I'm looking closely at a 1640 I found several days ago. Supposedly, it's in a McMillan, but the seller cannot confirm this (not sure which McMillan). The starting bid is $599.00 and no one has bid on it yet. Seems to be in great condition. Epoxy bedding is said to be excellent. Weighs 7.4 lbs. w/ rings but no scope, which is a bit heavy, but not too bad. I understand that the 1640 is one of the better 98-type actions made. I thought the 1640 came with a 24" barrel but this one has a 20" barrel, which is confusing - I guess it could be a replacement barrel, but it looks original. Caliber is .270. What say you?

That's a McMillan stock worth at least $400.00

Very good buy.

That stock must be heavy as hell.

20” .270? Reasonably sure been cut, not that it’s the end of the world, but.

Going rebarrel or double ear pro?

Other than that, sounds good; stock and action desirable at the pricepoint.

Just the Mauser action and McMillan stock are easily worth that. And if it shoots well, you could do a lot worse.

BUY IT!!

Yep. I knew it was a good deal, but I'm not sure why someone would cut it down to 20." And I agree that the stock must be really heavy - a rig like this should weigh about 7.5 lbs all up. Still, hard to pass up at this price.

Thanks Ken, I knew you'd chime in w/ that exact bit of advice.

I've owned several 20" 1640s that are all original, and handled dozens more. Check gunbroker, gunsinternational, and gunsamerica--you'll see a lot of them. Most of them came in a very trim walnut stock with a Schnable fore end.

20" is kinda short for a .270 but as others have pointed out, either the action or the stock are worth close to the asking price.


Okie John

I agree that 20" is short for a .270. I guess I could eventual re-barrel to .280 or AI.

That is a McM Hunter style stock, probably the original Sako Hunter style, worth at least $500 at today's prices. If I was in the market for that rifle, even if I was only buying it to rebarrel it, I think that $599 makes it a very good value.

I have the same stock on my matched pair of Husqvarna 8000s in 256 Newton and 338-06, plus a dozen or more McM Hunter style stocks on Remington, Ruger, and Weatherby rifles.

I have several Husqvarnas with mannlicher style stocks and 20.75" barrels. The muzzle blast is there, but not noticeable in the field when you're concentrating on put lead on target within the next couple of seconds.

That looks like a great rifle! Mine, with factory wood stock, weighs less but the barrel could very well be unmodified. Mine is 20" from front of action to muzzle but 20.75" if you measure with cleaning rod-muzzle to bolt face. If I was re-barreling my 270, I might go longer but really have no complaints the way it is.

Looking at my notes, my wood-stock version (.270) with Weaver mounts and 4X Leupold, light leather sling goes 7#6oz

260Remguy: Thanks - good to know it's likely a McMillan Hunter. I wonder what the weight of the stock alone is? I would think around 36 oz, but I doubt the barreled action is 5 lbs. And I agree that it would be a good value if I can get it for around the starting bid price.

LEAD: Yep, it does look like a great rifle - I think it would be better if it had a 24" barrel, though.

High Noon,

For what it is worth.....Husqvarna did make 1640/1600 action rifles with the 52cm (20.5") barrels. When they were sold in North America here (assuming the one you are looking at isn't a cut down 1640 standard) they were advertised as being 6 lbs. 6 oz. with a walnut straight comb stock, 6 lbs. 8 oz. with a walnut Monte Carlo stock. They also sold just the barreled actions as well, which were advertised as 4 lbs. 10 oz. These weights would have been with the aluminum alloy trigger guard though. I don't know how much difference that would make without stripping down some rifles and getting out the scales. I can't remember off hand what year they changed to aluminum trigger guards. I like the steel bottom metal personally for durability sake. As to the stock make and model I can't help on that one. In any event good luck with the rifle if you decide to purchase.

Regards,
sixfive

sixfive: Thanks, based upon your information, the weight of this particular 1640 is probably about right.

Here's my 1640 story. Very light weight, accurate rifle.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/8948791/1

DF

Wow great deal man I’d be all over that very cool rig.

Rebarrel to 22” .280 or ‘06 and rock on!

