Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Mauser for stalking, does anything beat a Husky?

Much like the one I put together out of a Husqvarna

I'm not so much going for "light as possible", as trying to hit a target weight of about 7.5lb all-up. I'm starting to get a bit of joint pain in my wrists and fingers, so more weight than that and carrying the rifle in hand multiple full days in a row becomes unpleasant. The catch is that at least 95% of my shots are standing and freehand by necessity, so for me there is also lower limit where accuracy starts to suffer.

Exophysical;
Top of the morning from south central BC where it's still dark but fairly warm for this time of year, I hope wherever you're at that this finds you well.

Nearly a decade back I saddled up and tilted at the particular windmill of putting a 98 action based rifle on a diet to see what I could see.

This is it in it's most recent paint job from a couple seasons back. I will note that whatever rough texture paint I used then, there are big chunks cracking off so I'll have to try something else next time - but here's the result.



Initially it was built with a Parker Hale Featherweight contour barrel in .270 and which resulted in 7lb on the nose with 5 rounds of ammo ready to hunt. It is now a 6.5x55 with a near new Swede military barrel grafted onto it and weighs 7lb 4oz loaded.

The 4oz up front on the barrel actually feels better to me for shooting offhand which I do my best to avoid, but every once in a blue moon am required to do if I want to bring home meat as was the case with this year's first rack muley buck.

Here's the writeup and thread from back in the day with all the photobucket photos long gone unfortunately.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt.../3660460/98-mauser-on-a-diet#Post3660460

While I'm cognizant you've specified wood, since we're in Canada we can get Stuart's wonderful Wildcat Composite stocks and he makes a cool looking traditional sort of one now as well as the more old school look that I chose back when.

For sure a Husky action is lighter than a 98, by a few ounces at least - sorry I used to have those details in the memory bank and without going to dig through the library they're not available in my memory banks.

Some aftermarket triggers for a 98 will work on a Husky action, I want to say we've put a Timney onto a Husky once, but again I'd have to go look through my shop records to confirm that.

Having worked on a good double handful of Husky rifles over the years, mostly to repair the cracked stocks but often to see what could be done with the trigger for the owner as well, I've run across some okay ones and some that defied my best efforts to make a light consistent pull.

Depending upon the wood type and density, one can get a 98 reasonably close to 8lb all up, but I've not been able to do much less than that.

That said, again sometimes a wee bit more weight up front makes the rifle handle quite well.

This one is the last major project I did for a family member and honestly it handles like a dream for the owner and for me as well even though we're different sized humans.

It's a VZ24 parts project that was just a hair over 8lb with a leather cobra type sling that the owner likes.



Anyways there's just a couple of the projects that have gone through the shop over the years.

Good luck with your projects whichever way you decide and good hunting on your remaining hunts this fall.

Dwayne

You're already where you want to be. It's very hard to improve on your small-ring carbines for the task you mentioned, and building on a large-ring 98 will only move you farther away from that.

I've owned several large- and small-ring rifles, most in 30-06, and the large-ring rifles are at least a pound heavier. Most of mine had stocks with lots of drop at the heel like those shown in this thread, but Husqvarna also made some with Monte Carlo stocks. These rifles fit me perfectly for fast offhand work with a 1" scope in low Weaver rings, and the design helps mitigate recoil.

The rifle shown has a 30mm scope, which I sold soon after this picture was taken. It also has a 22" barrel, which helps with balance. Not sure how yours is set up, but you might be able to drop weight by switching to Weaver rings and bases with a fixed 4x scope. If your shots are short, then you could replace the optics with a peep and lose a pound or more, plus the classic stock design would work better.

The only fly in the ointment with the small-ring guns is the 1:12 twist. 180-grain cup-and-core bullets shoot very well in the one small-ring rifle that I still own, but the 180-grain TTSX does not.


Okie John

I have a question please. I came within a hair's breadth of buying a beautiful used Husky 1640 about three weeks ago, for $550 at an LGS. But, I thought that I'd better research it first, since I've never owned a Husky.

I read online, on several sources, that the ejector spring and the extractor are unlike any other mausers (in other words, they are proprietary), and that sooner or later, the rifle will fail to eject properly, or the extractor may break. Apparently, there are no spare parts available at all, since very few of these were sold in the U.S., and the importer and manufacturer are long gone. The only solution would be to have these parts custom made by a gunsmith, and good luck finding one who can do it.

Has anyone had any experience with these issues or problems. With respect to the ejector spring, it is compressed when the bolt is closed, so after 20 to 30 years, one could see how it would lose its springing power.

Thanks for any information.

Mannyrock

I've had about twenty 1640's and none have failed. Worked on probably 3x that, none of those had failures either. It's true that the parts are unique and hard to find, but, I haven't come across any that failed.

I have an accurate custom 98 that came from Southern Colorado . It has an early Balvar scope with Lee dot. That scope, location of the rifle, and 30-06 Ack Improved chambering
tends to point to a 1960s-70s custom Mauser by Parker Ackley or one of his friends. The riflesmith who finished the rifle knew his trade.
About 7.75pounds and very balanced with 24 in barrel.

For handloading, the bolt shroud is a blessing not seen in other rifles. One of the Mauser Brothers lost an eye testing a 93 or 95 military rifle.
The 98 was designed to obviate that if a cartridge let go under pressure.

