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.
We hunted together for over 10 seasons with the Swede and used it on several local mulie and whitetail bucks over those years before his health gave out. One day he gave me the rifle saying it was his wish that one of the grandchildren might make some use of it.
As it turned out, our eldest daughter claimed it as hers when she started hunting.
When she was younger she struggled a bit with the cock on closing feature, so I picked up a Dayton Traister cock on open kit including their trigger and put it in.
She killed her first deer with it using 120gr Nosler Solid base bullets and from then on we ended up using 130gr TSX bullets.
With the Swede she's killed 7 whitetail and mulie bucks with one shot apiece - some of them a long walk from where she shot from.
First buck - seconds after her sister's first buck - my avatar photo and best day afield ever.
Farthest
It's plenty accurate too - she's pointing to the entry hole and yes that's exactly where she was aiming.
First whitetail buck
Biggest mulie so far.
Last season's mulie
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Anyway bsa1917, that's about all we know about the Swede at our house. It doesn't kick all that much, does way, way more tissue damage than we'd expected and we've yet to catch a 130gr TSX.
Hopefully that was some use to you or someone else out there planning on playing with a 96.
Regards,
Dwayne