M38 Swedish Mauser

[Patrick Chadwick]

The stock disk may have been changed. As I stated, this is an early stock disk, and the Husqvarna produced rifles were the last ones made in any mass production of the m/38 or m/96 rifles. As such, you would expect to see a later type stock disk on these rifles. Maybe a more advanced collector of the Swedes might comment on this in another post.

Without being an "advanced collector", I think the answer is quite simple: these stock disks are no longer a guarantee of anything! They have been stripped from scrap stocks and refitted in other rifles to give a "better" rating, and even copied. I have seen a tobacco-tin full at a sale. Even if a disk is originaly to a given rifle, it only indicates what the state of the barrel was when the rifle was inspected in active service, and that can now be the best part of a century ago! Heaven knows what hands it has been through since. Buffdog, I agree with you - that disk is not original to that rifle. The disk has been retrofitted in a cut-out that was too large for any stock disk. In other words, my guess is that at one time a previous owner installed a coin or medallion in place of the original disk, and that this has since in its turn been replaced by a stock disk from the spares box. One sure-fire way to tell that such a component is not original, is to examine it under a watchmaker's eyeglass. There wil be a mismatch between scratches and wear on the metal compared with the wood.

The full lowdown on stock disks can be found in "The Crown Jewels" by Dana Jones, P 159-169. 10 full pages with photos which I shall not attempt to repeat here!

Patrick

[xa-coupe]

It's not even clear that the disk belongs to that stock which doesn't belong to that action. In a way I was glad to see it didn't match so I wasn't about to desecrate an all matching original !
Having said that, bubba doesn't live here any more and it will be accurised as best I can without doing irreparable damage. No drilling, no cutting, just a lot of q&a about how to milk more from it.

[Jerome Cooper]

I bought an M38 from a friend who in turn got it on the open market several years ago and never fired it. In viewing and reading the work done with the Swedish Mauser stock I am reminded of the unsolved problem I have with the M38. Using cast bullets and a moderate charge of powder I repeatedly got grouping to the left of the black and often off the edge of the target. Moving the front sight as far as it can go to the left doesn't change anything. I had a gunsmith look at the rifle to see if the barrel is bent and it is not. I cannot imagine that the rifle passed through the Swedish military shooting like that. Is it possible that there is some lateral pressure is being exerted on the barrel by the stock and this is causing the point of impact to be shifted to the extreme left and it is exceeding the capacity of the rear sight. What are the steps that I have to follow to determine just what is going on here and what has to be done to correct the prob? It is wrong that a rifle of this capability has to be aimed at the right edge of the target with the front sight all the way to the left in order to get the poi into the black. Any help or suggestions/remedies would be most appreciated. J.Cooper

[Patrick Chadwick]

Is it possible that there is some lateral pressure is being exerted on the barrel by the stock and this is causing the point of impact to be shifted to the extreme left and it is exceeding the capacity of the rear sight. What are the steps that I have to follow to determine just what is going on here and what has to be done to correct the prob?

Assuming that your gunsmith took a proper look at the bareel, and it is straight and the crown is OK, then yes, the barrel is probaby binding in the channel somewhere.

xa-coupe had the same problem and it was covered in detail in the following thread: "Swede M38 Range Report" started by xa-coupe.

"I cannot imagine that the rifle passed through the Swedish military shooting like that." Of course it didn't. But that was a long time ago, and wood dries, shrinks and warps. To read some of the IMOH horrible things that some people do to their stocks, one can only conclude that they think wood is as unchanging as metal.

Read right through the thread mentioned above. I think it will answer your question. And when you have sorted out the binding, completely oil the stock with linseed oil, outside and inside !

Patrick