"Newest" Rifle

[chutesnreloads]

Latest aquisition,a '96 Mauser.I've always loved the 6.5x55.

[303tom]

So how do you like that Swede ? Who is the maker ?

[chutesnreloads]

So far,I'm very pleased with it.Appears to have been sitting in someones corner for a long time.Lots of dust in the crevices but the bore looks pristine.Have managed a few sub inch groups at 50 yards with couple different loads and one sub inch group at 100 yards this with cheap as you can find Prvi ammo.(mind you I stopped shooting after the third shot,before I blew it)It's a Carl Gustaf...made in 1916.Not too shabby for a nearly 100 year old rifle.

[versifier]

Inexpensive yes, but Prvi makes decent ammo and the quality of the brass they use is as good as anything we make in the USA. Great source for the oddball milsurps, too. I use quite a bit of it in 6.5x55, 7.5 Swiss, & 8x57. If you are neck sizing there's no reason you can't get fifteen or more loadings from it.

[303tom]

Here is one of my Swede`s, this one is a Husqvarna, a five digit numbers matching..............

[Paul B]

Many years back when I lived in Nevada, I worked part time for a gunsmith who was teaching me the "trade". I got a smoking deal on one of the 1938 6.5 Swedes that came with the 24" barrel and turned down bolt handle. Mine was mde by Husqvarna and was very minty. I made it into a very nice custom rifle stocked int then popular california style with Monte carlo stack and a rollover comb. Stock was made from a nice piece of cherry wood with rosewood tip and grip cap. Naturally as was the style of the day it had a very glossy finish. I was out in the local gravel pit sighting the gun in when a man and his son came to sight in their rifle for the upcoming der season. The man looked at my rifle and asked if he and his son could take a shot. I said it was OK and tey both shot the gun. The man said his son liked the lack of ecoil and he would like to buy the rifle, name my price. They were shooting a Remington 600 Mohawk BTW and those things did have some serious kick. In the small town I was living in at the time everybody knew eveybody so it didn't surpise me that the fellow showed up at my house wanting to but the gun. I told him again I didn't want to sell but he kept adding more to the amount he was willing to pay and when he said $500 and I'll throw in the Mohawk to boot, I let him have the gun. About 6 months after that I gave the Mohawk to a 17 yar old kid with his parents OK and he's been a lifelong friend and hunting partner ever since, at least until I made the move to Arizona. We still keep in contact and he's become just as big a rifle loony as me.
I've built up a few more rifles since then but I've always wondered just how that Swede would have worked on those big Nevada Mule Deer?
Paul B.

[303tom]

By the way, is that a model 29 you got on your hip there ????????

[303tom]

Husqvarna & with a 24" barrel and turned down bolt handle, that would have been a M38, I can`t believe you sporterized a rifle like that, today that rifle would be worth thousands.............

[Paul B]

Husqvarna & with a 24" barrel and turned down bolt handle, that would have been a M38, I can`t believe you sporterized a rifle like that, today that rifle would be worth thousands.............

Well, that was back in the mid 1970's and milsurp rifles were quite common. Who knew that nearly 40 years later they would climb in value? I enjoyed doing the conversion, learned a lot about what it takes to do a really nice custom rifle and ended up with a bit of profit out of the undertakng. Would I do it again if I still had it? Probably not.
Paul B.

[chutesnreloads]

303tom....ah no...that is a model Security-Six of Ruger which has been very good for me the last18-20 years