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It followed me home.
I went into my local gun shop yesterday to order something for my daughter when I happened to glance over at the used/consignment rack.
There was an old Swede, missing the threaded end cap. One glance at the brass medallion and the price tag that was one third what it should have been and I was heading for the counter.
The man knows AR's and high end shotguns better than anyone I know, but he doesn't know Mausers and he doesn't know Swedes. Something wasn't right here, so I let him talk. "Someone's messed with the muzzle so it can't be worth much of of anything to a collector. Widow needs cash, just dropped it off this morning, already sold off all the nicer pieces for her. If you want a shooter it's a good deal." No one messed with it. The world is full of idiots and the shooting good smiled upon me. It followed me home after I forked over a ridiculously small amount of cash and with some research it's worth twice what I'd guessed in the shop.
Some 96's, both the rifles and some of the later carbines, have threaded muzzles with special threaded protectors so they can fire a screw-on blank adapter. Not a lot of either, but they are documented as variant m96B. Got two protectors on the way.
The bore is as close to brand new as they come. (It's nicer than the brand new unused barrel I took of the Yugo Mauser I built my daughter's rifle on. Looks like the bore of a Swiss 31.) Brass medallion on the stock when translated reads perfect bore condition with 6.40mm bore and 6.51mm groove diameters. Karl Gustav 1907, stock has a ding or two but the metal is perfect, numbers all match. I do not think this rifle was ever issued. With the muzzle protector it is collector grade, about 99% condition. :mrgreen: Gobs of cosmoline inside the mag well, will have to strip it down and clean it all properly. The bore is mirror perfect, the crown is perfect, too, under 20x mag. Trigger is glass smooth, crisp, not a hint of creep and about 6#.
I can't wait to shoot her. New brass on the way, all I have is neck sized for the other rifle. Maybe I have some range brass in the mean time....
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Congratulations. One of my dream rifles.
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You can shoot her this summer, with my other old ladies. ;)
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OK, I took her apart. It's gonna take another day to get the rest of the cosmoline out of the stock and the bolt. Not all the numbers match. The barrel looks and was rated so new because it is, an arsenal job with armorer's stamp. Front sight is a square post and not an original pointy one, rear sight has a "u" notch not the original "v" so it's set up for the newer 139gr mil load. (Medallion says "0" sight change for it.) Not a collector, but looks to be the shooter I've really wanted for several decades and I couldn't be happier to add it to the milsurp collection.
Wish the brass would get here soon, and the muzzle protector. It was cheaper to order loaded Prvi ammo than to buy empty cases, something fairly common now with older milsurps. I have some 140gr RNGC's, 120gr PH's, 140gr GK's, and Varget, 4064 & 3031. That ought to get me started. We'll have to cast up some more 170gr cruise missiles, I sent all the ones I had on hand to Andrew in Idaho.
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Nice score Vers
Hope the old girl is a shooter
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When are you coming noth to visit?
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I'm going to try for the Fourth of July week
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Stop up to visit this time. Don't forget to leave your "r's" home. There's a rumor they're what really attracts the black flies. :mrgreen:
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You mean when I paak the caa at the paaking lot
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Good. Keep in practice. You know as long as you don't sound like a Rho Dilander no one will give you a hard time. There's another rumor THEY"RE secretly the cause of black flies. I don't know about that one myself, bad enough it's a breeding ground of liberals. I'd rather have the flies - at least they taper off in hot weather.
Just ordered small 4" and 6" gongs. Think I'll put them out at 120yds. :mrgreen: I think that will give us a dozen, all shapes, sizes, ranges. The lad just cast me up over a hundred 140gr RNGC's for testing out the new lady - I'll lube and size them ASAP - and I have almost four boxes of Sierra 140GK's. We'll have some gong bonging loads for her in a month or so. Ammo should be here today or tomorrow and we'll shoot some test targets and then have some fun using the rest of it up to get the brass for testing.