Author Topic: M38 carl gustaf's swede mauser (Read 2734 times)

1911crazy · « **on:** January 12, 2003, 05:08:39 PM »

I just ordered an M38 carl gustaf swede mauser very good condition $169 from Samco we'll have to wait and see what they send me.
BigBill

1911crazy · « **Reply #1 on:** February 11, 2003, 06:29:00 AM »

I read on another forum that some of the cracked stock 38's at Samco are in rough shape so I contacted them on which is a better one to get either the Oberndorf M38 barreled action or the cracked stock Carl Gustaf?? They told me to get the Oberndorf M38 barreled action for $189. I finally came in its dated "1900" and is in good condition, excellent bore. I ordered a complete M38 stock with all the hardware from numrich gun parts for around $50. I figured it was the way to get one with the supply starting drying up on M38's. BigBill

You have to buy the stock disc seperate for the M38.

savageT · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2003, 06:41:09 AM »

Quote from: BigBill

I read on another forum that some of the cracked stock 38's at Samco are in rough shape so I contacted them on which is a better one to get either the Oberndorf M38 barreled action or the cracked stock Carl Gustaf?? They told me to get the Oberndorf M38 barreled action for $189. I finally came in its dated "1900" and is in good condition, excellent bore. I ordered a complete M38 stock with all the hardware from numrich gun parts for around $50. I figured it was the way to get one with the supply starting drying up on M38's. BigBill

You have to buy the stock disc seperate for the M38.

Big Bill,

Good Luck on your new M38 action. Let us know how the new (used?) stock looks when you get it. I may be looking for one too.

Jim

Mikey · « **Reply #3 on:** February 11, 2003, 09:38:24 AM »

BigBill - ya dun guud. You will enjoy that 6.5, possibly more than your 8mms and then you will become a Swede fan.

SavageT: I believe that in addition to SAMCO, Gun Parts Corp down in West Hurley also sells the M38 stock sets.... Mikey here.

1911crazy · « **Reply #4 on:** February 11, 2003, 04:19:41 PM »

Quote from: Mikey

BigBill - ya dun guud. You will enjoy that 6.5, possibly more than your 8mms and then you will become a Swede fan.

SavageT: I believe that in addition to SAMCO, Gun Parts Corp down in West Hurley also sells the M38 stock sets.... Mikey here.

I got the stock set from Numrich Gun Parts in West Hurley with all the hardware for around $52. The gun came out perfect I can't wait to shoot her. I hope the M38 is as good as the M96's I have. I'm having a blast with the smaller calibers the 6.5X55 swede and the 7X57 mauser are a hoot to shoot!!!! BigBill

1911crazy · « **Reply #5 on:** February 19, 2003, 04:08:21 AM »

Quote from: Mikey

BigBill - ya dun guud. You will enjoy that 6.5, possibly more than your 8mms and then you will become a Swede fan.

SavageT: I believe that in addition to SAMCO, Gun Parts Corp down in West Hurley also sells the M38 stock sets.... Mikey here.

Mikey my only problem is I like them all 8mm mauser, 7.62x54, 7.62x39, 7.5 french, 7mm mauser and the 6.5 swede's their all good, its all fun. I never met one I didn't like even if its ugly its all good. My only question is I never knew that in the beginning M96 swede's were cut down to make M38's in the very beginning you can tell if your swede is one of the cut down ones it will have the longer M96 rear site. I still like the longer barrel of my M96's for when you want to reach out and touch something long range(targets/deer). I think the husqvarna swede's were made orginal M38's just the older M96 Oberndorf and the Carl Gustafs were cut. BigBill

wormbobskey · « **Reply #6 on:** February 20, 2003, 05:48:35 AM »

Bigbill, I have been a M38 owner for about 10 years now and I still love those rifles. I have a Gusthaf (?spelling) that I did some modifications to and reload my own rounds for ground hog shooting. Horndy makes an 85grain hollowpoint that will literally turn a ground hog inside out. Welcome to the swede club, its a fine rifle. Worm

savageT · « **Reply #7 on:** February 20, 2003, 06:06:34 AM »

Quote from: wormbobskey

Bigbill, I have been a M38 owner for about 10 years now and I still love those rifles. I have a Gusthaf (?spelling) that I did some modifications to and reload my own rounds for ground hog shooting. Horndy makes an 85grain hollowpoint that will literally turn a ground hog inside out. Welcome to the swede club, its a fine rifle. Worm

wormbobskey,
How 'bout sharing your reloading info with us? What components are you using besides the Hornady 85 gr. hollowpoints? What 6.5x55mm brass, primers and powders are you reloading with? TIA.