DF: Very nicely done. The ejector notch patch is barely visible after your refinish and the re-cut checkering turned out quite nice. I guess the McM stock housing the 1640 I posted about is quite heavy, which surprises me, but I'm no McMillan expert.

Thanks,

It was a neat project. The gun is very light, so I loaded 130 gr Hornady bullets (not the varmint version), which have proven to be great WT killers. At 3,100 fps, they hit hard and exit with lots of internal damage. I mostly chest shoot deer to save the meat. For local hunting, no real long shots, it's about ideal. I have some 125 NAB's I want to try.

I have other rifles to reach way out.

DF

DF: Have you tried Partitions?

Not in that one, not yet.

The Horn 130's did so well, I didn't look any farther.

I went with lighter bullets due to the rifle being so light. I was thinking heavier bullets would kick more.

I do have some heavier loads worked up for my red pad Ruger #1 RSI '06, so maybe a few of those thru the HVA wouldn't be a bad idea.

DF

My Tradewinds Husky has a rate of twist a little slower than 1 in 10 inches - about 1 in 11 if I recall. It shoots the 200 grain Nosler Partition into less than MOA and does equally well with 220gr Hornady RN that are dead center when the 200 Partitions are sighted to be 2" high at 100 yards. The funny thing is that I've tried several 150 and 165 gr bullets and none have grouped as well as the heavier bullets in the slightly slow twist.

The Husky 1640 is a small ring 98 design and a good action. They are a bit of a problem in finding stocks; the small ring 98 is less common.

I have one in 7X57 AI and love the rifle. It's been my antelope rifle for many years.

Screw spacing is like the large ring.

One solution, get a large ring stock. fill in with glass bedding.

DF

Yep...

Back the truck up to it and swing the chute over, then pour. I've done a few that way.

I have one, a 25 Niedner built by Iver Henriksen. It’s a sweet little rifle.

Now, that’s a piece of history.

Nice

DF

This. Same setup as the full stock 1640s but in a sporter stock.

I saw the auction on the gun, and I looked closely at the front site base. I am very sure it is a factory 20.5 barrel as the front sight base is husky factory and it looks perfect.

My 2 cents. Nice gun. Great candidate to rebarrel tp 9.3x62.

Not all mcmillan's are light. Especially the older swirly's... Nice rifle in the op though. I run across the Husky 1640's on occasion. I've passed on some really nice ones in the $400.00 range. Sometimes kick myself in the azz for not buying them...

They are sleepers, IMO.

They are slick and those folks do know how to make steel.

DF

Buy, if it fills a hole in your battery.

I think you should buy it, you won’t be disappointed

hanco: I’ve seen you post that rifle before – it’s a nice one. & I may buy it, but I found a NIB Win M70 Featherweight in .280 for just a bit more than the 1640 that I’m eyeballin’ hard.

spence1875: Thanks, I think you’re correct and it certainly does look factory.

bsa1917hunter: I didn’t realize that there were some McMs that were heavy, but it certainly makes sense – that stock would have to be rather heavy to account for the weight of the rifle sans scope. I found a nice original 1640 in .30-06 for around that price – I may take a closer look – would be a good candidate to turn into a .35 Whelen.

Dirtfarmer: Yep, that’s what I read and they do indeed know how to make quality steel.

Boyd45: Lots of holes in my battery.

I have been following the auction too. Already went through once at $599. To me the point of doing a build on a 1640 would be a really nice light weight rifle on a cool "improved" Mauser action. 6.5x284 in a McMillan Edge Bought and sold donors twice, as I am easily distracted.

But if you bought this and didn't like it, you could unload the parts to cover your cost. The wood stock were so prone to splitting that it seems someone is always looking for a replacement and there are not a lot of good options.

Make the the guy an offer, that way I can stop looking at the thing.

Kent

Kent, I agree with you regarding the lightweight idea. Initially, I thought that the weight of this particular 1640 was a bit excessive - presumably due to the McM stock. I am still mulling this over, but I had found a new M70 Featherweight in .280 for not much more than this 1640, which I would think would be a better option. Unfortunately this particular auction does not have a best offer option, so keep following the danged thing...