swedish mauser

Beyond the Border

2012-01-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Rather new swedish movie. A swedish soldier disappears into nazi occupied Norway. his brother leads a rescue team to locate him. Lots of violent m/96 scenes.

Kind of dark movie. Well worth buying/downloading. It is available from amazon, just search for the title.

It doesn´t rival Saving Private Ryan, but it is quite interesting for anyone into swedish surplus equipment, mausers, "white lightning" skiis, twin m/36 machineguns, old Volvo trucks and stuff like that.

Swedish Mauser Rifle Manual

2012-01-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

Here´s a manual for the m/38 - m/41 rifle, translated and ready for english speaking/reading shooters. It is a translation of a 1977 document. Click here for the .pdf!

Vintage Swedish Mauser Ammo Boxes

2011-09-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

Here are three old ammunition boxes. Essemtorped, made by Svenska Metallverken (SM) in Västerås and Norma Silvertorped. I guess they were made sometime in the 1960s. In the back is the old surplus m/41 ammo.

The silvertorped and the surplus ammo has a velocity of 790 m/s, and the Essemtorped is at 750 m/s. Yes, the cartridges are still there.

Finding the Right Front Sight

2011-08-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

I went to the shooting range with my 1918 CG m/96, a bag of front sight blades, a small hammer, a punch and a Kornskruv m/43 G. An excellent thread on swedish front sight adjusters at gunboards made me break out this cooler-than-cool item.

My goal was to find the right front sight to put the point of aim slightly below the black area of the target, with the bullets (hopefully) striking bulls eye. I believe this method is the way to go, I have improved my pistol score a LOT with this strategy. The light conditions were far from perfect this evening, but I got some nice groupings anyway. Next time I´ll blacken the sights as it makes a lot of difference for the sight picture.

I started out with the "0" blade already on the rifle, I believe it must have been around 6 mm high. Shots were placed too low, and I went with a slightly lower "-1" and ended up with a "-0,5" that was still a little bit lower. The numbers on the blades is confusing, to say the least. The m/96 and the m/38 has different widths at the top of the blades and have different number scales - a "-0,5" does not mean the same height for the two models. I think I have read an explanation somewhere, a link will be posted if I find it again.

If you buy sight blades, ask for the height instead of the numbers.

Old Postcard - Swedish Soldiers With m/96 Rifles

2011-03-15T12:36:00.001-07:00

This is an old postcard featuring a group of swedish soldiers with their m/96 rifles. I do not know what year it dates from, but I think the rifles were hi tech at the time. I believe the soldiers wear the coat from the m/1886 uniform.

The men are numbered by hand with ink, but there is nothing written at the back of the card. I guess someone wrote the names down a long time ago, on some other piece of paper. Some guy who wanted to remember his buddies? Perhaps the officer did it, he´s the only one not numbered. Or maybe the recruit writing it wanted to forget him! He´s got a cool saber anyway. And a different coat & hat that would make the enemy snipers happy.

All rifles seem to have some kind of white "plug" at the muzzle.

The soldiers have the m/1910 cartridge belts, so it can´t be back in the 1800s. Some kind of paramilitary organization? Anyone with knowledge of old swedish uniforms - feel free to comment below!

Some Old m/94 Surplus Ammo

2010-10-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

Here is some old surplus ammo for the swedish mauser. Some modern day swedish shooters believe it to be corrosive, but this is of course not true. Look down the shining bore of your 90 year old m/96 rifle and judge for yourself...

The red sticker says: "Help reduce military spending. Pick up your casings and clips".

Almina Target Practice Device

2010-10-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here´s a fun accessory for the swedish mauser - an Almina target practice device. This is a very clever construction that uses a series of rods to transfer the impact from the firing pin to a needle punching holes in a small paper target.

I found a complete set a year ago, but tried it out just recently. And it does work! A presicion machined device like this would be very expensive to manufacture today. But, it is of course A LOT cooler than any computer target practice program!

The Almina takes a few minutes to assemble and calibrate, but it is very easy to use. My kit is complete except for the manual. I found a great guide HERE, and assembly instructions HERE. There are a few cool pics in a swedish tread HERE.

I´ll post a range report sometime in the future!

Scoped and Bedded CG63 vs. m/94 Carbine

2010-07-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

OK, there seems to have been some development happening in optics since the 1890s. The green group is a scoped and glassbedded CG63 with a heavy aftermarket barrel. The Blue group is an m/94 carbine with issue iron sights.

Range was 100 meters. I need to do something about that heavy trigger break on the carbine.

Vehicle Maintenance

2009-08-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

A swedish military car gets repaired sometime in the 1940s. An m/94 carbine is leaned against the front bumper.

I scanned the photo from motor magazine "Vi Bilägare". Hope they can forgive me. But, they asked for it since they committed the unforgivable sin of publishing without mentioning the Mauser at all! The car is cool, but it isn´t the main attraction of the image.

I think this carbine never got the bayonet lug. It looks as if it is cocked(?).

