My brother bought a Swedish Mauser sporterized by Kimber of America, and I was wondering how strong the 96 action would be, as far as attaining decent velocities. I know the modern 6.5 x 55 is pretty fast, but I was wondering what could safely be done in this action.

Thanks

John M.

I sportorized mine myself.It is my understanduing the the 96 is a fairly strong action. However, it does not have a gas shroud on the bolt, so any mishap is going to have that gas come right back in your face.
I load a 140 gr Sierr Gameking with 4831 and get a velocity of 2650 for the most acuurate load in that bullet weight. With the 130n gr Accubond ( which is hard to find around here).I get 2800 out of it and better accuracy.

With std bullet designs, mine does not like anything lighter than the 140 grain, due to, I suspect, the twist rate. However,the 130 gr Accubond is an uncommonly long bullet compared to others, and it works well.

I hope to put a hole in an antelope with it a week from Saturday during a late hunt.

As long as you stick to book loads, I don't think you will be having too much trouble. Especially the Hornady manual which I believe is in a 96 mauser.

It appears that as long as the case holds and the primer remains intact, the M94/96 is plenty strong. As already pointed out, gas handling of the M94/96 is the not as efficient as the M98.

Consider: The Carl Gustav 63, a High Power competition target rifle that was built on the M94/96 action was factory chambered in 7.62X51 NATO, a cartridge that is SAMMI/CIP rated at 50K PSI.

Interestingly, in the Dec 2009 Handloader (#263) Dave Scovill reports a comment, sent to him from Dr. Don Heath, Technical Support at Norma Precision, where inadvertently, a M96 action screwed to a pressure barrel was 'proofed' at 81K PSI. The equipment was only rated to 62K PSI. The action and barrel held and there was only a little stickiness when the bolt was opened.

I've had mine since 1995 and I still love it. Still have some of Kimber's 1995 advertisements on it. They were even available in .22-250, .243, and .308. Mine's a 6.5x55; they just used the original barrel and recontured, shortened and recrowned it. The ad states that the ones in .22-50, .243 and .308 have a new factory barrel. I've never seen one of those Kimbers in anything but 6.5x55 so I guess the other ones didn't sell too well. I put a Timney Sportsman trigger in it and had to address some bedding issues on that Ram-Line stock they put on it but it's a sweet shooter with handloads within book limits. The military barrels have a real long throat which is probably why mine never liked the lighter bullets. My favorite load uses 129 gr. Hornady Spire Points and IMR-4831. I've spoken with a couple other owners over the years and they were both fond of theirs also. For loads I stick to bullets 129 gr. and up and powders all on the slow side, such as the 4831's, RL-19, RL-22, 4350, and IMR-7828 depending on what bullet and what weight.

Thanks everyone for the replies, I had read a little about the 96 being fairly stoudt, but wanted to hear some first hand experience about it before I undertook loading for it.
Can always rely on first hand knowledge here it seems.

Thanks guys

John M.

Although I don't have a Swedish Mauser that was sporterized by Kimber, I currently have 5 that have been sporterized by me and which are chambered in 22-250, 243, 6.5x55, 308, and 8x57. I think that the greatest weakness/disadvantage to the Swedish small ring Mausers is that they don't have a very large gas shield on the bolt shroud and I don't like the cock on closing feature. I resolve these problems by installing a Timney or Bold trigger with an integral safety, a commercial style bolt shroud with a larger gas shield, and a Dayton-Traister cock-on-opening kit. I've bought these parts from Brownells and like the Brownells bolt shroud, #078-100-096, better than the American Rifle Works bolt shroud, #100-001-866.

I would recommend working up your loads carefully in consideration for their age, in general, and the condition of your particular rifle. Although the Swedish Mausers are probably the best of the pre-1898 designs, they haven't been made for at least 60 years, so reasonable people will take reasonable caution when reloading for them.

Standard disclaimer; "YMMV and since my experience is mine alone, your experience is likely to be different.".

Jeff

You can load 120's to 2600, and 140's at 2500 pretty easy, and many do higher. But I wouldn't. I had two nice stock military Swede's. One, a 96 made in 1899, and a Husky 38. They appeared to be able to handle stouter loads but I kept them reasonable. The heavier military models, exhibit nearly no recoil, amazing accuracy, with a round that will do more than some might think it should, even when loaded reasonable. They don't have to be ran hard but if you want to, get a Tikka.