Need help identifying an old Husqvarna 6.5x55

[Jonnyofalltrades]

Something that is VERY common on older mausers, and especially sporterized mausers, is scope base holes that aren't on the action centerline. This will cause the scope ring on the bridge to lean one way while the one on the reciever ring is leaning the other.
A shim under one side of a base, and epoxy bedding the base to the top of the reciever, can get them back in line.
I've done this on at least 4 rifles, and it is invisible if you do it carefully with black epoxy. Release agent on the reciever, epoxy and shim stay with the base.
Some method of boresighting is mandatory for doing this.

Not knocking Burris rings, they are awesome. It just stinks to have to buy extra stuff to get a rifle up and running.

 

[wkndwarrior]

I have an 1896 (built in 1899) that I was unable to get on paper at 100 yards. (Off by ~20" with the front sight drifted to fully compensate). I held a straightedge along the barrel and discovered that the barrel was actually bent. Figuring that there was little to lose, I straightened in a hydraulic press to straight by eyeball. I was able to bring it in with no impact to accuracy.

I hadn't even thought of this! I checked it with a straight edge and it looks like I'm good in that regard. That rifle probably has a story to tell about how it got bent.

 

[wkndwarrior]

My M38 Husky uses an old Redfield windage adjustable one piece base with Burris rings. I had to add a piece of .015 brass shim under the rear to get average hand loads to hit at normal distances. There has to be plenty of these bases around. Put out a wanted post.

I used a thin mirror and flashlight and saw letters MK stamped under the bridge.

These can still be found on ebay and are compatible with twist in rings from Leupold, Redfield and Burris.

Pardon Our Interruption...

I appreciate you taking the time to look this up. I'm pretty sure that my hole spacing is non-standard for either a large ring or small ring mauser. Mine are around .5" apart both front and rear while the mauser 96 and 98's were listed for .86" front spread. I do have an old redfield base off of another mauser and verified that it doesn't fit. I think I'm going to stick to resolving this with rings.

 

[wkndwarrior]

Something that is VERY common on older mausers, and especially sporterized mausers, is scope base holes that aren't on the action centerline. This will cause the scope ring on the bridge to lean one way while the one on the reciever ring is leaning the other.
A shim under one side of a base, and epoxy bedding the base to the top of the reciever, can get them back in line.
I've done this on at least 4 rifles, and it is invisible if you do it carefully with black epoxy. Release agent on the reciever, epoxy and shim stay with the base.
Some method of boresighting is mandatory for doing this.

Not knocking Burris rings, they are awesome. It just stinks to have to buy extra stuff to get a rifle up and running.

This is interesting. Thinking about it, the front base had some material sanded off of it to fit the contour of the action. Maybe I'll try spinning it around 180 degrees or placing a shim to see if anything changes.

 

[wkndwarrior]

Well, the rings and offsets finally arrived and I had some time to try remounting the scope tonight. It must have been further off than I remembered because the 30 MOA combo that I was using didn't quite get it close enough.

Following some of the advice on here, I shimmed the rear base with a piece of aluminum from an aluminum can. I then mounted a 16x scope for load development and was able to zero the windage without any pos-align offset. If all is well after shooting, I might follow the advice to bed the shim then install some of the extended rings so I can put my favorite scope on it.

 

[pintopete]

Hard to tell in your pics, but does the rear base match the radius of the rear receiver ring? It should…it should be in almost total contact. Sometimes the radius of Weaver bases is slightly smaller than that of the receiver, but better that way than the reverse.

 

[pintopete]

Sometimes like this…

 

[pintopete]

And like this…

 

[C.E.Smith043]

Don't overlook the barrel. Make sure it's not bent ever so slightly, also I've seen barrels come loose from the receiver. Not often but does happen.

 

[wkndwarrior]

The base has a slightly smaller radius than the receiver so it was not in total contact.

I had checked the barrel for straightness and believe it is not bent.

 

[clowdis]

wkndwarrior, it looks like you've gotten this thing screwed up pretty good. That shim pack you've got under the back ring isn't going to hold. If this action has the windage messed up this bad then the mounting screw holes are probably off. At this point I think you have to go see a gunsmith for some help.

 

[Wild Bill IV]

^^^Yup! Looks like an old small ring to me. 96 Mauser with a bolt bent/worked and Sporterized. The stepped barrel looks original too, tho worked over. How long is it. Could be an old carbine action but the barrel looks too long to be an original carbine barrel.
Burris Extreme rings with inserts when you get a pic rail for it.
Here’s a pic of a later Husquavarna for the civilian market.
View attachment 1631694

Here’s a better close up. Notice the differences in the bolt and barrel.
View attachment 1631696

Husqvarna and CGs also had the M38 (carbine with factory made turn down bolt), the M94 had a barrel length between the carbine and the long barrel M96!! Both M38 carbines, Husky and CG, with the turn down bolts were sought after for their ease of customizing for scopes!!!