Range Report Again

2009-08-11T13:55:00.001-07:00

Another trip to the range, and I took both my m/96 rifles with me. I discovered that the frozen sandbag from my range trip back on March was in fact stuffed with sawdust! It had a leak.

The above group was shot with the 1944 with a diopter sight. I used a more suitable sight insert for the Elit Kornring, as well as a smaller diameter aperture ring for it - but it didn´t get much better. Next time I will install the smallest ring I have (same diameter as the tube itself) and an even smaller diameter ring insert. I need more light around the kornring + an insert that matches the target better. You diopter shooters know what I mean. Not that I shot bad, but it didn´t feel comfortable at all when aiming.

I also took a few shots with the 1918, and got surprised as usual with the difference in results using a diopter vs. the issue iron sights. Groups were bigger. If you haven´t shot one of these with a peep sight, you should! Big improvement!

I just wish I had more time to spent at the range. I want to experiment with diopter and front sight inserts as well as aperture rings to get the maximum results at 100 meters. I also would like to bring some stuff to get a decent shooting position, that sawdust thing should be used as a target instead.

Higher Front Sight Blade for My 1918 m/96

2009-08-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

My 1918 Carl Gustaf shoots way too high at 100 meters. All swedish mausers were originally sighted in for 300 meters with a quite low front sight blade. My rifle had a "0" stamped on the front sight base, indicating that it originally had a blade marked that way.

Today, 90 years later, an +0,5 blade was there. Installed a little bit to the right to shoot where intended. The original blade had a small line in it, showing the exact sideways position in relation to the line on the base, this blade hadn´t. I drifted it out carefully.

Then I took a high +2,5 blade from the parts bin and installed it slightly right of center.

As you can see in the pic to the right, the blade is a lot higher than a stock 300 meters blade.

How did it shoot then?

Well, it is not perfect, it now shoots 20 cm below point of aim! I need to check the parts bin again and do some experimentation!

If you are looking for sight blades for these rifles, you should know that the different numbers don´t mean much at all. They make no sense if you don´t know what swedish mauser model they are made for. Measure their height instead.

Söderin Diopter Sunshade

2009-08-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is an m/Söderin diopter sight with a sunshade installed. This is a nice accessory that mounts directly on the front surface of the diopter housing.

This particular one resides on my Husqvarna m/96. It is a bit unususal as it is not cut to enable more extreme adjustments of the elevation. Most I´ve seen seems to be. As you can see here, the sight has the yellow elevation disc for the 790 m/s 6.5x55 139 grain M-41 military ammo.

A Number of Different Front Sight Blades

2009-07-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

The Swedish Mauser rifles were sighted in for 300 meter use, and the average sight blades used were quite low. I have a number of different blades, as seen in the picture.

Some of my blades are super high +3, +2,5, + 2 and one or two items are super low, the numbers slips my mind right now. The high ones would probably work at 100 meters.

These new-old-stock blades are hard to come by today. If you are looking for a high blade for 100 meter shooting, check brownells for a high blade you can file down to fit your requirements.

Pramm Diopter Setup

2009-07-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a Pramm diopter sight with its matching front tunnel, also marked Pramm. There are several variations of both the rear and front sight, an I believe these two are the most common types.

The front sight is to be combined with a fat diopterkorn (I think ring types vere also available) och a high front sight blade. There are at least two types of Pramm tunnels that I don´t have in my collection yet, one has a stop screw from beneath and the other one has an aluminum cover that screws in from the front.

I intend to narrow down my collecting habit to Pramm stuff only. There is also a cool Pramm leaf type micrometer sight very similar to the AGJ Ram, but I haven´t managed to find a complete one yet at a reasonable price.

The setup in the picture will most likely end up on my 1918 Carl Gustaf.

Swedish Mauser Shooting, March 2009

2009-04-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics from a recent range session. Note the frozen sandbag I used as a support for the rifle! I brought my 1944 with a diopter sight and some cheap ammo.

I quickly realized I had the wrong aperture ring and insert in the Elit front sight. The light conditions made a smaller aperture ring more suited, and the big ring insert blocked the edge of the black area of the target. This made centering everything a lot harder.

Next time I will bring all my bits and pieces with me. I have a lot to learn about using peep sights & hope the right setup will improve my groups. Or maybe it´s more about the shooter...

Elit Kornring Front Sight

2009-02-23T11:53:00.000-08:00

This is the complete Elit Kornring front sight set.

The kornring came with 3 different aperture rings, as seen above - 20,5, 22 and 23 mm. There are also a number of different inserts that are unique to this particular brand of front sight. I think I have most inserts, here are six of them anyway.

This kornring is very close to mint condition, do doubt thanks to the protective plastic cover. There is also a cover for the diopter itself, but covers are seldom seen for some reason.

Elit Diopter Manual

2009-02-23T11:47:00.000-08:00

Here´s the later version swiss made Elite 101 diopter sight. This particular specimen is in a very nice condition.

The earlier Elit (note the difference in spelling!) diopters were manufactured by Olle Edström AB in Ljusdal Sweden. They are the second most common peep sights for these rifles, right after the Söderins. Here are pictures of the manual for the original Elit sight:

Rebarreled at Norma

2009-02-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

I took apart my 1944 m/96 and found an NP stamped replacement barrel. Note the absence of bluing between the area of the rear sight and the receiver.

