Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters FN Mauser Belgium 1950 Mauser 30-06,oppinion ?

I did note some folks are selling stocks semi-inletted in the Griffin & Howe pattern, which I assume has bit more drop and would work better for iron sights. That might be the direction I go with it, eventually.

The plain, cheap wood that they used causes too many to overlook the terrific shapes of early Husqvarna (M46 small ring and M146 large ring) stocks for iron sight use. Either of those patterns duplicated in decent wood would be near perfection for irons.

Carbon 12,
I learned about the issue of excessive hardness of SOME of the J C Higgins FN actions from Jerry Fisher and Tom Burgess. Both know more about such things than anyone I know. Also, some of the Pre-war M 70's are too hard. As hardness increases so does brittleness. Glass is hard and brittle. The solution is to draw down the hardness by annealing. Most Mausers are made of high carbon steel which is case hardened...not heat treated. Most modern actions are made of 4140 type ordinance steel which is heat treated. The 1950 FN actions are 4140...really great! Don't know about the H ring FN's.
All of the Higgins FN's are H ring actions.

Slightly off topic, and Im not trying to high jack this thread, but why are 9.3x57mm rifles so easy to find and you seldom if ever see 9x57mms?

Slightly off topic, and Im not trying to high jack this thread, but why are 9.3x57mm rifles so easy to find and you seldom if ever see 9x57mms?

WAG:

Used 9.3 X 57 Husqvarnas come mostly from Sweden. 9 X 57 chambered rifles are usually German/Austrian rifles. Sweden has firearm ownership laws, one of which limits the number of rifles a citizen can own at one time. IIRC, the number is six. If a citizen who has a limit of rifles and wants a new one, an old one must be sent down the road. For whatever reason, vintage 9.3x57 Husqvarnas seem to often get the boot. It has been posted by several Swedish members of this forum that 9.3x57 Husqvarnas have little value in Sweden. USA and Canadian importers seeing a buy low, sell high opportunity have been supplying the North American market with the beauties that you are seeing. Germans and Austrians apparently are not under any pressure to dump their 9x57 Mausers and Mannlichers.

WAG:

Used 9.3 X 57 Husqvarnas come mostly from Sweden. 9 X 57 chambered rifles are usually German/Austrian rifles. Sweden has firearm ownership laws, one of which limits the number of rifles a citizen can own at one time. IIRC, the number is six. If a citizen who has a limit of rifles and wants a new one, an old one must be sent down the road. For whatever reason, vintage 9.3x57 Husqvarnas seem to often get the boot. It has been posted by several Swedish members of this forum that 9.3x57 Husqvarnas have little value in Sweden. USA and Canadian importers seeing a buy low, sell high opportunity have been supplying the North American market with the beauties that you are seeing. Germans and Austrians apparently are not under any pressure to dump their 9x57 Mausers and Mannlichers.

And I cannot begin to describe how irritating it is to have none come this way at the give-away prices you lot are enjoying.

If I can hunt one down here I will be looking at the better part of two grand...if someone will part with one.

Yikes!

Curious. What would it take to get someone to part with a Brno 21H in your part of the world?

<snip> And I cannot begin to describe how irritating it is to have none come this way at the give-away prices you lot are enjoying.

If I can hunt one down here I will be looking at the better part of two grand...if someone will part with one.

This world is an evil cruel realm, and you have just confirmed it.

I have long held that the 146 in 9.3 is the absolute best buy that money can give.

You won't get an argument from me on that.

The younger hunters sneer at these old Husqvarna 9.3 x 57s and call them "potato tosser". Then, they buy some modern bolt action with a 6 pound trigger and ugly laminated plywood or too-easily bent tupperwear stock. Sigh...

John

I'm still not quite sure what you're saying here. Are the actions so hard as to be brittle and unsafe, or just difficult to machine? Did your sources have an explanation for the condition? I suppose if a different alloy was used for some reason, it could too hard, but otherwise, the only way I can see this happening is if an error was made during the surface hardening process.
Fisher and Burgess certainly know their business, but this is the first time I've ever heard this, and I've never heard of action failure on any FN caused by such a condition.
As far as I know, all the pre-64 M70s are machined from bar stock, but I don't what kind of heat treating they got. I do know they can be "exciting" in the event of a case failure, because I witnessed it once, but again, I've never heard of an action failure.
Thanks.