This was the first attempt to turn the m/96 into a target rifle.įor many years, one of the most popular shooting competitions in Sweden was the 300-meter rifle match. In the 1920s, the Carl Gustafs Stad Faktori rebuilt some 500 m/96 rifles as the Fm/23 which had a heavier barrel and a sporter stock for issue to military officers for match shooting. This is outstanding for a bolt action surplus military rifle! The 0.92 inch group was shot from one of the m/96-38 rifles with the shorter barrel. All achieved groups between 0.92 and 1.20 inches, using surplus m/41 military ammunition. Five shots were fired from each using the same bench rest setup on a windless and warm summer day at one hundred yards. In a test performed a few years ago for the book, I shot five different Swedish Mauser rifles, three m/96 with 29.1-inch barrels and two m/96-38 with 23.1-inch barrels. In 1941, a new cartridge with a 139-grain spire-point bullet was adopted. The original cartridge used a 156-grain round nose bullet. The flat-shooting 6.5x55mm cartridge was developed in Sweden and is renowned for its accuracy. Having examined hundreds in detail for our book, The Swedish Mauser Rifles, Revised, 3rd Edition, I can attest that every part is machined to strict tolerances and with very few, if any machine marks visible. The Swedish Mauser carbine and rifles, Model of 18, are perhaps the most finely manufactured and finished military rifles ever made, in my personal opinion. The Husqvarna rifles were based on the shorter m/96-38, had beech wood stocks, and were marked with the name of the factory. An additional 115,000 carbines and 475,000 rifles were produced before production ceased in 1925.ĭuring World War II, due to the expansion of her military forces, Husqvarna Vapenfabriks, AB built some 80,000 more infantry rifles, designated the m/38.
#Swedish remington rolling block rifle marks license
The Swedish government negotiated a license to build more at the Carl Gustafs Stad Faktori at Eskilstuna. The German firm of Ludwig & Lowe manufactured 12,237 carbines and 40,000 rifles for the Swedes between 18. They settled on a modification of the Mauser bolt-action rifle and carbine developed for Spain and Argentina. Numerous military arms were tested to replace the army’s 1860s-era single-shot Remington Rolling Block rifles. It seemed only prudent to fortify her coasts and arm her army and navy with more modern weapons. In the mid-1890s, the Swedish government began to fear the developing rivalry between the great powers. The Swedish Mauser Rifle received its baptism of fire when Sweden sent some 77,000 m/96 rifles to Finland for use in the Winter War against Soviet Russia in 1939-1940.