Also there is an NP stamp at the stock, see picture. I wonder if Norma did the work with installing the Söderin diopter as well? The rifle must have been used a lot.

In the lower pic you can see the special longer than issued screw that secures the front of the accessory pistol grip. My grip didn´t come with one, so I had he screw made 1 cm or so longer, as well as cut for new threads.

Silver Stock Disc

2009-02-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

This is the stock disc of my CG 1918 Swedish Mauser m/96. It reads "Klippans Skyttkompani", a shooting club in the south of Sweden.

I believe the stamps indicate that it is made by silver. Most (?) ex. shooting club owned m/96 rifles seem to have been supplied with discs with the names/symbols of the clubs they belonged to. Probably for a good reason - imagine the confusion at the range with a hundred shooters all having identical rifles...

Three Different Crown Stamp Variations

2009-02-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

This is the Mauser Oberndorf Crown. The bottom line is a bit sagging, as can be seen in the picture above. Screws for these rifles were marked with an "M" symbol.

Next is the Carl-Gustaf crown stamp. I wish I had a better picture, you have to click it to see it in a bigger size. It can be recognized by its straight base. I have seen at least three or four different variations of this stamp - shape and size differs slightly.
Last is the Husqvarna "slanted" crown. Note how it is applied leaning to the right. The rifles made for FSR civilian shooters, as well as the m/38 rifles manufactured by Husqvarna Vapenfabriks Aktiebolag have this symbol.

Some Diopter P0rn Again

2009-02-07T11:19:00.001-08:00

OK, this is what a Fäldt diopter looks like when installed on a rifle.

I think it´s really cool, a super simple construction. And quite small & compact compared to most other peep sights for the swedish mauser.

Weapons Vise for Swedish Mauser

2009-01-24T10:54:00.001-08:00

This is a must have. A weapons vise for cleaning and repair of rifles and carbines. It was bolted to the tables of old army barracks.

Mine is supposed to be the rare armourers version, it has holes in the sides as well. I don´t know if it´s really correct, because all three vises I have seen have been this model - indicating that the side hole version is the most common one (???). Nice acessory anyway. It fits an m/96 rifle a bit better than an m/94 carbine, the carbine is a bit thinner top to bottom. (Note the m/94 cabine cleaning kit to the right in the last pic.)

I have put a small piece of cleaning patch there to aviod damaging the blued receiver surface. I suppose that this was the way it is supposed to be done. None of my swedish mausers have marks from the "arm" of the vise anyway.

m/94 Ammo Pouch

2009-01-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

Here´s an m/94 ammo pouch, made to hold 4 stripper clips. The quality of this item is striking - it is very well made, true workmanship. It even has spring loaded brass flaps to hold the 6,5 mm cardridge clips extra firmly in place.

And while we´re on the subject of clips: I think they are great at the range! A trained soldier must have been able to get a quite high rate of fire using them. Also, a nice feature that I didn´t know before, is that the clip itself ejects when the bolt is pushed forward after the magazine has been filled. No need to remove it by hand in a combat situation.

Soldier with m/94 taking cover behind doghouse

2009-01-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

This is a cool pic published at helsingborgs dagblads website, showning a swedish soldier with his m/94 swedish mauser carbine.

To be absolutely sure not to get hit by mortar fire, he hides behind what looks like a doghouse!

GF Diopter Sight

2008-12-28T03:39:00.000-08:00

This one seems to be very popular. It was approved by the military for use on the m6 and m7 CG63 versions. The GF was introduced in 1965, and manufactured at the Carl-Gustaf plant.

It could also be ordered by civilians as an option for their CG63 rifles. The installation requires more modifications to the receiver than a "normal" diopter sight does. For the GF elevation to reach its lowest point, a groove has to be milled into the receiver.

For information on disassembly and assembly, click here for an interesting post on the swede section of the gunboards forums. The post also contains a number of attached scanned images of the original instruction manuals.

Fäldt Diopter

2008-12-28T03:33:00.000-08:00

This is the Fäldt mod.2 diopter sight. Probably a 40s design, I read somewhere that it was included in army trials for use on the m/96. Could be a rumour.

Anyway, it´s a simple and functional design. The Fäldt is a very low profile unit, even more compact in size than a GF diopter! I think it looks kind of mean - if Darth Vader had an m/96 rifle, this would be his first choice!

Shooting m/96 and CG 63

2008-12-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

Me and my old man went to the range to try out my 1944 Husqvarna m/96 with a Söderin diopter and an Elit front globe. I shot 2 inch groups at 100 meters.

The trigger was very different from my other mausers, very light pressure needed here. It feels like this rifle has been blueprinted in comparison to my heavy trigger carbine. Also, the barrel bands came off all the time. It turned out that the metal strip that secures them had been carefully sawed off - making it possible for the bands to be removed a bit by hand. Thereby letting the barrel become less restricted in its movements. What is this? Some old cheater trick to shoot better in competitions?

