Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Import marks and locations on M94/96 Swedish Mausers

I know I am new, but please bear with me. I purchased at auction a lot of eleven M94/96 Swedish Mausers (I asked about ammo in a different post) and was told they were "not import marked due to being brought into the country before those were required". Ok, I took them at their word (this is a well respected firearms auction house), but looked the rifles over before bidding, and couldn't find any obvious ones.

I have had three different people on three different forums (I am trying to find out as much about my new rifles as I can, so asking for any and all information) tell me I am a complete fool and got taken.

Ok, am I missing something? I thought import marks had to be fairly obvious, but if they aren't where would they be located? I have looked over the exposed portions of the barrel and receiver, taken the bolts out and looked them over, gone over the trigger guard and magazine floor plate, even the rear sight assembly...all of the places I have found import marks on other weapons, but none so far.

Any advice as to where to find/locate import marks on Swedish Mausers that I haven't tried? I have not yet completely disassembled the rifles for cleaning, so have not looked under any of the wood. And what are the most common import marks to be looking for?

Oh, and is it frowned upon to post pictures of your shooting irons? Just the weapons, as putting my picture up where it can be viewed causes small children to run in fear and the local community to chase me with torches....

Heck, if imported before the US Gun Control Act of 1968, guns (imported or otherwise) did not even need a serial number.

John

The three that I've owned all had import marks near the muzzle on one side or the other.

Post pictures of the rifles please. Most of us do it on this forum from time to time. Congrats on the acquisition.

The two all original M96's I have are marked on the lower right side of the barrel a few inches back from the muzzle. These were imported by Century Arms International (CAI) and the stampings are quite small. I don't know if all importers were required to stamp them all in the same location though.

The same with my 38 and 96.

THANK YOU! I have disassembled the rifles, and looked over the barrels. The only markings I have on two of them (the rest have nothing but government acceptance marks, proof marks, etc), is one has a small "6.5x55mm" with a "MVR" between the exposed portion of the receiver and the rear sight assembly under the wood and the other has a very legible "6.5 Swedish" followed by some type of faint unreadable marking under the barrel where you guys said it would be (you can barely make out the inprint in the metal and it looks somebody ground it down and then reblued it). When I asked the guy at the auction house during the preview about that particular mark, (the 6.5 Swedish and grinding/reblueing) he said it was a replacement barrel installed at the arsenal prior to being shipped to the U.S. and that it was damaged by the vise during barrel installation and repaired. Guess he didn't know and BS'ed me...the bastage!

So, I am guessing the one that got the grinder is a CAI? Anybody know who/what the other one is?

I recall that most of the M94 carbines were imported by Interarmco (Cummings) before 1968, and would not have been marked. The carbine imports have a confusing post-importation history. Some had a half-inch extension added to the barrel to meet a then-existing requirement for 18" minimum barrel length. Cummings won a lawsuit on this matter, and the requirement was dropped. Interarms marked some of them "G33/50" for marketing purposes to take advantage of the desirability of the German G33/40 Mauser.

So, if the carbines are not importer marked, it's likely because of their pre-68 importation. In contrast, the majority of the M96 rifles were imported in the 1980s and 90s, I think, and had to have the the markings applied.

Because recollections fade, these notes are provisional.
--Bob

I don't know what you paid for them, But I paid about $125for my model 38 about 20 yrs ago. The last model 38 or 96 I saw for sale in my LGS was going for $400.

Import marks or not, the swedes are great rifles and VERY hard to find in today's market.

Umm...shooting forum, it is a prerequisite.

It seems that those stock Swedes were not popular at the auction, but the M1 Garands, '03 Springfields, M1 carbines, K 98's and M1A's were! The cheapest Garand went for $1500, the cheapest '03 (a '03A3) went for over $1000, the carbines all went for $800+, the K98's were upwards of $700 each and the M1A's were between $2100 and $2500. We won't even talk about the Pythons....

