In the sporterizing process of the Model 96 Swedish Mauser, the author cut nearly three inches from the barrel and recrowned it. The old barrel was found to be in perfect condition. The threaded end of the barrel was used to attach a bayonet.
evidence of very sound and precision ma- chining throughout. The magazine and trigger guard assembly alone showed incredible machining. This unit was all one piece, aside from a removable floor plate. The action displayed a good-look- ing bolt and receiver with good bedding support. There was a steel tang pillar that appeared to match perfectly at the tang surrounding the rear action screw. This extended completely through the stock from the tang to the trigger guard. Lock time would be long with the inch-long striker travel, but I was hopeful a good bedding job would dampen most of the vibration on firing.
The original Model 96 Swedish Mauser stock was used in the sporterizing process and the action was precision bedded in the stock with Brownell’s Steel Bed as shown here.
This laminated fore-end tip was added to the much shortened original stock of the Model 96 Swedish Mauser rifle during the sporterization process.
The original 29-inch stepped barrel begins at 28.2mm diameter just forward of the receiver face for a short length of only 5.7mm. Reduced diameter at the chamber area is 24.6mm for a length of 41mm. The next step is 11 inches in length with a diameter of 20mm. The remaining barrel diameter is 17.5mm with no taper for the remaining 13 inches to where I cut and crowned the barrel to 26³⁄₈ inches to- tal length. This is actually a four-diameter stepped barrel with a muzzle diameter very near the standard weight Model 70 Winchester or Model 700 Remington. When I finished there was 13¾ inches of barrel in front of the later shortened fore-end. It was evident an extraordinary amount of work and precision had gone into this rifle barrel.
Initial bore inspection following a thorough cleaning looked perfect. The Hawkeye bore scope revealed four deep, equally spaced lands and grooves with quite unexpected sharpness, with no sign of rust, pitting or erosion. In fact, it looked every bit as good as most of the factory barrels I’ve examined right out of the box. The rifling pitch is about 1:8 right hand, with a full 10mm leade. I am not aware of the process involved in making such a barrel more than a century past, but it appears awesome. GETTING THE MOST FROM THE OLD RIFLE
Shown here is the installation of a Timney trigger to the Model 96 Swedish Mauser rifle during the customizing process. The original trigger is shown. Trigger replacement can be performed very quickly simply by loosening the set screw at the front and removing the retaining pin. Only minor stock and trigger guard work is required in fitting the new trigger. The new trigger can be adjusted to as low as one-pound pull.
Page 110 Spring 2013 I decided to lap the barrel using
a process that has produced excellent results for me for several years now. This involves the use of a special lapping jag and special abrasive papers as a lap. On a bore like this I normally begin the lapping procedure with 30 micron grade (400 U.S. Mesh) aluminum oxide or silicon carbide patches, and finish lapping with 15 micron grade (600 U.S. Mesh) patches.
I monitor the bore closely during lapping with a feel for optimal conditioning. I’ve had bores shoot extremely well after this lapping process, and also have used it to restore ailing bores or those with stub- born fouling or even erosion. My lapping process was published in the February 2000 issue of The AMERICAN RIFLE- MAN Magazine, titled: “Barrel Break-in and Restoration.”
Glass bedding the action went very well using Brownell’s Steel-Bed. The rear tang already had the pillar bedding, which held the tang firmly in place. All I did at this juncture was surround the existing pillar with a ring of bedding, including the flattened, stepped surface immediately forward of the tang screw hole. This surface provides most excellent action support. There is a full square inch of bedding surface behind the front guard screw that blends into the recoil lug sur- face. This is a very strong support. I also bedded a quarter inch of the receiver ring and ³⁄₁₆ inch of the barrel shoulder where it butts against the receiver shoulder. Last, I provided two laterally opposing pillars just behind the magazine cutout, with the extra sturdy magazine/trigger guard assembly for added support. Following the bedding, I cut a full
18 inches from the fore-end and installed a laminated fore-end tip. This really stood out, generating quite a few com- ments. I would later finish the stock with Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil which further brought out its latent beauty. MOUNTING THE SCOPE
With the lathe touchup work com- pleted, next in line would be scope mounting. I chose a Leupold two-piece base mounting system with high scope rings. This came with 6-48 base screws. The receiver is quite hard, so quality drill bits and taps are a must when doing this work. I used Brownell’s drills and taps, which are part of their Screw Conver- sion Kit. It is of utmost importance to properly align the scope bases with the bore. Here I aligned the receiver in the milling/drilling machine to aid in perfect screw alignment. When finished, I tested the rings for true coaxial alignment with Brownell’s Sleeved Scope Alignment Rods and all was well. I used a couple of different scopes and ended up using a 6.5-20x Sightron for much of the testing. INSTALLING A NEW TRIGGER Initially I worked with the Mauser factory trigger. I’ve adjusted several of
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