I also tried the scoped CG 63 my dad is using. It knocks down moose in the autumn. It turned out that shot I well with it: best five shot group was 1/2 inch + a flyer.

Christmas Shootout

2008-12-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

The big fireballs from the muzzle a carbine can be very impressive a cloudy day such as this! We also shot some silly 5,56mm and 9mm semi automatics, but the loud blasts from the m/94 dominated the scene.

A lot of fun! My carbine is a shooter first and foremost and no collectors item - we went through a few very fast 30 meter series on military figure targets. I also tried it with the loooong sword like bayonet attatched, but this was a windy day so it actually caught wind - and made shooting tricky! Off it went.

Lyman 48(M) Mauser Diopter Sight

2008-12-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

The Lyman 48(M) was produced between 1911 and 1947. The "M" stamped at the side of the base indicates that it fits a Mauser reciever. As far as I know, it can be installed on both small and big ring recievers. Some say they also fit Husqvarna hunting rifles as well.

The Lyman 48 were the finest target sights made by the firm. They were factory installed on Carl Gustaf fm23 and fm23/36 match rifles from the 20s and 30s - so, this is an obviously an old peep sight design.

Hauges Diopter Sight For Swedish Mauser

2008-12-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

Above is a norwegian Hauges Diopter sight, produced in the 1950s. According to some sources I´ve seen, these sights were considered as being the best diopter design available for these rifles.

The reason for this is that the top part of the Hauges can be removed without having to use tools at all. The flat spring on the right can be pulled out to disengage the long elevation screw, then the top can be lifted off. The Hauges is installed with screwes through the reciever side, just like a Lyman or Busk design. In the pic above is an earlier variant, looking a bit different than the later version below. In general, the early ones had more milled parts and the late ones made more use of castings.

The Hauges required removal of some stock wood at the side of the reciever, and the drilling and tapping of two holes. As with all diopter sights this MUST be done by a skilled gunsmith.

Great Book on Mauser Rifles

2008-11-20T11:17:00.001-08:00

"Mauser Military Rifles of the World" by Robert W.D Ball is highly recommended reading for anyone with an unhealthy interest in Mausers, or surplus rifles in general. I bought this book a while ago, and I really enjoyed it - lots of info, lots of pics/p0rn.

The author first gives an in-depth history on the Mauser company and has divided the book into sections for every country using Mauser rifle variants. And there are many! Both variants and countries that is. Keep in mind that the Mauser design was used for a period of more than 50 years in armies all over the world - that means a lot of different models and modified types over the years as rifle development progressed. Every section starts with the author giving a historical perspective on the country discussed - some of these are less than satisfactory (but not totally bad), however this is a minor point as the image material and the rifle stuff is the focus of the whole book. The Swedish Mauser chapter contains a lot of nice pics and info, not as much as the chapter on german rifles or belgian FN Mausers, for obvious reasons. Studying the Spain chapter, for instance, gives some info on where the swedish models came from. I think the book as a whole really puts the swedish stuff in perspective - they were the state of the art in weapons technology back in 1894!

The book ends with a cool chapter on acessories and odd stuff like grenade launchers, devices for firing the rifles while hiding in trenches, tools and so on. The guys writing the book clearly has had contact with a huge number of super serious/sick collectors, and has been allowed to visit their super secret bat caves for inspecting their collections.

One of the most fascinating subjects discussed here are Mausers captured and in turn issued to other fighting forces - examples are german manufactured rifles sold to the baltic states in the 20s and 30s. These were captured by the germans during WW2 and used by them, then taken by the russians at the end of the war and given to the viet cong. Later on many of these surfaced in the US as bringbacks from the Vietman war. Very interesting. There are more stories like this, for instance old turkish Mausers still prized & prefered by Kurd rebels.

I recommend getting this book! I ordered it from amazon.com, for $31.49 or something like that. Go check it out.

My Swedish Mauser Items on Ebay

2008-10-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

I have decided to unload some of my stuff on evilbay. I hope it will end up in the hands of people who needs it more than I do. Some the items are quite interesting, click the links to see the auctions:

Swedish Mauser m/94 Carbine Stock. Complete with hardware. An early three digit serial number Oberndorf item.
Side Scope Mount. A 1950s product - looks way better than a modern solution.
Hellqvist Jaktdiopter. Small small peep sight! Rare!
A Söderin Diopter in good condition.
Insert for Elit Front Sight Hood.

I hope it will help someone find that part they have been chasing for years - I´m mostly thinking of the complete m/94 carbine stock.

Elite Front Sight Installed

2008-09-30T02:17:00.000-07:00

Here we have my 1944 "FSR" Husky. The front sights pictured are for diopter use - my new Elit to the left, a korntunnel m/Jarno with a diopterkorn installed on the rifle and an early Pramm to the right.

I removed the jarmo and installed the Elit. It turned out that the Elit was full of glue! Not again! The glue fetish seems to have been really common among gunsmiths of the 50s and 60s. Some heat took it away, and here´s what the mussle looks like today:

I feel that sight picture is alot better with the Elit unit. And what is a diopterkorn? Well, it is a fatter and taller front sight blade for use with a tunnel type front sight cover. To be used with products lacking disc inserts.

