Is it possible to make M93-96 Mauser actions safer by drilling extra gas vent holes in the receiver ring and bolt, installing a flange on the bolt sleeve/M70 sleeve replacement and notching the bolt handle into the receiver? It seems to me that is what Ruger did with the M77. It is a dead ringer for for a M96 Swede with the aforementioned modifications. Of course after paying for all of this you probably could have bought a new Ruger or any other factory model for that matter(unless you do the work yourself). But, this is just an academic question.

Hi Bobster,

I don't know if it does make it safer but drilling larger and an additional gas hole in the port side of the bolt will not hurt a M96 action. I have two commercial Husqvarnas built on M96 actions that have a vent hole twice as large as the Swedish Mauser vent hole on the port side behind the extractor retaining band and a second vent hole the same size as the Swede in front of the band even with the first one. So the HVA sporter rifles have two holes with one twice as large as the Swedish Mauser using the same action but neither hole is near as large as the 98 venting. Never be as safe as the 98 as it is missing the third lug even after improving the gas venting.

Hope that make s sense,

Tom

[ 11-11-2003, 03:56: Message edited by: TomH ]

These guns will never be as safe, since they were generally softer steel, with less metal in the action.

Now for my soapbox. I do not (never have and never will) believe the third lug does anything of real value for safety. I say this for a couple of reasons. First, I have a pretty extensive collection of technical gun stuff, and in no case I can remember where a mauser was blown did the bolt come out. Due to the nonbrittle design, lugs bent until something else let go, but the lugs never did. I think the most recent case I read about was some destructive testing done by Terry Wieland in Gray's Sporting Journal. Secondly, from a practical standpoint, the third lug is not bedded in. Mechanically, it can do nothing until the front lugs let go. Once they do, and the bolt gets a running start, I think the dynamics of the system would shear the back lug. While the third safety lug was added as a backup, I not sure it has ever been needed. Does anyone have any documented reference where this happened?

The third lug saves your eyes once headspace reaches dangerous levels.......it turns it into a three lug rifle at about .025 set back.

This was in the days of '93s and '95s that suddenly shed their lugs after many thousands of abuses.....it's said the Mexican army stored rifles and bolts seperate and never bothered to match them up once they were assigned to unit level...

The third lug is pretty much a redundancy with modern steels and heat treatments.

I'm sorry to disagree a bit here, but I think it is a mistake to put the '96 swede in the same class w/ the '93 & '95s.

Yes, they are all "small ring" mausers, but the metalurgy of the swede is vastly superior to the other two. Does that mean we should "hot-rod" it? No, but it is capable of safely handling significantly more cartridge than the 93-95 (45,000).

In fact, when Sweden switched to the 7.62 NATO round for the military, they didn't hesitate to rebarrel a host of '96 (or '38) actions to this caliber. Never did they have a single failure w/ these rifles. Of course, they weren't loading this w/ the hottest .308 load in the manual in hopes of bagging a moose. They were target loads; accuracy was the goal, which in most rifles (especially of earlier manufacture) occurred in "moderate" pressure range.

Now, I'm kind of a play it safe guy. I had a 1901 manufacture '96 in excellent condition that I sporterized for my wife (mis-matched numbers on stock, butt-plate, etc). I sent it off and had the action re-heat-treated. Yet, I wouldn't hesitate to rebarrel it to 6.5x.284 or 6.5x57, etc.

If you have any of the old "Rifle" magazines from the '60s & '70s you'll read a great many articles on how the swede has been marred more by the reputation of softness (from the '93-95) than any real problems of its own.

FWIW about 6-7 years ago Kimber bought up a bunch of Swedes and sporterized them. They offered the gun in .243 & .308 besides the 6.5x55.

Rob

[ 11-11-2003, 17:05: Message edited by: Recoil Rob ]

Yes and the samples of those kimbers I've seen were junk.