The full stock Huskies are just plain cool. I've been a fan of 1640s for a while now, but wish the stocks held up a little better.

The 1640 lightweight rifles have been damn nice. I almost bought one for $400.00, a while back, but didn't really want another 270. Cool rifles, that really compare to the old pre 64 model 70's. Maybe even a hair lighter than a pre 64 model 70 featherweight. To me, they are slightly more clunky feeling, but to each their own..

For class sure, Brno model 21, Waffenfabrik Oberndorf etc...but for sheer flat out value for money, nothing touches a Husky.

A Walther Model B 7x57. His first critter at 12 with his first handload.

Not a Husky, but rather a Heym in .308. Still has military features like the thumb notch, clip slot, and pushbutton floorplate, but is very light at just over 6lbs. Has funky scope mount holes, so I just mounted a red dot on the receiver ring, a Sparc2 2moa.

The stock is very light walnut and split, so I drilled a couple holes and epoxied in some brass screws, then ground off the heads. So far, so good…..

That ain’t no 12 y/o.

1640 Husqvarna bolt handle/ low mounted scope clearance? It seems that in most the photos of scoped 1640s I've seen here and elsewhere the scopes are mounted relatively high considering the amount of stock drop. Will a 1640 bolt handle clear a low mounted scope?

Got the 358 Win M-96 Husky conversion finished and smoke tested with six rounds of 844/335 loaded 200 grain Remington RN bullets. shot 1/2" and lat rind went through a 20" hung disk blade at 250 meters. Not bad at all. I run jacketed bullets on a fresh build to clean up the recessed crown or any rough places in a new barrel cut. The Sweet Shooter Wet bore setup was started at the same time. The thumb hole stock helps as it is fairly light.

Nice. I have started making thumbhole stocks for my go-to's. For me, night and day difference in use and I have seen no downsides in day to day use with thumbhole stocks that people whine about. They don't look as good as a normal stock, but they work much better for me.

The only Husqvarna I have is a barreled acton 640 that I bedded into a J.C. Higgins M50 stock to test for accuracy. Haven't gotten around to getting that done. Rifel is a 30-06.

On the other hand, I have a couple of 98 Mausers that are much lighter than average. One is a 1970s era FN with a thin soda straw barrel and I think the stock may be about the only thing wrong with it. The stock is so ugly that it would abort a lady crocodile. (Thank you Jack O'Connor for that line.) Rifle is chambered to the .270 Win.

The other is a bit of an enigma. Action is a military 98 that has had some nice work done. I guess it had some kind of claw mount at some time but that has disappeared. Stock is in the prewar style and the barrel is a very slim 24" maybe 26". Not sure as I haven't looked at the rifle for several years.

Double set triggers that work.

The only markings on that rifle are in very tiny print on the action the word, "Danzig" and the barrel is marked P.O. Ackley .270 Win. It has a set of rough iron sights which I don't shoot well with, yet the rifle gave me a 1.50" groups at 100 yards.

What it will take to get that rifle set up t put a scope on will run roughly $1,000 or more. Eight or more screw hole have to be filled and redone, a couple of holes in the receiver that were apparently part of an original claw mount and the bolt handle redone to clear a low mounted scope. All labor intensive work, thus the high cost. That rifle is too cool to let die.
PJ

I mount mine as low as possible, Weaver bases and low rings, no problems at all. I started out using low Weaver rings as they were the lowest I could find, but the recoil on my 30-06 is so vicious that the top bands take on a backward slant after a while. I switched to Burris rings, which are also pretty low.

The stocks are a bit low, but I get around that by mounting my scope a bit forward. With my head further up the stock the cheek weld is good enough, and its a quick spot to find. I'm not a long range guy, and I dont shoot at running animals, but being able to snap the rifle up and put a bullet in the front 3rd of a deer real fast is important to me.

PO did barrels and guns, both, and quite a bit of work with Mausers. It sounds like that Mauser may be doable without to much fuss, depending on where the holes you spoke of are located. If they are threaded, you can install plugs in the holes not needed. If you have holes in the action on top, you can look for a scope base or bases to match at lest four of the holes.

If all else fails, you can obtain scope base blanks, then drill the blank(s) for each hole. If receiver sight holes just put screw plugs in the holes. If you do a PI base there are plenty of bar type rings that will fit it.

To rebend the bolt handle is no problem with a bolt handle jig and heat sink with a OA torch. Another possibility is to make a spoon bolt handle for a little extra scope clearance.

If the finish is not real good, you can blend a rust blue finish to match most any bluing type. This can be done without messing up the markings or making the gun look like a shiny new penny, just a well taken care of used rifle, if done correctly. The rust blue is done in multiple coats, one lap at a time. The re-finish can be artificially made to look worn in normal wear spots as if from use.

Husqvarnas are everywhere in Canada these days and dirt cheap. That includes the early ones with the M-98 and FN98 actions, the 1600 HVA series, incl. the lightweight carbines and the various 1900s...Most recent imports need a bit of work but it is generally very minor, like a slight tang crack repair. If you don't have at least two or three, you're crazy. They won't last forever. (and there are plenty of beater parts guns available too)