I have seen at several gun shows around here, M96's in fair to average condition going between $300 and $325. Good condition are right around $400. These are very good to excellent all with at least 90% (most are 95%+) original blue. All but one were sold as originals; that one was as arsenal refurbish. I got the whole lot for a bit over $4000 and that included buyers premium and sales tax.

They sold a couple of M94's that got WAAAYYY too rich for my blood: both were accurized target rifles...not sporterized, but as target rifles. They had some type of platform at the rear as a sight base, not scopes but looked like it might have been some type of open/specialized sight that mounted on it. Other than that, they looked stock.

I am trying to figure out how to post the pics WITHOUT having to setup a webpage to link them from...but not having much success!

LOL! I have been on some forums that don't want any pictures posted due to them having a bandwidth limit, so wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get beaten and chased naked into the wilderness if I did.

Welcome to the fire. I will start you off with the pics. Around here, no pics, didn't happen. Have had lots of liberal types come and go claiming to be hunters, never have a pic of even a store bought fish or steak.

My 96 project. The barrel was toast so I'm rebarreling it.


A friend has jeweled the bolt for me. It should be here tomorrow.


Practicing slow rust bluing on the magazine floor plate,


Action and barrel polished up. Turns out I probably polished it too much. I had a hard time getting the floor plate to rust. Additionally, the rust takes that mirror finish and makes it more matte. I'll probably go back over the barrel and action with 800grit paper before I blue it.

Ok, how in the hell are you guys posting the pics?!?! I have them stored on my computer, but it will only let me post them if I give it a URL to a website, which I dont have one.

my first CF rifle was a bubba'd M94 that served me well for many years. i still have it. but i spent years looking for an unmolested specimen and finally found this one in a Cabelas with a $435 price tag on it. far from mint, but all numbers match, it was unmolested except for the muzzle wart and an arsenal repair on the crack in the stock toe, and the price was right.

XAirborne, I post my photos from photobucket. You can sign up for free.

here is a link to the instructions from the photography board here.

LINKY

Those who have gray hair, like me, remember the glory days of buying Swede Mausers from Ye Olde Hunter in the early-1960s.

The M96s were $22.50, but nobody wanted the longer barrel. M94 Carbines, selected ones, were $29.95. Just send in the money and they sent you a rifle.

I even had a Norwegian Krag in 6.5X55 that I bought absolutely mint (for $19.99 postpaid) and that was an elk killing SOB. I remember shooting one big bull right up the ass with a Norma factory 156-grain steel bullet ... the bullet ended up right next to his windpipe and it had expanded to 1�-inches; looked like a propellor.

Just as bad, when I was fourteen, I ordered a 50-pound keg of "4350 Data Powder" (H-4831) from Bruce Hodgdon. The cost was $14.95 postpaid and shipped by Railroad Express Agency. When the keg came in at the Portland train depot, I got a call.

Me and my friend, Ted, stole my dad's car and drove down to the train station. Heck, the old guys there even loaded the keg in the trunk of the car. One of the guys asked, "Steve, are you old enough to drive?" I answered quite truthfully, "Sir, I'm a lot more familiar with a Ford tractor, but I'm doing OK."

Can you imagine a skinny and very gunny 14-year old ordering and taking delivery on a 50-pound keg of powder in today's world? Frankly, we have lost our innocence and our trust and that is a very sad thing.

To put things in proportion, I started working at age ten to support my gun habit. I went to school and worked until 7 or 8 at night in an Associated gas station (remember the flying red horse). Gas was 17.9 a gallon and I worked for sixty cents an hour.

When Karen and I got married in 1964, I was working in a gun and reloading shop for $1.00 an hour; my boss gave me a raise to $1.25 the day we got married. We were both going to college and we bought our home the month before we were married. I'd go to PSU from 7AM until Noon, then work at the shop from 12:30 until 10PM. Then, I'd dive home and study. We finished university with no loans, totally paid for my job at the gun shop.

Then I started the jewelry store in 1966 and the rest is history.

God Bless,

Steve

PS. You might have fun with this. Scroll sloooowly down to Page 2:

http://www.gunsmagazine.com/1958issues/G0758.pdf