I have to take a trip to the range soon. And I must take daylight pictures for my posts, these are too dark.

Swedish Mauser Cleaning Bolt

2008-09-30T02:03:00.000-07:00

This is a special cleaning bolt, the idea is to avoid damaging the barrel during cleaning. An added bonus of course, is that the magazine won´t get filled with vapenfett 101! The smell of that stuff results in tears among male swedes of older generations.

The reason could be som kind of nostalgic rush or more likely (and less dangerous for the individual) the poisonous fumes coming from the can.

As far as I know, other countries like Germany used wooden cleaning bolts. Due to the swedish tradition of precision engineering and over all pickyness/white gloves inspection type stuff, a nice snugly fitting checkered metal bolt was issued.

Moose Encounters CG 63

2008-09-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

My dad got to shoot a quite big moose last Sunday - of course he used his trusty CG 63!

The story is kind of funny - the 3 dogs they used searched each other out instead, started a big fight and ran off into another area. One of the guys then let his labrador give it a try - the dog managed to track down a moose and push it in the direction where my old man was positioned. One bullet from his scoped 1902 CG, and the labrador got very happy!

Carbine project finished, for now anyway

2008-09-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

OK, here´s what it looks like, my de-sporterized 1907 m/94 in it´s new old stock. What I intend to do next is to replace the bent and welded bolt. And also weld and reblue the reciever, as it is D&T:d for both side mounted scope and a diopter.

I am pleased with how it turned out, it´s a very handy rifle! It looks old and very worn from use, and I think it should after 100 years. The stock has a real man´s smell, from cosmoline and cigar smoke - wife doesn´t like it at all. I will go shooting it in its new appearance in a few days.

Above is the more "stock" looking left side. It has smooth marks from many years of getting rubbed against the leather plate that the cavalry had protecting their backs.

This is the original style sight I was missing. I got it from a very nice guy named Brian from the US - we did a trade: I sent a cleaning bolt and got a rear sight!

Here is the knob thing for the bayonet. In 1914 a program converting all existing carbines into accepting bayonets was started, and something like 90% got modified like this. Mine, made in 1907, was obviously one of them. Here is a pic on my other stock, with the old style nosepiece.

The barrel is in a GREAT condition. It is probably a replacement, stamped with the complete serial number and an "S" with a crown - it means that it had work done by the Stockholm army workshop.

Hellqvist and Pramm Diopters

2008-08-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

Note the small size of the Hellqvist Jaktdiopter I removed from my ex. sporter m/94 swedish mauser carbine. The big diopter is a Pramm.

I think the Hellqvist must be a nice alternative to a traditional diopter sight for someone who like to keep the traditional look on his rifle. It is sooo small when seen next to a normal diopter sight. The Pramm in the picture, is a post 1953 model according to this post. The difference is an added side locking screw. The Pramm was constructed by Otto Pramm and introduced to the public in 1945. I have an early style Pramm clamp on front sight tunnel as well, for use with this sight.

Drilled and Tapped Reciever

2008-08-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Look what someone did to my innocent carbine! I´ll probably leave the holes as they are, they are a part of it´s history anyway.

The reciever can be TIG welded, grinded, polished and reblued. But I feel the blueing will look too perfect compared to the rest. I´ll make my mind up later.

Instructions for use of the m/94

2008-08-10T08:13:00.001-07:00

Click here for the 2004 swedish military instructions on how to use the karbin m/94. The rifle is still in service 112 years after its introduction. Nowdays, the m/94 is intended only for cermonial use.
Notice the m/90 uniformed dude in the pic, the carbine looks kind of small in the hands of a
modern day tall guy. Remember, that it was probably designed to be used by someone born in the 1870s.

1907 m/94-14 stock

2008-08-08T07:01:00.001-07:00

I managed to find yet another carbine stock. This one is not sanded at all, and totally original. Also, it´s from 1907 - the same year as the reciever!

Even if the result of the whole carbine resurrection operation will be an almost totally mismatched shooter, I like everything to match when it comes to age and era of manufacture. Now I´m probably as close as I can get.

The new stock is very worn from use, but never modified in any way except for a missing brass plate. It has the yellow trajectory decal with shellac. I think the first impression of the rifle will be that it´s an old original weapon.

As seen in the picture above, this stock was modified to accept an bayonet, unlike the Mauser Oberndorf stock I intended to use to begin with.

These carbines are commonly called m/94-14 among collectors. In 1914 a program started to convert all m/94:s, and something like 90% of them got this modification.
I think the m/94-14 look a lot better for some reason! Not prettier, but more massive and aggressive.

Rear sight for my m/94 carbine

2008-08-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

It´s hard to find an original rear ladder sight for my m/94. Ebay sellers in the US won´t ship them to Europe. They probably suspect them to end up in the wrong hands: the evil hands of all those m/94 carbine armed talibans!

