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....

Congratulations. One of my dream rifles.

You can shoot her this summer, with my other old ladies. ;)

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.

Nice score Vers
Hope the old girl is a shooter

When are you coming noth to visit?

I'm going to try for the Fourth of July week

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:

You mean when I paak the caa at the paaking lot

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.

Got everything including a long-enough cleaning rod and looks like I'll have a chance to shoot her this evening! 100rds of factory PRVI to get cases, cheaper than new unloaded brass. After the new gongs are hung I will shoot a test target first to get a baseline on the accuracy and check POI/POA, then I will put the paper away and do some serious gonging!

Well, I'm happy. The rifle is a joy to shoot, no recoil shield needed even for thirty rounds in an hour.

PRVI ammo shot 3-3.5" groups, POI was about 4"R and 4"H.

That's close enough for 8" gongs @100, but I had difficulty with the 6" and really had to concentrate to get offhand hits. I have enough ammo for two or three more sessions, then I'll start loading with all the nice new fireformed brass and find out what it can really do with some good Sierra bullets and some cast too.

Dog alone knows where the jacketed and the cast handloads will POI, supposedly that rifle is sighted in for the mil ammo with the front post drifted all the way to the right, might have to rig a scout mount for it. I have yet to see a rifle shoot anywhere near its best with PRVI ammo, but it is excellent brass that will take dozens of loadings if neck sized and not loaded overly hot. I think I will see a significant accuracy improvement with some Sierras & Varget, and I ought to be able to do at least as well as the PRVI with one of my two different 6.5 moulds & some reduced 4895 loads.

Anybody had one of these to play with and what luck did you have?

Here's the photos........

Attachment 349Attachment 350

I am loving this rifle more and more. I bought a nice leather non-mil sling for more comfortable and stable offhand shooting. Much better.

Still working through the Prvi ammo, hitting the 100yd 6" regularly offhand no problem now. My friend has a mint m96 carbine, and if I wanted a short fast pointing hunting rifle it would be much preferred, but this full length rifle is perfect for offhand shooting. It would be nice if the handloads will come a little closer to POA, but if not I'll just replace the rear ladder sight with a scout mount and put a red dot or a 2X Leupold handgun scope on it. The 6MOA dot on my tiny Bushnell just covers the 6" gong at 100yds. The 8" gong shows a white ring when the dot is centered. All I need.

I was reading on the Swedish Military Rifles Forum that in Europe they made a bunch of different aftermarket m96 peep sights, both hunting and target versions, before and after the war. Many of them don't require d&t holes for mounting and leave a collectable rifle undamaged. I haven't joined, but I've been an avid lurker. Here's the link: http://forums.gunboards.com/forumdis...Firearms-Forum They have a separate forum for sporterized Swedes. This one is only for intact mil rifles, parts, loading info, etc.

Update: The Leupold 2x EER is very happy in its new S&K mount. The rifle is an offhand shooter's dream. I have started load development with 3031/140GK. I had read that the m96's don't do their best with boattail bullets and preliminary results seem to agree. I've shot the first four increments and I'm seeing the same basic 4" groups at each step up. I didn't have enough time yesterday to shoot load #5 which is about 3/4 up the charge table, but I am believing what they told me. Still, in other 6.5x55's the hotter loads all tightened up, so I will keep testing up to red line to see what happens as it's a rare rifle indeed that won't do well with Sierras. I have a donated-to-the-cause red box of flat base 140's to try. If it likes them better as I have been told I'll have to try a box of Nosler btips. I do have some 140PARs, but this will never be a hunting rifle and I am not going to try them in her. Don't know if I could live with the shame of a rifle that prefers bullets from the red box. :mrgreen:

Last night I got two nice 3" groups from VGET/140GK load #5, guess I'll keep on going up to see what happens. Maybe the rifle hasn't read all of the trending info about how she's not supposed to like boattail bullets. Language barrier. Can't expect a 109 yr old lady to learn English. What do you bet, will the groups tighten up as I go on up towards red line or will they open up again?

Only one way to find out

We'll have to wait until after Fryeburg Fair to find out. My shooting buddy and owner of the private range I use will be working his tail off for the next month. I'll be staying off the roads until "swivelneck season" is over and all the leaf peepers have gone home and the only road hazard is the occasional moose. For you non New Englanders, here's a link: http://www.fryeburgfair.org/