1941 Swedish Mauser needs a LOT of help

[Aragorn243]

I made a discovery this evening, the rifle was not counter bored, it has a screw on muzzle cover on it. Now getting that off will be problematic. I bet the threads and barrel under it are pristine

[Aragorn243]

Gun show this weekend. I think I'm going to look for a barrel. Any Swede barrel fit? I could get one of those SARCO barrels if it will fit the receiver and nothing shows up at the show.

[Aragorn243]

I got the nose cap off. And believe it or not, the barrel threads are pristine under it. I never thought I'd get it off in the first place.

[Aragorn243]

Productive day at the gun show today. I spoke to three individuals concerning the pitting on the barrel and all said it wasn't a problem. That a Swede barrel would have to be in a lot worse shape than that for it to be a problem. I'm still not going to fire it other than remotely to test it however for my own peace of mind.

Besides that, I was able to acquire a stock for an M96 with all the metal with the exception of the butt plate which I did not need for $30. Turns out the stock I have is a cut down M96 stock as it was a common practice to recycle them on the M38's. So the project will continue.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

So the project will continue.

Very glad to hear that. Keep us posted.

[Aragorn243]

Took some time this evening to cut the stock down and fit the end cap. Took a few photos of the "new" stock alongside the old:





And a close up of the barrel end. I have not gotten around to cleaning the light surface rust off of it. This has no pitting and the inside of the muzzle cap has none either, even through the threads.



And after fitting, I figured I better check to see if everything else fit so I put it back together. I don't plan on doing anything more with the barrel until I can test fire it. Not intending to replace the cleaning rod until then either. No sense tying up a lot of cash if it isn't going to work.

[Aragorn243]

I had an engineer who works with metal examine the barrel and he gave it an all clear. I took it to two gun shops yesterday and had four different fellows examine it and pronounce it as safe as any barrel can be but all four of them also said it would not shoot accurately and needs to be re-crowned or counter bored. Two estimates were both $60. One fellow lamented what a shame it was (which I agree) and one of the four suggested cutting the barrel down as its collector value is gone.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Looks great. Think you might be suprised how much better it will look blued.

[Patrick Chadwick]

but all four of them also said it would not shoot accurately and needs to be re-crowned or counter bored. Two estimates were both $60.

I would call that a rip-off. Get a crown cutter and do it yourself. You obviously have the ability and persistence. When you are finished, you will be even more disgusted at the $60 quote for a couple of minutes work, and will have a tool that you can use for other rifles.

Recrowning is probably the most cost-effective (if you have a cutter) and rapid improvement that you can make to any milsurp.

Turning something like this

Attachment 41651

into something like this

Attachment 41650

will give you great satisfaction.

OK,OK... I can see that the end mill was chattering. It just shows what impatience leads to. I prefer to think of the result as decorative, like "jewelling" a bolt. But the wallhanger is now a shooter!

[Aragorn243]

Patrick,

I look at it this way, this rifle is the grand test bed of all experiments for me. Not too much else I can do to it that would make it any worse. I couldn't see shelling out $60 for a barrel in this condition.

I also remembered I have an M96 in my safe that has one of those long flash suppressors on it. I figured if it was sized correctly and I had a drill bit the right size, I could counter bore it without much difficulty. It was sized correctly and I had a bit the right size so I counter bored it about a quarter inch this morning and it only took about two minutes. Looks great with solid lands and grooves now but only shooting it is going to tell me if I did it right. If I didn't, I can use a larger diameter bit and go a bit deeper. The crown itself is still a bit rough but I think this is the way they were made. You think I should round it off some too or being counter bored is this not going to affect it? There remains one area in the counter bored section that is still slight pitted making it out of round.

The gun shop fellows told me the pitting at the end of the barrel was so bad it might be key-holing at 50 yards. I figured as much, there were a couple of good chunks missing after I got the muzzle cap off.

I put the flash suppressor on and the sight hood off the M96 and with the other new barrel bands I may just try cold bluing it and see how it looks. A new cleaning rod will work wonders too I'm sure. I'm still going to wait until I shoot it successfully off a lead sled before going much further.







I cut the old stock down today. Once I got if off the barrel and it dried out, it warped really bad at the end. Not counting the dry rot, it isn't of much worth. It's going to be the test bed for the lead sled and then it's getting put in long term storage. It smells bad, like mold and the dark staining which probably is mold goes all the way through it.