Finding m/94 parts in Sweden is not easy. The sight is the last piece of the puzzle. I´m thinking of getting a "round" mojo front sight until I stumble upon an original rear sight. I guess it can be used with the Hellqvist jaktdiopter that´s already installed on the reciever. Not totally butt ugly as the jaktdiopter is very small and discreete. Also, the front sight will be hidden somewhat by the protective ears of the nosepiece.

More news: I found an original, not sanded m94-14 stock + handguard. All complete except for the round brass plate. I will probably use it instead of the sanded Oberndorf stock.

What I need is the following: A rear m/94 sight. A two screw brass plate marked I20 or K4.

1907 Carl Gustaf m/94

2008-06-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

I have a new addition to my humble collection, a rifle that is somewhat rare here in Sweden: a m/94 cavallery carbine! A very cool little rifle with a total length of 95 cm, very small and handy. Too bad someone has made a sporter out of it a long time ago. Therefore, I have gotten myself a stock too!

The poor 1907 CG was once a cavallery m/94. At some point in time it had its stock shortened and the holes for the sling were filled in. Also, it got equipped with a side mounted scope and a rare hellqvist "Jaktdiopter", a very low profile reciever mounted peep sight. Also, the bolt handle is longer than stock and bent in a slightly different angle. It also has a "ergonomic" abdomination in the form of a big sissy plastic ball.
Check the nice wood work below, it can´t really be bubbas work, can it? It is noticable in the pic, but I didn´t see it at first when I inspected the carbine. very discreete.

The plan is to remove all unnecessary aftermarket stuff and drop the reciever+ barrel in the original configuration stock. That stock is an old Oberndorf item from the very first batch of carbines delivered to Sweden in 1895. It is (was) a beautiful piece of walnut, bearing the serial number 103. What a shame someone way back made a sporter out of it! The stock has never been fitted with the bayonet nosepiece. It has also at some point been converted to a kammarkarbin, and later on converted back again - go figure. Proof of this is black paint under the "belt", and a filled in gallery sight hole. I will post detailed pics of the stock and its markings later on.

I took it to the range a week ago. It grouped around 1 inch from a bench. It did kick me HARD! I was very surprised by this, it was worse than my grandfathers Husky 9,3x62! My shoulder is still yellow. I believe the reason is that the scope is mounted kind of high - it makes the shooter hold the stock to his shoulder in a different way than intended. I think it will make a nice shooter when used with the open sights.

To restore it I need a front sight blade and a handguard. If you have anything to sell, please comment here. I am not looking to make a perfect restoration, so worn items are OK.

SM sikte - AGJ ram rear sight

2008-05-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

I recently aquired a correct AGJ Ram rear sight for my 1944 Husqvarna. It is kind of similar to the later m/55 sights found on m/41B snipers. As I put it on the rifle, I noticed that the sight interferes a bit with the diopter sight picture when the Söderin is adjusted low. If this is a problem when shooting at 100 meters, I will remove the AGJ temporarily. Could this be the reason why many ex. shooting club mausers miss their rear sights?

I read somewhere that the late series "FSR" rifles were equipped with this kind of sight, instead of the "T" marked m/38 ladder sight. Also, my rifle has a small mark from the tip of the micrometer adjustment screw, exactly in the same location as the screw on the AGJ.
Note that the sight base is marked with the letters "SS" - husqvarna inspector Sten Stenmo. Earlier CG:s had those markings at the side of the reciever. However, the recievers of the Husqvarna rifles where hardened a lot more, so the letters had to be stamped elsewhere.

The SM sikte was manufactured by AG Johanssons Metallfabrik in Västerås, Sweden.

1944 "FSR" Husqvarna

2008-05-10T05:21:00.000-07:00

This is the 1944 Husqvarna I bought a while ago. I bought it over the phone, and thought it was a mismatched m/38, but it turned out to be an all matching "FSR" rifle, made for civillian shooters. The manufacturing quality & wood to metal fit is not as top notch as on my 1918 CG, but the feel of the trigger very nice.

Around 20,000 of these rifles were made by Husqvarna in 1943 and 1944. They were ordered by the military who sold them to at an attractive price to members of what was later to be called "Frivilliga Skytterörelsen" - civilian shooting clubs. They were supposed to be sold back to the government in the event of war. These rifles seem to be known to US shooters as "FSR" rifles, a term used in the Kehaya and Poyer Swedish Mauser book. As this is a rifle intended for non army use, it has only five serial numbered parts: receiver, bolt handle, buttplate, safety, and firing pin.

Notice the machining marks on the reciever - not really Carl Gustaf peacetime manufacturing standards. My rifle is in decent condition with a few scratches to the stock. Bore is like a mirror. It seems to be used quite a lot, but has been taken well care of. It has a Söderin target sight, a fairly common diopter that was very popular among shooters. The original rear sight is missing, as often is the case with competition rifles like this one. I will hunt down a late version AGJ for it, just like the one it had originally.

