifles handle the modern 6.5x55 Swede ammo? I likely end up reloading for it so I can tailor the load for the rifle, but I'm wondering how strong it is. Some of the 6.5x55 Swede loads in the reloading manuals look pretty stout compared to my 6.5 Grendel AR loads. Lastly, how many firings are people getting out of their brass? Thanks in advance for your replies.
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I can not help you with the reloading questions, but where to purchasing it I would go to Allan's Armory: http://allans-armory.com/aa.php
Every rifle I have purchased from him is better then how he describes. Make sure you get on his email list to know when he is posting new rifles.
Also, I would recommend getting an M96 with Diopter Sights. -
Also try Empire Arms, Gunbroker, Auction Arms, Gunboards or Parallax C&R boards.
The M96 will probably cost anywhere from 250 - 350, M96/38 or M38 can be up to 450.00 or so.. Then again, i have not looked at any for some time so these prices may not be correct.Comment
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You may want to pick up a shotgun news as they usually have someone that is selling them.
They certainly can handle modern ammo but keep in mind that the sights have been designed to shoot certain bullet weights. 140 Gr I believe.
As for the strength of the action, they are beasts. We shot Swedes when we first started reloading and there was quite a lot of experimentation. Blown Primer pockets, cracked cases, split necks and the chamber pressures that came along with that were never a problem. In my opinion, the actions will handle most anything you can thrown at it. Not sure about magnum calibers though.
We used to get about 5-8 loads from each piece of brass.Comment
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I've been using the same 100ct box of Lapua brass with my M96 for the past 3 years. I have 6 reloads through them. 37.5gr of Varget with a 142gr Sierra Match King. 2595fps in my gun.
Distinguished Rifleman #1924
NRA Certified Instructor (Rifle and Metallic Cartridge Reloading) and RSO
NRL22 Match Director at WEGC
https://www.ocabj.netComment
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I went through the whole exercise of getting my first Swede(M96), and reloading for it, in the course of last 3mo.
For the rifle, I got mine by posting a WTB on gunboards after I tried the auction sites(gunbroker, auctionarms) and local stores. Sellers on auction sites usually ask for premium on their rifles, and they usually got them. I couldn't find any at my local stores (SF-bay) for about a year(although Imbert&smiters at San Carlos has one for $400 a week ago). By posting a WTB, mine was a spare safe-queen shooter for a reasonable price ($275 shipped). Make sure to get a front-sight protector if the rifle doesn't have one. M96 sight blade is tall and thin. Mine broke during transit, I JB-weld it back and got a sight-protector for $20 on Ebay, it works out OK.
As for ammo, I didn't try factory ammo bec. I reload. I only shot mine once, and brass is everything, given everything else the same. I had a collection of 1x-fired brass (Lapua, norma, win, r-p, privi, pmc...), and I loaded 10rd each w/ the same bullets/powder/primer combination. Lapua is the best (2.5-3" at 100yrds, rest are ~4"). I'm sure the rifle can do better if I'm more careful w/ case-preparation and different bullet/powder(mine was varget, but I've heard good thing about RL-22. Given the long-barrel, a slower powder like RL-22 probably does better).
Anyway, if you want to buy a Swede bec. of its reputation, you best reload for it. I'm only shooting out to 100yrd w/ the notch-post sight, so I'm not to fussy about the load. But if you're going out to 300m and beyond, it seems everyone is using Lapua/SMK/RL22 combination.
About the Swede action: it's different from the K98 action. I don't believe it's as strong as the K98 action (which has an extra locking lug in the back). Mine is 1909, so I treat it gently.Last edited by tteng; 09-28-2007, 10:40 AM.Comment
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Samco has some Swedish 96 & 38 Mausers :http://www.samcoglobal.com/rifles.html#gcm
Life can make you do many things, even kiss a man with a runny nose.
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There are different "grades" of m/96. The ones from Allan are recently imported and were purchased from gunshops or police turn-ins in Sweden. As such they're not quite as nice, for the most part, as the rifles that came out of military stores circa 1986-88. Those were the $60 days for m/96.
m/96 with target diopters come from shooting clubs and often will exhibite poor care. Not always. They'll also exhibit characteristics of the Swedish Bubba known as Bjubba. Non-standard modifications, sometimes some really dumbass things done to them. There are lots of Bjubba in Sweden and they love making their rifles mo'better.