Jim

1911crazy · « **Reply #8 on:** February 20, 2003, 10:21:10 AM »

Quote from: wormbobskey

Bigbill, I have been a M38 owner for about 10 years now and I still love those rifles. I have a Gusthaf (?spelling) that I did some modifications to and reload my own rounds for ground hog shooting. Horndy makes an 85grain hollowpoint that will literally turn a ground hog inside out. Welcome to the swede club, its a fine rifle. Worm

This is my 3rd swede and my first M38 well its actually a M96/38 one of those rearsenaled cut shorter M96's I can tell by the longer rear site same as both my M96's have. You just can't have too many of a good thing?? And the M38's are getting harder to find thats why I put one together I didn't want to wait to find one. Maybe I'll get out next week and shoot a few 25 degrees feels like a heat wave after all the zero weather here plus its still cold so the barrels will cool quick too. I was also thinking along those lines of reloading a lighter buller so faster velocities can be achieved. I hate reloading but soon I will have to again. BigBill

wormbobskey · « **Reply #9 on:** February 21, 2003, 05:04:22 PM »

Savaget, I'm still trying to find my reloading journal. I got the loads from a friend who passed away a few years ago. I do know that our main loads with the 85 gr. HP was IMR 4064 with large rifle primers and H380 with magnum primers. I used PMC brass almost exclusively because I could get 5 or 6 reloads out of it compared to 3 or 4 from Remington. Once I fired the round out of my rifle I would only resize the neck instead of full length resizing as with new brass. I will look around and see if I can find the reloading data and will let you know. Worm

R. Tillery · « **Reply #10 on:** March 06, 2003, 09:57:39 AM »

My Husqvarna M38 is all matching and was made in 1941. It is a sweeeeeet shooter. :grin:

wormbobskey · « **Reply #11 on:** March 06, 2003, 10:16:07 AM »

I imagine there are some bad ones out there, but I haven't seen or heard of it. I believe my M38 was made in 1938, but I'm not to sure, scope base covers the date. I'm wanting to get another that I will leave as is and use it for a brush rifle/ walking ground hog gun. Before I modified mine, it was a very good shooter with open sights, but I had to have 250-300 yard rifle. The Swedish Mausers have gotten so popular though that it is getting pretty hard to find a good one. Later, Worm.

R. Tillery · « **Reply #12 on:** March 06, 2003, 01:02:47 PM »

My M38 bears little resemblance to its original military guise. I only shot 1 box of Hansen 139 grain FMJ ammo through it before having it sporterized. With issue sights and trigger, my best group was 5 shots inside 1.5-inches @ 100 yards.

The sporterization included cutting the barrel to 20-inches and turning it down to a Winchester M70 Featherweight contour, sculpting the trigger guard and checkering the bolt release(I did those myself), installing a Timney trigger and speed lock kit, bead blasting/matte bluing the whole thing and setting it in a Ramline stock.

Topped with a Redfield 6X Tracker scope, set in Burris rings atop Weaver bases, it would put its favorite handload(Nosler 120 grain BallisticTips, CCI Benchrest primers and IMR3031) into 1/2-inch groups or less @ 100 yards from a rest. :grin:

1911crazy · « **Reply #13 on:** March 08, 2003, 10:09:45 AM »

Quote from: R. Tillery

My M38 bears little resemblance to its original military guise. I only shot 1 box of Hansen 139 grain FMJ ammo through it before having it sporterized. With issue sights and trigger, my best group was 5 shots inside 1.5-inches @ 100 yards.

The sporterization included cutting the barrel to 20-inches and turning it down to a Winchester M70 Featherweight contour, sculpting the trigger guard and checkering the bolt release(I did those myself), installing a Timney trigger and speed lock kit, bead blasting/matte bluing the whole thing and setting it in a Ramline stock.

Topped with a Redfield 6X Tracker scope, set in Burris rings atop Weaver bases, it would put its favorite handload(Nosler 120 grain BallisticTips, CCI Benchrest primers and IMR3031) into 1/2-inch groups or less @ 100 yards from a rest. :grin:

Sounds like another great shootin swede?? These swede mausers are accurate shooters for sure my last time at the range I had a guy comment on what gun was i using? He couldn't shoot that good with a scope and i was shooting a M96 with iron sites I shot a group about dead center of the target a horizontal line grouped each shot about 1/4" between each other(bullet hole) for 4 shots benchrest. I was using S&B ammo, I have to try using Igman ammo next time out. I like shooting these puppies they don't try to rip my shoulder off and I can plink all day with no pain/black'n'blue after. The 7MM's and the 6.5MM's are fun guns for sure. BigBill

wormbobskey · « **Reply #14 on:** March 10, 2003, 02:27:21 PM »

Has anyone had a chance to check out the Shotgun news Treasury issue yet? It has a great article on reduced loads for the Swedish Mauser by Tom Gaylord. The main thing I liked was when the auther explained how to read the brass disc on the stock. The disc records the bore size at the throat and the condition of the riflings/bore. After reading the article I checked mine out, it had a #1 rifling/bore designation, which is the best you can have on their scale, but the bore at the throat was 6.52. Does anyone know if that is good or bad. In other words, does anyone know what the tolerances are for these mausers? I've always had acceptable accuracey with my rifle, but alway thought it could be better. Worm

savageT · « **Reply #15 on:** March 10, 2003, 03:09:31 PM »

wormbobskey,
I believe the stock discs start at 6.46 to 6.59mm. Now mine has a #3 bore at 6.50mm?