Hmm, wonder who Bror Svensson was? The civilian m/96 rifles had holes for stock discs just like the military versions. It was very common for shooters or clubs to put their own discs in there, just like on my shooting club owned CG 1918.

m/1896 bayonet with flat locking stud

2008-04-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here´s an early production swedish mauser bayonet in somewhat worn condition. The manufacturing quality of the old bayonet is supposed to be the better than the later conical stud version, because of its deep and well made checkering. Comparison here. I bought this specimen in a flea market some ten years ago. It looks as if it has spent years and years outdoors, probably lost by some poor soldier a long time ago. Badly pitted by rust is an understatement! My kids suspect it´s some kind of medieval knight´s sword!

Bought my second swedish mauser rifle

2008-03-22T07:13:00.001-07:00

Wohoo! I just purchased a second mauser rifle - this time a 1940s Husqvarna m/38. I do not know that much about the gun at all, I bought if unseen over the phone and the price was very low as usual here in Sweden - $76.

According to the seller, it is from the 40s and has threads on the barrel for the blank firing device. It is in OK condition with some scratches on the stock. Only modifications seem to be a Söderin target sight and a missing rear open sight. If numbers match or not, I have no idea. At least until the rifle arrives by mail in a week or so. It will be very interesting to shoot with the Söderin diopter at 300 meters. The reason I bought this m/38 is that it cost about the same as a gunsmith would charge me for drilling my dear unaltered 1918 Carl Gustaf. I would hate to desecrate that weapon!

It will be very interesting to see what this actually is - an m/38 should have a bent bolt handle as far as I know. Probably a mismatched bolt? It doesn´t really matter for me as I like to shoot my rifles, I´m not a true hardcore collector type guy anyway.

I believe it has an Elit kornring (see pic above)? It will be fun to take it to the range and see if I can hit the target at all at 300 meters, I have never shot at that distance before. And the diopter sight is also a new experience to me, almost anyway - I had an AK5 assault rifle with a peep style sight during my military service. I must say that I never really liked the sight picture of that gun... but this rifle is in a totally different ballpark when it comes to vintage vibe and all around coolness: it just has to be great!

Look at the picture above, the stock disc is probably from a shooting club of some kind. I don´t know what it reads. I know that Husqvarna made a lot of rifles during the second world war, and many of them were delivered to FSR - frivilliga skytterörelsen. We´ll see if I have the time to take it to the range before the roads get too bad because of the spring weather. I hope I will be able to try it out soon. Check back for a range report!

New Range Report! Circumstances Still Primitive!

2008-03-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

Me and my dad once again decided to go to the range. The weather was fantastic today, the sun was shining , +2 C and you could almost walk on the snow. We went to another range this time, a place that hadn´t been used in a few months (?), the snow was very deep and we had to walk on some old snow mobile tracks to get to the end of the range.

Due to the snow, it was impossible to get the target suspension thingies to work right, and we ended up sticking the targets down in the snow, supporting them with short wooden sticks. Primitive, but functional.
I had my 1918 Swedish Mauser rifle with open sights of course, and my father had his CG 63. The CG 63 is a factory match rifle version of the m/96, they used old recievers (in his case a 1902 Carl Gustaf) and put match barrels and "modern" stocks on them, as well as polished and lightened the trigger mechanism. His gun has a scope and is used every season for hunting moose. We fired at 100m:

Hm... recoil looks a bit heavy. Or is it that his arms are getting weak? After a few shots, it was my turn:

We realised that trying to shoot from a huge pile of snow really really sucks!!! For every third step we took we sunk down to our knees, the sun was melting the top layer a bit and things were getting difficult. I can tell you that high pulse from running around in deep snow makes things a little bit more interesting when trying to hit a target. The threat of getting the sink-down-in-the-snow-surpise was an extra bonus. Look at the pic - after I fired that round I sunk down again!

Also, look at the bench in the background. Originally, we figured we could shoot from it. Then I discovered that the sand bag was stuck in the ice! At the wrong place.

Here are the results from the first series:

I was shooting a bit high, I figured I had to aim directly at the bottom of the target to hit the center. (Time to order a higher front sight blade!) Still a decent group thinking of the fact that I was shooting without support on a hostile pile of snow. The next series:

Too low this time! Still a decent group, I´m at least hitting the target! Higher! Next one:

OK, height is getting better, but I won´t be able to group tighter than this. All in all, a great result I think, as I didn´t expect any of my bullets to hit the target after my first series. This was hard! I prefer sitting down with support for the gun and so on. Probably crappy shooting for some, but I am very pleased.

For our next session at the range I need the following:

Higher front sight blade.
Better range.
No snow.
A bench.

Looking for a Pramm dipoter

2008-02-22T04:11:00.000-08:00

This is a fantastic looking diopter sight! I love the "mechanical" look it has! A Pramm swedish diopter sight from the 1940s. It looks way better than the usual Söderin and especially the Elit units. I probably don´t have the balls (or lack of...) to drill & tap my beautiful unaltered 1918 Carl Gustaf to install it. What to do? Buy another cheap m/96 with Pramm already installed? That is probably the smartest thing to do when thinking of the prices here in Sweden, something in the ballpark of $150 for gun+sight. Or buy a rifle in crappier condition and install it?

