Swedish Mauser

[HARRY THE MOLE]

A rifle I've never posted on here before, this is my 1916 dated Swedish Model 1896 Mauser rifle. This particular example is a bit more collectible than the average examples, as it actually saw combat use. It is one of the 77,000 rifles purchased from Sweden by Finland in 1940, and has the 'SA' property stamp on the breech - these being used in the Winter war and the Continuation war. Aside from the barrel bands, everything else is matching numbers - including the woodwork. Although deactivated, it is a very early deactivation from 1987 - where the work carried out to render it incapable of firing was fairly minimal and very neatly done. Click on images (twice) to enlarge.

Cheers,
Steve

[stahlelm16]

Thank you for the sharing. My opinion is what a pity to see such a beautiful piece deactivated....

[Larry C]

Although deactivated the overall condtion has been well kept .

I would not mind to own a rarity such as this even if it had been deactivated ...it was still present and used during that time.

Cheers Larry

[Tim030]

I look at deactivation in two ways first they are history and extremely important for there historic contributions. They allow collectors in countries with different gun laws to collect history so they should be valued. Secondly I feel fortunate that not all countries mandate deactivation so we can have functioning firearms as well.

Very nice rifle and if only it could tell the stories of its owners.

Tim

[Rescue190]

Nice rifle with history. They are very nice to shoot. Very accurate. Thanks for sharing.
John

[mauser9]

Thanks for sharing. A real gem to own.

[PRE]

Agree with Rescue190, these are very accurate and respond well to handloading. I had one awhile back (along with the appropriate dies, brass, etc.), but sold everything. Very well made rifles.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Agree with Rescue190, these are very accurate and respond well to handloading. I had one awhile back (along with the appropriate dies, brass, etc.), but sold everything. Very well made rifles.

There is a video on YouTube of one being fired - and hitting a target at 1,000 yards with just iron sights. here's the link....

https://www.google.com/search?q=swedish+mauser+being+fired+at+1%2C000+yar ds&oq=swedish+mauser+being+fired+at+1%2C000+yards& aqs=chrome..69i57j0i546l3.20257j0j15&sourceid=chro me&ie=UTF-8


As for comments about being deactivated, the US laws on deactivated (Dewats) are far more stringent than here in Europe. At least our deactivated weapons don't have dummy receivers!

Cheers,
Steve