 

[Wild Bill IV]

I bought this custom HVA rifle off of another forum a couple of years ago and have only been to the range with it once. While at the range I found two issues -

1. The front scope base was loose.
2. When sighting in, I couldn't get the windage adjustment correct. With a bench rest scope, it was about 12 inches off at maximum adjustment.

It turns out that one of the screws was stripped, I should have checked them before mounting the scope. I had my gunsmith tap it to a larger size. I thought maybe this would realign the base but no luck.

I tried mounting a different scope, also no luck. It's a really nice custom build and the barrel is free floated back to the action bedding but I can't get the action out of the stock - not completely sure that it's not bedded in there other than the fact that it is a very clean and professional job. It has a really nice trigger pull too.

So I'm trying to identify what model it is in hopes that I can find a compatible scope base with windage adjustments. I was going to try some burris signature rings but I don't think that it will give me enough windage and I'm not sure if they'll be high enough to clear the bolt. I found an old scope base chart, but none of the weaver bases are configured the same as the ones that I had removed, and I can't seem to find base dimensions on the google. The configuration is Weaver 45 installed on the rear, 55 installed on the front, rear holes approx .54" center to center and front holes approx .5" center to center. There's about 4" between the front-rear hole and the rear-front hole, center to center.

I believe it was 1951 manufacture based on the serial number and was thinking that it's an M96 military based on pictures I found on google, but the dimensions don't add up.

Any help identifying the action, and if someone is knowledgeable - the recommended scope base???

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View attachment 1631632

ll

DO NOT RELOAD FOR THE HIGHER PRESSURE 6.5x55 in SMALL RING MAUSER ACTIONS!! USE LOADS WITH THE TEST RIFLE BEING M96, M94, AND/OR M38 (<48,000 PSI)!!

Husqvarna Vapenfabriks Aktiebolag small ring Mausers military rifles production were the M38 carbine and your rifle serial number (stamped on the left side of the receiver) matches the production run for "1942" (628822 to 667603) which is stamped below the "full Husky name" on the top of the receiver! YOU HAVE A HUSKY M38!!!!!! And, I believe that turn down bold is factory!! Yes, some CG M38 and most of the Husky M38 rifles came out of the factories with turn down bolts!! The 765 stamp on the knob is leading me to that conclusion!!

Go with the military M96 (long barrel)/M94 (carbine)/M38 (short) mounts and NOT the straight M96 which were made by CG (1898-1927) and in Germany (1899-1900)!!! M94 (1898-1932)!!! HUSKY M38 (1941-1944)!!! CG was making machine guns during the Husky M38 production years!!!

You have a matching bolt and Ser. No. And the barrel, bolt and floor plate have the "lazy crown" inspection stamps!! The step down barrel contour and the lazy crown stamped on the barrel leads me to conclude this rifle is a Husky mil M38 and MAY NOT BE A TRUE HVA SPORTER which rebarreled on the small ring actions using mostly sporter stocks!! YES, THE BARREL IS MILITARY, not custom!! Look for a "G.B." (Carl Gustaf K:son Bjorkenstam was the inspector from 1941-1942 at Husky) stamped on the receiver somewhere!! The stock could be a Fagen walnut!!! This rifle was a military surplus rifle set in a custom or customized Mannlicher stock!! The original stock was a straight military style Mauser with wooden forearm cover and had 2 forearm ring bands securing the cover and the barrel to the stock. This is the reason for the step cut contour of the barrel!! 88,000 military Husky M38 were produced!!

Very nice find!! GOOD LUCK with scope mounts and/or proper mounting! Scope mounting drill hole guide jigs were available to the shooters and smiths along with prints for custom making those jigs!! That being said, check mounting hole/barrel bore alignment!!

ADDED NOTE: KIMBER started out by purchasing crate fulls of Imported Small Ring Mausers and customized rifles using those actions before Manufacturing their own actions!! This rifle could be a very early KIMBER custom, but I don't remember them using Mannlicher style stocks!!!

FOOTNOTE: Most of this information is from the 2003 Collector Grade Publications Incorporated book: CROWN JEWELS, The Mauser in Sweden, by Dana Jones!!!

 

[wkndwarrior]

Wild Bill - thank you for all of the information. I tried finding an electronic copy of the suggested book but was unsuccessful. It looks like a good one for the collection but must be pretty rare ($$). A quick look and I don't see a G.B. stamped anywhere, but I also had been unable to remove the action from the stock. I'm also not sure how to identify if it was a Kimber build.