?? Check out the Dutchmans' Site on bore discs. http://www.armscenter.com/dutchman/disc.html

As far as improving on accuracy, I'd look into handloading my rounds on the long side. C.O.L. max.should be around 3.150" . You want to get the bullet into the throat further, as these Swedes were originally designed for long throats for the old long-nosed round tips. On my M38 I made up a dummy round with Hornady 140 gr. spirepoint way out there......till I could just get the bolt to close. Results C.O.L. measured 3.170" with the canelure touching the rifling at 2.620". The rules state that the bullet should be pulled back .005 to .020" from touching the rifling. Now most factory C.O.L. is around 3.110". Again this is my gun, my measurements, so make up a dummy round without a primer with your bullet of choice and find out where the throat/rifling actually are. Final caution.....long c.o.l. can and do cause loading problems with the magazine and ejection, so be safe and check it out very carefully before committing. Good Luck, and be careful out there!

Jim

wormbobskey · « **Reply #16 on:** March 10, 2003, 03:58:14 PM »

SavageT, just took a quick tour of the web site you suggested, very cool. I saw more things in there than I have ever read about. It was so cool I've got my mauser sitting at the desk with me. Naturally I put it in my favorites, right along side Greybeard
I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of anyone switching disc's around to sell a junk gun? I hope I'm just parinoid and no one will do that. I think I got pretty lucky for having got one like I did even though I had no idea how to read those disc's. I guess it still comes down to being able to judge a rifle just on looks alone sometimes.
I haven't done any reloading in a couple of years now, not since I moved down south. Talking about these great rifles makes me want to break out my reloading gear and start cranking out some rounds. That was I neat way of checking where your riflings start. I always put my oal at about .010 under so I wouldn't have to worry about resting the bullet on top of the riflings. Pretty much hit or miss, but it worked at the time. Worm

savageT · « **Reply #17 on:** March 10, 2003, 04:21:35 PM »

Quote from: wormbobskey

SavageT, just took a quick tour of the web site you suggested, very cool. I saw more things in there than I have ever read about. It was so cool I've got my mauser sitting at the desk with me. Naturally I put it in my favorites, right along side Greybeard
I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of anyone switching disc's around to sell a junk gun? I hope I'm just parinoid and no one will do that. I think I got pretty lucky for having got one like I did even though I had no idea how to read those disc's. I guess it still comes down to being able to judge a rifle just on looks alone sometimes.
I haven't done any reloading in a couple of years now, not since I moved down south. Talking about these great rifles makes me want to break out my reloading gear and start cranking out some rounds. That was I neat way of checking where your riflings start. I always put my oal at about .010 under so I wouldn't have to worry about resting the bullet on top of the riflings. Pretty much hit or miss, but it worked at the time. Worm

Worm,

Glad you enjoyed the new-found site! Let me know if I can help any further. Did you happen to see the picture of the original 6.5x55 military round-nose 156 grain round? Now you know why the throats are so very long! When I made up the practice round, I made sure to NOT crimp the neck, so that if it was over-long the rifling would push the bullet back so the bolt would close. I took a black Sharpy Marker and coated the bullet so I could see where the rifling touched. That way I had a throat dimension to record. I'll pass along one more site for you and sign off.
http://pub109.ezboard.com/fparallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforumsfrm33

1911crazy · « **Reply #18 on:** March 10, 2003, 05:12:39 PM »

Quote from: wormbobskey

Has anyone had a chance to check out the Shotgun news Treasury issue yet? It has a great article on reduced loads for the Swedish Mauser by Tom Gaylord. The main thing I liked was when the auther explained how to read the brass disc on the stock. The disc records the bore size at the throat and the condition of the riflings/bore. After reading the article I checked mine out, it had a #1 rifling/bore designation, which is the best you can have on their scale, but the bore at the throat was 6.52. Does anyone know if that is good or bad. In other words, does anyone know what the tolerances are for these mausers? I've always had acceptable accuracey with my rifle, but alway thought it could be better. Worm

Worm;
The throat showing more wear is from shooting hotter ammo, and noticed in guns that are reloaded for too. Some guys shoot closer to the max loads thus increasing throat wear. The less powerful load being shot increases accuracy and reduces throat wear. BigBill

wormbobskey · « **Reply #19 on:** March 12, 2003, 04:51:41 PM »

Had a pretty nice day today, so I took the old 38 out for a walk. I had just recently put a new scope on it so i needed to see how close I had bore sight it. Set up a target at fifty yards and got into a prone-supported position. Shot a three shot string that measured just over an 1.5, but 4 inches to the left. Made some adjustments, fired another three shot string, 2 inches to the left, still under 1.5 inches. More adjustments, one more three shot string, bingo, on the 10 ring. Made sure everything was tight and shot one more group, still in the 10 ring. This was with my hand-loads with the 85grn. HP. Now all I have to do is see if I can tighten it up from a bench. Later, Worm