NOTE: I found these pics on the internet a long time ago, and do not remember who to ask for permission to use them. Contact me if you own them and want them removed!

This would be a cool addition to my small collection

2008-02-22T04:05:00.000-08:00

A Kornskruv m/43 for adjustment of the front sight. I feel attracted to this item for some reason - could come in handy when I order a taller sight blade for my m/96. I didn´t really like the "curved" look on the Williams unit. You can´t flip it up either. Plus, it still shoots high at 100m.
I found the photo on an internet auction site, the price was too high for the item in my opinion.

A mauser range report

2007-11-18T11:14:00.000-08:00

Today, my father and I went to a more or less deserted gun range way out in the bush, to test the gun & adjust the sight. Of course I was extremely excited! The weather was a one or two degrees below freezing temperature and there was a slight spooky fog in the air. The scandinavian pine wood landscape was beautiful.

The old shooting range was a bit hard to reach, we had to walk some distance because of the condition of the road and the snow. Also, two bridges were collapsed and had been washed away by the spring flood earlier this year. The weather and the condition of the site gave it an almost haunted feeling! I was glad I had armed myself with a quality piece of true swedish manufacturing exellence!

As seen above, the shooting bench was a bit primitive, but OK. A sand bag was used as support for the rifle.

Loading the Mauser was a breeze thanks to the clips. I guess a well trained soldier must have had a high rate of fire using them. They are never seen in use nowdays, because of bulky scope sights making these operations impossible. Besides, if you need clips when hunting scandinavian moose, it´s possible that you have to rethink your shooting skills a bit!!

The ammunition used was elcheapo Sellier & Bellot practice ammo.

To adjust the windage and elevation of the new sight we shot at a big piece of cardboard at a distance of 100 meters. The bullets went way too high, missing the target. After a number of adjustments, I concluded that the front sight need to be replaced with a higher one, the one I have now is a -0,5. The Williams sight was adjusted as low as it possibly could. I had to aim roughly 20 centimeters below the point I was trying to hit.

Then my father also fired a number of shots. He had a serious problem using the black open sights on a black target, he´s 63 years old and he´s probably better off using a scope. He uses a scoped CG 63 (a sportified m/96) when hunting moose.

Now it was time to get serious, or a bit serious anyway. We placed a white A4 sized paper on a small post and started firing at it. Still at 100 meters.

And now the problems began! As you can see to the right, a white target on a white surface is kind of hard to find! Can you see where it is?

I had to aim somewhere around the top of the visible part of the post. The fog had increased a bit and it was soon to be dark. My nerd glasses also began to cause problems, because my breath was making them foggy too!

I fired anyway, and I really felt like a noob because I hadn´t been at the range for two or three years. My technique could certainly get better with a little training. Here are the results of this not-so -serious experiment:

Not too bad. When thinking of the circumstances, I´m happy with it. I shot groups of approximately 8 centimeters.

The rifle was a joy to shoot! Very smooth and with a light recoil. This caliber (6,5mm) is great at the range - cheap and easy to fire. The next time I´d like to find a better shooting range, better target and I hope to be able to get a scout mounted scope for the Mauser. It would be real cool to have a long eye relief pistol scope mounted where the back sight is located today. I´m used to scopes and it would be fun if we both could shoot with no problems.

This is me to the left, and my father below, on our way back from the shooting range.

Note that he´s still wearing his hearing protection, for some reason!

A new adjustable sight

2007-11-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

In 1941 Sweden changed ammo to the new "Troped" bullet, and the sights were all fitted with "Västerås" refined sight adapters. My rifle was never fitted with the insert sight, and probably never saw any action at all.
I realized I needed a modern adjustable sight - I´d like to shoot it at 100 meters or so, and the original sight goes from 300 and onward. With the old type ammo! Problem.

The solution was a $29 Williams Open Sight from ebay, adjustable for both windage and elevation! No modification was required to the rifle, and the installation is very discreete.

A present for myself - a 1918 Swedish Mauser rifle

2007-11-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

In october 2007 I got myself a real nice present, a 1918 Mauser m/96 in very good condition. I bought it here in Sweden, and paid about $76 for it. It is made by "Carl Gustaf Stads Gevärsfaktori", and sports a brand new NOS barrel. This rifle model was the main armament for swedish soldiers, from the late ninteenth centry and well into the 1950s. In fact, in was used as a sniper rifle until about 1995.

The m/96, known as the Swedish Mauser in the US, has a reputation among enthusiasts for being extremely well made and also accurate for a military surplus rifle. Sadly, in Sweden it is often seen as a redneck weapon, only used by those who are too cheap to buy a "proper" new and shiny toy. Still, many scandinavian moose are shot every year by more or less modified m/96.

Note the ultra-cool late 1800s ladder type sight! When flipped in its up position, the rifle is supposed to shoot 300, 600 and 2000 meters. The soldiers fired together in units, fighting off charging enemy cavallery and stuff. Flipped down, in its "nearest" setting, it is marked for 300 meters. Remember, the 1896 Mauser construction was based on experiences gained during the german 1870s wars with France.