Swedish Mauser m/96-38 Inconsistencies

[Von Hayek]

I just picked up a Swedish m/96-38 and there are some aspects of the rifle that confuse me. I ask these questions having not handled an enormous number of them, but from reading The Swedish Mauser Rifles published by North Cape Publications.

This rifle was imported by Class Distributors in Swann, Vermont. The receiver was manufactured by Carl Gustafs in 1908. All the numbers match except for the magazine floor plate and the bolt stop, neither of which have serial numbers. That should mean that they were made by Husqvarna.

The rear sight is from an m/38, not an m/96-38.

Most oddly, the bolt has only one gas escape port, but according to the book, any rifle made after 1904 should have at least 2.

Does someone want to put this all together? I can't imagine an importer cobbled together a matching bolt from a pre-1905 rifle. None of the numbers look scrubbed. How about the rear sight? Has anyone ever seen a m/38 rear sight on a m/96-38? I can easily see anyone swapping out the magazine floor plate and bolt catch, though it seems odd with everything else matching.

 

[Random Guy]

Parts get damaged and replaced.
It's what the armorer had in his chest...
Or, a previous owner swapped it out.

I tend to agree. To that point, I observe that the newish dull black rear sight leaf does not match the wear/patina on the shiny blued rear sight base, so that part was swapped out at some point. To me the patina on floor plate doesn’t really match the magazine bottom metal, so that also likely got swapped out at some point, presumably while in service. The 1942-44 Husquarva M38s seem more likely to be all matching, at least from rifles I have examined.

 

[USMCsean]

First off, North Cape Publishing is riddled with errors. The one and only book you seek is called

“Crown Jewels - The Mauser in Sweden: A Century of Accuracy & Precision by Dana Jones”​

So the Swedes had a lovely case of attention to detail sprinkled with a severe case of consistency in all things they did with the Mauser, until the late 1950s/ early 1960s.

They scrubbed numbers and made things match at all times. They had routine inspection schedules and a conservative grading scale on bore condition. They used their rifles consistently. As such, their supply stores for spare parts is quite on par with the U.S. It was extremely robust.

This consistent mentality was the case for the first, roughly, 50-60 years of service life. And then, as I said, the 50s/60s happened and things just weren’t as good. Mostly, you find the falloff happening after the introduction of the m/41B rifle when they upgraded it from the m/41. Which is also when they started adopting newer rifles. But these rifles were kept as second line weapons and were meant to stay serviceable above all else. Matching numbers of various components wasn’t a main focus. You find a lot of guns with Husqvarna replacement parts (tilted crowns marked) with no serial numbers marked on them. You can even find unmarked Carl Gustafs parts too, just not as common.

1940s Husqvarna m/38s tend to not have all the parts matched with SNs either. You’ll find bolt parts, magazine, release levers, and sometimes the buttplates marked. You’ll find a lot with just a bolt matched. I’ve seen plenty of Husky m/38s with bolts only matched and the rest of the hardware completely unmarked. Point is, there’s lot of variability with those.

My last main point, because of the robust spare parts system, you can find some parts with early features on later guns and vice versa. It was of no concern to them. If the bolt matches, especially the font, dont even worry about it. If it’s something that bugs you, check the head space and if it’s good, run it. Bolts had lots of hand fitting done to them. So they tended to stay with the gun above all else.

 

[Von Hayek]

First off, North Cape Publishing is riddled with errors. The one and only book you seek is called

“Crown Jewels - The Mauser in Sweden: A Century of Accuracy & Precision by Dana Jones”​

So the Swedes had a lovely case of attention to detail sprinkled with a severe case of consistency in all things they did with the Mauser, until the late 1950s/ early 1960s.

They scrubbed numbers and made things match at all times. They had routine inspection schedules and a conservative grading scale on bore condition. They used their rifles consistently. As such, their supply stores for spare parts is quite on par with the U.S. It was extremely robust.

This consistent mentality was the case for the first, roughly, 50-60 years of service life. And then, as I said, the 50s/60s happened and things just weren’t as good. Mostly, you find the falloff happening after the introduction of the m/41B rifle when they upgraded it from the m/41. Which is also when they started adopting newer rifles. But these rifles were kept as second line weapons and were meant to stay serviceable above all else. Matching numbers of various components wasn’t a main focus. You find a lot of guns with Husqvarna replacement parts (tilted crowns marked) with no serial numbers marked on them. You can even find unmarked Carl Gustafs parts too, just not as common.

1940s Husqvarna m/38s tend to not have all the parts matched with SNs either. You’ll find bolt parts, magazine, release levers, and sometimes the buttplates marked. You’ll find a lot with just a bolt matched. I’ve seen plenty of Husky m/38s with bolts only matched and the rest of the hardware completely unmarked. Point is, there’s lot of variability with those.

My last main point, because of the robust spare parts system, you can find some parts with early features on later guns and vice versa. It was of no concern to them. If the bolt matches, especially the font, dont even worry about it. If it’s something that bugs you, check the head space and if it’s good, run it. Bolts had lots of hand fitting done to them. So they tended to stay with the gun above all else.

This is excellent, thanks so much. That book is not cheap! I suppose one will have to make it my way though.

I think these are wonderful rifles, and in my eyes, undervalued. My eyes light up whenever I come across one.