Questions about the M38

[metzgeri]

Danke schön Gunner. I've been studying and collecting Swedish Mausers for several years now. I've been a "student" of Dutchman and Swede (moderators on another board dedicated to Swedish Mausers) for as long too.

Swedish Mausers are fantastic rifles with a deep, rich history. There are so many things to know and learn about them. The Swedes did it right when they decided to adopt Peter and Wilhelm's rifle design!!!

Happy Easter to you. May your Paulener be cold and plentiful and your schnitzel be warm and delicious!!!

(I miss Deutchland!!!)

metzgeri

Information

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[gunner]

Hi metzgeri,

i was sure that you know more of the Swedes as an "normal" collector!
The Swedes are really interesting and extremely accurat rifles with an great caliber. Good to know an expert on this rifles
My Paulaner was cool tonight and the Schnitzel on monday will be good. Many thanks!
You should visit Germany and let me know when i should reserve a cold Paulaner at our Biergarten!

Happy Easter

Gunner

[Dutchman]

Didn't we have this discussion over at gunboards?

1) The early M/38's, the ones made with earlier M/96 receivers are frequently described as being "cut down" from M/96's (Crown Jewels, p81). Did these early M/38's actually use "cut down" barrels from the existing M/96 barrels, or is that just short hand for actually re-barreling with a new, shorter length barrel?

Both. We have seen enough Gustaf m/38 with Husqvarna m/38 barrels and HVA m/38 rear sights to be able to say that there were a number of m/96 converted by Husqvarna using purpose-made shorter m/38 barrels with m/38 rear sight assemblies already installed on the barrels. Most of the time the m/96 barrel was reduced in length.

2) I have examples of both the early M/38's and the later Husqvarna made M/38's. One of my early M/38's has the Vasteras micro adjustable rear sight insert. The other does not. It seems that the sight insert is fairly common on the early M/38's and I think I read some where that it was added at the time of conversion.

The Vasteras insert was OEM for the converted Gustaf & Oberndorf m/38 as the original stepped rear sight base of the m/96 wasn't calibrated correctly for a 24" barrel. What Metzgeri calls a "stop-gap" was really a big improvement in sight adjustment on the converted m/38.

Neither of my Husqvarna made M/38's have a micro adjustable rear sight. Why did Husqvarna discontinue the use of micro-adjustable rear sights on the M/38's that they built?

Husqvarna never installed the Vasteras insert on purpose-built m/38 as the HVA m/38 rear sight base is a tangent sight. It has infinite adjustment capability whereas the stepped rear sight base of the m/96 required adaptive modification in the form of the Vasteras insert, which also has infinite adjustment.

Suggestion Calfed: Instead of referring to "early" and "late/r" m/38 it would be much clearer if you simply refer to the early conversions as Carl Gustaf & Oberndorf m/38 versus purpose-built Husqvarna or HVA m/38. That shows a distinction between the models. Within the Swedish military system there was no distinction, but we are not Swedish soldiers we are gun collectors. We make distinctions that are relevant to the many variations within the same model firearms.

Dutch

[Calfed]

Didn't we have this discussion over at gunboards?

Yes we did. I posed these questions both here and on Gunboards 4 months ago. This thread was recently revived and morphed into a discussion about Ljungmanns. In the process, I got some additional information about my original inquiry.