1911 Carl Gustaf M96 saved, my good deed for the day

[vintage hunter]

Saved this one from being butchered for it's action yesterday. I have this hunting buddy that likes custom rifles, he recently acquired a slim tapered .25 cal. octagon barrel with the intentions of having it installed on a Savage 99 and chambering it for .250-3000 Improved but the Gunsmith he uses had his doubts for whatever reasons about barreling a M99 so that ended that. A small ring Mauser action was suggested and last week while in Florida my buddy finds this M96 in a pawn shop and buys it for $175. He'd never shot a Swede before( he's not big on milsurps) so I had him bring it over for a test firing session. I hated to see it chopped so offered to trade a nicely done sportered M96 and the deal was done. It's about average condition with mismatched #'s so it's no big prize but should make a good shooter. The bolt body matches the receiver but the shroud, safety lever, cocking piece and rear sight don't. I can't quite figure how it got that way but the crown was beat up to the point where it was mushroomed. I took about 10 minutes to recrown and hopefully the accuracy will be ok. We only fired it a couple times each freehand and I'll give it a accuracy test later when the weather clears up, cold, windy and rainy today.

Information

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[Aragorn243]

Nice job on the crown.

Bizarre that the guy wouldn't re-barrel a 99, the 250-3000 was designed for that rifle. I'd tell your buddy to take it to another guy.

I'm partial to 99's myself, they have always been my primary rifle of choice for deer. My first rifle was a 300, my current rifle is a 243 although I still have the 300 and take it out occasionally.

[vintage hunter]

I find it odd that the gun smith wouldn't do the job either, especially since he sets up at gunshows with a plaque on his table that reads: ''I can fix anything''. Don't have many options where gunsmiths are concerned around here. All the old ones who knew what they were doing have all died off now and to find one that will rebarrel rifles and do a good job is a challenge.
When crowning a barrel I normally go to my neighbors machine shop and chuck it up in the lathe but he's out of town for a few days so I used a Lee case trimmer with a .243 length gage wrapped in electrical tape to square up the muzzle by hand followed by a 1/2'' ball rotary file in a hand drill to chamfer the bore and a 6'' flat mill file to dress the O.D..

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

That is some pretty good "shade tree" gunmithing! Turned out well.

[westkraut]

Great info and pics....it's great to see that the repairs worked out well for you........just curious to learn what crowning tool you used?

[vintage hunter]

I used a Lee case trimmer with a .243 length gage wrapped with electrical tape(since removed) to uniform the muzzle by hand followed by a 1/2'' ball rotary file in a hand drill to chamfer the bore then a 6'' flat mill file to round the O.D. of the barrel. Took about 10 minutes.