Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Anyone collect/hunt/shoot the M96 6.5x55 swede?

If I was looking for one to shoot and not mess with, $350.00 appears to be a fair deal for a M96 with an dial adjustable rear sight. Don't think you will lose any money.



Sold off my all matching M96 CG collectables for 350.00-400.00 several years ago. Probably can buy them all back for about the same money if I shop smartly.

Only 6.5x55 left is a favorite. It is a M38 Husqvarna (top in pic) that I messed with when Sweeds could be bought out of a old wooden barrel in just about any LGS for 98 bucks. It is a 125.00 truck gun but it would take considerably more for it to change it's address.

bsa1917hunter;
Our experience with 96 Swedes is based mostly on a single rifle that I picked up as a project rifle to make for my late father although I've played with a couple others over the years as well.

Dad had wanted to get back into hunting after moving here to BC, but his doctor advised him to find something with light recoil after he had a pace maker installed.

If memory serves I picked up a 1903 vintage 96 for somewhere around $60 landed here from Century Arms in Montreal and that included a $5 premium for "extra clean".

As they were just considered surplus rifles then, I didn't think twice about modifying it for him and though collectors might wince, it's been a pivotal piece of many family hunts.

I trimmed the barrel back to 20", epoxy bedded the barreled action into the stock, reshaped the stock a bit, checkered it and made up a new fore end cap for it. Initially I kept the trigger stock - with a lighter spring - and put a MkII safety on it as well as had a different bolt handle MIG welded on at a local shop.

Here's my late father on the day I gave it to him.

My friend, that photograph is priceless. Seems like I remember reading something in Proverbs about "Honor thy father and thy Mother."

You did well.

Blessings,
Joel

Thanks for the help C12. I am lookig for a shooter to not mess with. My club has a "military" rifle shoot about once a month so I feel left out since I don't have a rifle that fits the bill. There are a couple of people there that shoot the m96 and love them. I helped install a gate at the range yesterday and asked questions regarding the 6.5x55. One girl loves hers so much that she shot it against the guys using scoped rifles a couple weekends ago at a centerfire shoot we had. That kind of drew my attention over to her and the Swede. She actually shot some pretty decent scores with the old battle rifle and factory irons ...

Just brought home this sporterized Swede and am getting it ready to shoot. They did a fair job on the new bolt handle and it bore sighted with no fuss so the drill and tap appears to be done correctly. It looks like whoever shortened the stock and inletted around the bolt handle used a hatchet - name must've been Bubba. The rear sight was removed and I'm scrathing my head trying to understand the thinking on the "modern" front sight addition - barrel is cut to 23". It's a Waffenfabrik Obendorf which I understand are a bit more rare than the Carl Gustaf's. Since all numbers are matching, it would've been nice to find it unmolested, but it was just cheap enough to make it worth fiddling with: