An afternoon with some Swedes

[flatwins]

Most of the time when I get to the range I end up spending quite a bit of time with .22s since they are fun and cheap to shoot. But today I took some Swedes out to see what I could do with them.

Here's a 1904 Gustafs M94 and a 1899 Oberndorf M96.

This is the 600 yd silhouette range at Red Castle. Truth be known, I had not yet fired my M96 before today and the M94 had only been test fired for function after I restored it so today was an accuracy test of sorts. Nothing on paper but rather, "Can I knock down that metal pig way out there?"

Knowing that Swedes were zero'd at 300 meters, the 300 yd row seemed to make the most sense as a starting point. I cleared a few silhouettes off of that line and then tried for the 500 yard row. I danced all around it but didn't knock any down. If I had a shooting rest or bipod I'm sure I could have taken them down. I had fun with these century+ old guns, open sights, and these failing eyes. Good afternoon!

 

[been]

good shooting! Them ther some purdy gunz!

 

[F16mickey]

I'm going to have to do that one day this fall.
I do love my swede and have given up on getting a taller front sight.
Might as well try it out at the distances it was designed for.

 

[Boehlertaught]

Aren't the Swedes really neat rifles! I've use mine quite a lot at Red Castles range. They are really flat shooting. There's a gong up the hill to the right in your picture. I think it's set at 800 or 850 yards. You can hit that too...

 

[flatwins]

Aren't the Swedes really neat rifles! I've use mine quite a lot at Red Castles range. They are really flat shooting. There's a gong up the hill to the right in your picture. I think it's set at 800 or 850 yards. You can hit that too...

Seriously?!? I never knew there was one up there. I'll be lucky to see the damn thing.

 

[Mr.357Sig]

Looks like great fun with a pair of Swedish babes! That brown grass looks like its the middle of winter. Damn drought. Hope to join Red Castle soon. Can't wait to shoot at an outdoor range again.

Not trying to hi-jack, but where is a good place to pick up a milsurp Swede?

 

[dlbleak]

thats awesome steve, we need to get the swedish girls together for a shootout! need to look for that gong out there.

 

[flatwins]

No prob! Thread-jacking is allowed in the milsurp section. We're all friends over here.

For me, Red Castle just "works". I love it out there. Great people, plenty of different ranges to play on, nice club house, and I certainly can't argue about the cost.

As far as Swedes go, the supply chain has almost dried up. Samco has a few barreled actions and some expensive M41 snipers (that are most likely assembled from parts) so your best bet is to keep your eyes open. For example, the M94 shown in the first pic was rescued from a pawn shop a few months back for the bargain price of $300. It is an original, unconverted M94 meaning that it didn't get the bayonet lug treatment of 1914. Pretty rare rifle and it still had the unit disc in the stock. Again, rare for an M94 as most were removed before they were exported.

The Swedes will show up in pawn shops from time to time. My bro picked up an M96 not long ago. Fortunately there are a number of those out there that are un-bubba'd, which is what you want. Most times they can be had for ~$300. If you want to go cream of the crop, look for a M41 sniper but they are not cheap. Another great alternative is to score one of the FSR shooting club M96s. They are normally fantastic rifles and often have diopter sights.

The early M96s and M94s were made in Germany by Mauser. If you see a Swede made by Husqvarna it is an M38 with a 24" barrel. Great rifles. Have one of those too.

 

[LDA.45]

SARCO has the high sights and I think Midway has them also.

 

[Mr.357Sig]

Thanks for the great info guys.