This forum is more a shooter's forum than collector's forum so the answers you get will reflect shootability and not collectability. Those are the two types of Swedish Mausers, shooters and collectors. The shooter rifles can be had for less than the collector grade except when somebody wants it and they don't know the difference, they'll pay too much. The collector grade rifles generally have original wood, especially pre-1903 rifles, rifles from 1915-1917 that may have maple or elm stocks, and there are some later post-1920 rifles with very pretty American walnut stocks. The prettiest stocks are from 1900 to 1910 and the highest dollar rifles will have full length fiddleback walnut followed by black streaked walnut. There are some beech stocks that aren't too awful bad to look at but for the most part beech is rather <gag> ugly to my eye
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Wood-to-metal fit is important when rifle prices get $300+. From this page you can glean some info on what to look for. There are many rifles that have been excessively ~improved~ by over sanding. There are fine points to inspecting a Swedish Mauser stock and this page will help with all types of Mausers not just Swedish. The rifle on the above page cost me $75 because it had a mis-match bolt with a severely pitted boltface and had no sights. The bore was also very worn. But its a very nicely original 1902 Carl Gustaf that's never been rebuilt. It took some close inspecting to reveal this. There was white paint spots on the stock that required fine steel wool to remove and the stock was dirty. But under it was a surprisingly nice example of a m/96 that was un-rebuilt. The bolt I put in it cost me $65 and is in excellent condition. It doesn't shoot all that good because the bore is so worn but I like it anyhow.
Most of the website is collector stuff so it won't be of much help. I'm in the [slow] process of writing out a "Hierarchy of Collectability of m/96" essay but its not finished yet. Its geared towards the collector, obviously.
I once shot a 1 1/4" 100 yd group with Remington 140gr Corelokt from a m/38 Husqvarna. I'm not real partial to Remington brass being undersized in the head. Lapua & Norma are the best brass money can buy. You could argue back and forth all day about which one is better but I'm using Norma brass that I bought new in 1970. I have no idea how many times its been reloaded.
Brass life depends on you shooting the brass through one rifle only. If you start swapping brass between different rifles it'll start neck splitting much sooner. I've had 18+ rifles at once but I shoot only a couple, the rest are safe queens for the most part.
6.5x55 in a 1 in 7.9 inch twist likes 140 and 160 gr bullets best but sometimes 120gr will shoot very well. I've shot 107gr Sierra Match King but they're made to be very loooong so they shoot very well with the fast twist rate. I'm quite partial to the Hornady 160gr RoundNose. Its a bonded core bullet and capable of excellent accuracy plus its the only bullet we have available to us that mimics the m/94 156gr RN that created the reputation for the Swedish Mauser. It has unbelievable penetration.
The strength of the m/96 isn't the issue. The lack of gas escape features is the issue. The action itself has only two locking lugs and is a small ring action so its best not to push things too much. If you want more power get another rifle. An m/96 just took a 1,200 lb moose in Alaska at 70 yds. They've been used for 100 years in Sweden for the smaller breed of moose they have and cariboo. You don't need more horsepower than the 6.5x55 has, you just need to be a better shot.
The sights on the m/96 are calibrated for 156 gr round nose m/94 ammo to zero at 300 meters. To lower the point of impact you need a taller front sight. They're military sights so don't expect a match grade sight picture with them.
If you have a vertical milling machine handy you can make a cool long eye relief scope mount that doesn't interfere with the integrity of the rifle's collectability. I need to do a 4th generation of this one as it needs more reward scope adjustment but it works very good with the Tasco 3x28 scope.
Because I'm the forum owner & moderator of the Swedish military firearms forum at gunboards.com and because I've had a Swedish Mauser with me for 41 years I tend to [try] to stay on top of all things pertaining to them. I watch prices sometimes but sometimes my speculations have affected market prices. Milsurp collectors generally didn't know about elm stocks until 1999 when my first website went online with photos of the very fancy elm stock 96-38 I bought in 1969. From that time until now the price of elm stocked Swedes has outpaced almost all others.
The next m/96 that will go through the roof will be the fiddleback maple
http://www.rebooty.com/~dutchman/maple.html stocked m/96. Its rarer than the elm. Not many people have seen rifles like this so when one shows up on auction it'll bring $$$ far above its utility. This particular m/96 is new to the website so its presence in the world isn't entirely widespread yet. But it will be.
If you have any questions my email is at the website.
DutchComment
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Nice write-up.
Just one comment, Swedish law requires all guns turned in to the Police to be melted/destructed, so there's no way any Police turn-ins could have _legally_ turned up here
With Oden on our side.Comment
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That's a fairly recent change in the law. It hasn't been that way back to
2000. There have been rifles with police property stickers exported from Sweden and imported by Ken Buch in Maryland.
DutchComment
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