Sporterized 1916 Swedish Mauser...finally shot it

[TiGeo]

Grandfather's Mauser. Had it made up with a left-handed stock. I had to take it to a gun shop to figure out what round it took; everything I could find online/ChatGPT pointed to 6.5 Swedish but I wasn't quite sure as my mother thought it was chambered in 30.06 which would be uncommon but still I wanted to make sure. Gun shop confirmed 6.5 Swedish so I bought a few boxes and ended up getting to shoot it on a property I'm working at currently. Shoots great, smooth action, scope is pretty far out of whack so I need to work on that but still it was super fun getting to shoot this old hunting rifle that my grandfather really liked. I suspect the conversion was done sometime in the 50s or 60s.

 

[nwjones18]

Really neat rifle! I have an original one I got many years ago and it is a great shooter. They are widely praised as being among the most accurate Mausers ever made. Mine has a SA stamp on the receiver indicating it was in Finland for its Winter War with Russia.

 

[burbguy82]

Nice thread.

I like the left hand stock. I shoot left hand for long gun, but am right handed. The Monte Carlo LH stock would give a nice cheek weld.

 

[bimiko939]

Man, nothing beats the feeling of shooting a family heirloom for the first time

 

[Astro14]

Congratulations - it’s a neat old rifle - and with your family connection, I hope you enjoy it for a long time.

6.5x55 Swedish is a fine caliber. The recent proliferation of other calibers that are long for the diameter, and have good ballistic coefficients (low drag) is a testament to the wisdom of this design. Moderate recoil, great long range performance.

I have a 1942 Husqvarna M38 in 6.5x55. I really like the brass “dope” embedded in the stock - a neat bit of history. I have yet to shoot it (life has been so busy lately) but I plan to correct that soon. 6.5x55 isn’t hard to find, but it isn’t common, either.