Swedish M38 Serial Numbers

[john70b]

I am considering buying a Swedish M38 I have seen in a local gunshop. It is a Carl Gustafs with a 1916 date on the receiver and a 643,XXX serial number. It has a bent bolt with matching last three serial numbers. The numbers on the other parts also match. Everything looks good, except there are a couple of things I don't understand.

I can’t reconcile the date with the SN. I’ve read posts indicating people know from a serial number, when it was made, but I cannot find the entire list and it seems a 1916 CG should be a much lower number.

Since it is a CG, which I understand indicates it was originally an M96, is it possible the bent bolt with matching number is the original?

Thanks, I’d appreciate any insights you can give me.

Information

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[Patrick Chadwick]

All M96s were originally made with straight bolt handles.
1916 CG production ran from 371495 to 401598.
An M38 with number 643xxx, made by Carl Gustaf, should be a rebuild of an M96.
P.82 of "Crown Jewels" by Dana Jones shows photos of a rifle similar to the one you describe.
That rifle has a bent bolt handle, serial No. 657xxx and is dated to 1935. So the only anomaly in your description is the 1916 date.

But, reading "between the lines" in the CG literature, I observe a certain vagueness as to what was re-used, what was made new, and what may have been remarked. Factories often worked quite pragmatically with what they found in the spares bins. One must avoid binary statements like "always/never" when considering such recycling activities, and not fall into the collector's self-imposed trap of only regarding one unique configuration as "correct" and thus acceptable.

Perhaps you could post a good close-up photo of the receiver marking?

[john70b]

I went back and took another look. Here are two pictures. One of the date and one with the serial number. The date stamped on the receiver is 1916. The serial number, however, is overstamped. You can see other numbers underneath the 643281. All the parts that have SNs on them have 281. Anybody know what's happening here? Did the Swedes overstamp SNs when they cut down M96s into M38s? Did they then apply matching parts to the receiver? Not all the parts have SNs. Trigger guard and butt plate do not have SNs. I did not find one on the barrel, but may not have looked in the right place. Thanks for your help.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Did the Swedes overstamp SNs when they cut down M96s into M38s?

I think your rifle proves that they did. Also the serial number of the example in "Crown Jewels" is way beyond any M96 number. Likewise the 1935 date on that example is long after the end of M96 manufacture. I imagine that there were more than adequate stocks of spare parts for the M96, including spare receivers, so when the decision was made to produce the M38s and no more M96s, they very sensibly used up those stocks as far as possible. There may also have been a cut-off date after which M96s needing arsenal-level overhaul were instead disassembled and used to make M38s.

B.T.W. the H.K. in front of the number on your rifle is the initials of Helge Kolthoof, who was inspecting office at the Carl Gustafs Gevärsfaktori from April1, 1912 to Feb. 28, 1923 - see "Crown Jewels" P.151. Another confirmation that the receiver is indeed from 1916 and has been renumbered. As far as I can tell from here, the original number was something like 386xx9.

So your rifle was made from an original M96 receiver, but the turned-down bolt would have been made new and numbered to match the new receiver number, not an old bolt reworked. The other numbered parts could have been either from another "recycled" m96, or spares numbered to fit.

But I see no reason to doubt that your rifle is all genuine and original. The purpose of a factory is to produce properly functioning products in an economical fashion, not copies of some theoretical paradigm to satisfy collectors decades later.

[Patrick Chadwick]

I did not find one on the barrel, but may not have looked in the right place.

Look on the left sight of the knoxform, below the stock line.

[john70b]

Thank you very much. This makes a lot of sense. I was thinking that it was probably all legitimate, but I wanted to understand how it got the way it is. I may go pick it up soon.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Go get it, if the price is OK!

[john70b]

Yep. Picked it up today. Looking good so far. I'll post pictures soon.