I'm about ready to give up on the googling regarding load data, I had loaded about 40 rounds in 3 shot load ladders with Reloder 19 per the Barnes manual. 95 grain VMAX from 48.5 to 50.9 GR and 120 grain TSX from 47.5 to 49.3 GR. Barnes does not provide CUP data for these loads nor does my Lyman manual that also suggests Reloder 19 as a preferred powder. I suppose if I can't find data supporting the load, I could break these down and reload with Staball 6.5. I also have Varget and IMR 4350 but have found that the stick powders really need to be loaded hot and compressed for the best accuracy. Hodgdon appears to have cup data for all of their powders suggested for the 6.5x55 Swede.

I think I'm going to remove the base, coat the rifle and screw holes with kiwi polish then reinstall it with the shim and inject epoxy underneath to create the correct profile similar to what jonnyofalltrades suggests above. If it all works and I can get the scope aligned without the burris rings, then I'll look for a set of slightly higher and offset see thru rings as joshb had suggested so I can mount the preferred scope. The burris rings work but they are unavailable in extra high and currently do not provide much clearance for the scope.

 

[joshb]

Hey! Get the Hornady Manual. Their testing was done with a 96. I’ve been testing various powders and bullets lately. I’m not getting bench gun accuracy out of my old M38 but it’s a fair hunting gun. Here! I took some pics for you:

 

[joshb]

 

[Wild Bill IV]

Wild Bill - thank you for all of the information. I tried finding an electronic copy of the suggested book but was unsuccessful. It looks like a good one for the collection but must be pretty rare ($$). A quick look and I don't see a G.B. stamped anywhere, but I also had been unable to remove the action from the stock. I'm also not sure how to identify if it was a Kimber build.

I'm about ready to give up on the googling regarding load data, I had loaded about 40 rounds in 3 shot load ladders with Reloder 19 per the Barnes manual. 95 grain VMAX from 48.5 to 50.9 GR and 120 grain TSX from 47.5 to 49.3 GR. Barnes does not provide CUP data for these loads nor does my Lyman manual that also suggests Reloder 19 as a preferred powder. I suppose if I can't find data supporting the load, I could break these down and reload with Staball 6.5. I also have Varget and IMR 4350 but have found that the stick powders really need to be loaded hot and compressed for the best accuracy. Hodgdon appears to have cup data for all of their powders suggested for the 6.5x55 Swede.

I think I'm going to remove the base, coat the rifle and screw holes with kiwi polish then reinstall it with the shim and inject epoxy underneath to create the correct profile similar to what jonnyofalltrades suggests above. If it all works and I can get the scope aligned without the burris rings, then I'll look for a set of slightly higher and offset see thru rings as joshb had suggested so I can mount the preferred scope. The burris rings work but they are unavailable in extra high and currently do not provide much clearance for the scope.

I have some older reloading manuals that list loads for the SR Mausers!!
If memory serves me right, the old Lyman manual also listed the CUP for the min/max loads!! If your interested, I might be able to snap pix and DM them to you if your so desire that info!!

I am a collector/investor!!! 25 years ago, I picked up 2 M96($75 for mis match, $125 for matching) and a good condition CG63 ($1200) at OK City, OK 2000 table gun show when my kids were very young!! I retired 1.5 years ago and now is the time to pull those guns out of the vault and start reloading and shooting them!!! I'm sticking to the SMK 140 for All of them!! I'm looking at Using Reloader 25 since it develops moderate velocity at lower pressure!!! I'm still trying to find the velocity for the 139 Swedish target ammo used primarily for the CG63!! Then, the Diopter elevation/range would be correct from 100 to 1000 meters!!!

Once I have those loads, I will share the info!!! I did purchase scope mounts for the M96s!!! Disassemble the rear sights, and insert the mount on the leaf mount!! Made for Scouting scopes!! Once those loads are dialed in, the originals sights go back on and I don't lose any C/R value and will have targets for documentation of the accuracy that may coincide with the stock disks!!! Adding to the value!!! They all shot really well with, at that time, the flooded market cheap B&S 139 ammo when I got them home!! Especially, the CG63!! It is probably going to be the most accurate of my open sight antique HP target rifles!!!

 

[Wild Bill IV]

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I believe I also have that info in an early edition Hornady Manual!! Some of my older Sierra, Nosler, and Lyman manuals may also have them!!
You can't go wrong with 4831 or 4350 in those cases!
I use 4831 and 120grainers in my 25-06!! Excellent paper puncher and 600yd heart shots at deer!!
Looks like 41 - 41.5 might be a node!!!

 

[joshb]

I have a CG 63 sitting in the safe. I bought it 4 or five years ago and haven’t shot it yet. My old eyes need a scope and I have other guns to shoot.

 

[wkndwarrior]

Thanks guys, that load information shows that I'm a little hot. I had read in other Barnes references that they are usually 51k cup. I'll pull these down and use the Hornady info to start over with IMR 4350.