Swedish Mauser

A gun post is way overdue here. It's been way too long. So to fix that, here's a review of the Swedish Mauser M1938 (Type I), sometimes referred to as an M96/38.

This rifle started out in life as a Model 1896 infantry rifle made at the Carl Gustafs stads Gevärsfaktori (Carl Gustavs State Rifle Factory) in Eskilstuna, Sweden. This particular one first saw the light of a cold Swedish day on 1899 per it's receiver stamping.

The Swedes adopted this pretty cutting-edge rifle (for that time period) to replace the single-shot Remington rolling block rifles that their military had been using. Production of this new five-shot rifle only started in Sweden in 1898, so this rifle of mine is one of the first ones made. It originally would have had at 29.1" barrel but a bit before World War Two, the Swedes jumped on the "short rifle" bandwagon along with about everyone else and they introduced a shorter version better suited to all-around use by their modernizing forces which now included mechanized units which would find the older longer rifles unduly cumbersome. The new short rifle was known as the Model 1938, and while many of those were factory-made as new, many more, including mine, were manufactured by taking older M96 rifles and cutting the barrels down 5.5". They were then nearly identical to the new-production M38 rifles (known now as the Type II), except for the fact that most of the older ones retained their straight bolts while the new-production rifles came from the factory with curved, or "turn-down" bolts.

Mine has the old straight bolt, and as a left-handed shooter, I prefer this as it's a bit quicker and easier for me to grab reaching across the rifle from the left side.

Stock disk.

The swedes were obsessive about barrel condition, and each rifle's barrel measurements were tracked and recorded on a stock disk like this one. Each disk is divided into three sections. The large section deals with the rifle's measured bore diameter. Mine still reads at 6.51, or "no wear". The small section indicates condition, with "1" indicating minimal rust, pitting or darkening. The third section is supposed to indicate "hold over" for the then-newer 6.5mm 140gr. round, but it was not always marked, and mine was not.

More detailed information can be found here or here or here. Per this disk, this rifle's bore is great.

The rifles also have nice elevation-adjustable rear sights, which, typical for rifles of that era, only start at 300M. But a couple of pieces of tape under the sight can raise the rear just enough to give you a nice 100M zero, and that's what I'll be working on next time I take it out.

I had it out last week just for a trial, and that 6.5 is both pleasant to shoot and pretty consistent. Now I just have to work on moving the point of impact to where I want it with a bit of tape under the rear and just a touch of windage drift to the front post. Once done, I'll have another 100M tack-driver that'll come in handy for both recreation and second-tier defensive work if need be. (Think "Katrina" style disaster and the need to arm reliable friends and neighbors.) Come that day, I have no doubts as to this rifle's ability to fill the gap.