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So a month or so ago I took my 1941 swedish mauser 6.5X55 m38 to the range for some variety. I purchased it and 5 others about 15 years ago for 60 bucks a piece (sadly i was 18 and had no idea i should hold on to all of them....) I have looking at tons of 6.5 AR builds but it didn't occur to me until recently to just build on what I already have. While I know bore gauging is important before investing to much..I know at 500 yards im consistant on a bench open sights so im thinking i can skip this step. Any ways here is the poor mans sniper rifle build concept-
-6.5X55 mauser (there are several varieties but the best are m96 and m38 (some of the M38 are actually cut down M96's) 60$
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... BA&dur=226
-LER scout mount for M96/M38 25$
http://www.wayfair.com/Sun-Optics-Mause ... A0C85C8074
-New ergo stock 100$
http://www.boydsgunstocks.com/VT-MAUSER ... 10-470.htm
-scope of choice 105$
http://www.opticsplanet.com/ncstar-illu ... efr10.html
-reloading dies 34.25$
http://www.rrarms.com/lee-deluxe-rifle- ... auser.html
-Shipping about 100$
grand total for the poor mans starter kit- 424.25$
now the mauser prices are hovering about 250-400, if you already have a scope and stay with the original stock..still pretty cheep. I'll let you know how it turns out in a few weeks.

cptrifeg2 wrote:So a month or so ago I took my 1941 swedish mauser 6.5X55 m38 to the range for some variety. I purchased it and 5 others about 15 years ago for 60 bucks a piece (sadly i was 18 and had no idea i should hold on to all of them....) I have looking at tons of 6.5 AR builds but it didn't occur to me until recently to just build on what I already have. While I know bore gauging is important before investing to much..I know at 500 yards im consistant on a bench open sights so im thinking i can skip this step. Any ways here is the poor mans sniper rifle build concept-
-6.5X55 mauser (there are several varieties but the best are m96 and m38 (some of the M38 are actually cut down M96's) 60$
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... BA&dur=226
-LER scout mount for M96/M38 25$
http://www.wayfair.com/Sun-Optics-Mause ... A0C85C8074
-New ergo stock 100$
http://www.boydsgunstocks.com/VT-MAUSER ... 10-470.htm
-scope of choice 105$
http://www.opticsplanet.com/ncstar-illu ... efr10.html
-reloading dies 34.25$
http://www.rrarms.com/lee-deluxe-rifle- ... auser.html
-Shipping about 100$
grand total for the poor mans starter kit- 424.25$
now the mauser prices are hovering about 250-400, if you already have a scope and stay with the original stock..still pretty cheep. I'll let you know how it turns out in a few weeks.

Good thinking. I'd stay with the original stock too, if you need to add a cheek-piece, just do it.

The 6.5x55 is far superior to the Grendel and is the Swedish standard for 1000 meter matches, even today..

..t

Well, there you have WC's and gunny's next project: A 6.5x55mm AR-10....

honestly, I plan to replace all parts a little at a time including a new bull barrel. this way I can put the mauser in the safe for my grand kids to shoot. It will be something to bust it out in 2041 and show the grand kids what their great great grand father fought against. I have his 308 sniper rifle but it will not be fired per his wishes.

cptrifeg2 wrote:honestly, I plan to replace all parts a little at a time including a new bull barrel. this way I can put the mauser in the safe for my grand kids to shoot. It will be something to bust it out in 2041 and show the grand kids what their great great grand father fought against. I have his 308 sniper rifle but it will not be fired per his wishes.

Sounds like your Mauser will be like my grandfather's axe. If my dad replaced the handle, and I just replaced the head, is it still my grandfather's axe?

Jim in Houston wrote:

cptrifeg2 wrote:honestly, I plan to replace all parts a little at a time including a new bull barrel. this way I can put the mauser in the safe for my grand kids to shoot. It will be something to bust it out in 2041 and show the grand kids what their great great grand father fought against. I have his 308 sniper rifle but it will not be fired per his wishes.

Sounds like your Mauser will be like my grandfather's axe. If my dad replaced the handle, and I just replaced the head, is it still my grandfather's axe?

Haha, I have a civil war sword kind of like that, but I meant the original mauser will go in the safe and new build would be my shooter.

At one point I owned five of the old swedes. Unfortunately, like cptrifeg2, I didn't know enough to keep all of them. I still have two. One is a nearly original 1916 CG with the swedish Elit ajustable aperture rear sight, and a hooded post front sight. I paid $150 for it 15 years ago and it still shoots far better than I do. The other one I found on a rack at a nearby gunsmith about 10 years ago. It had a cracked stock and a muzzle worn smooth by some enthusiastic joker with a bent cleaning rod. I paid $75 for it and took it home to build a budget scout rifle, pretty nearly as cptrifeg2 describes, but cheaper. I cut the barrel down to 22", milled the rear sight base down flat and screwed on a piece of weaver rail I had left over. I bought a real cheapo Ramline stock for $49 on sale and midway and epoxy bedded the action with the barrel floated and mounted a Leupold scout scope. Total cost was $140 plus the scope. At the end of that work, I had a rifle that would keep most any load under 1/2" at a 100. It was the most accurate rifle I owned until I got into building on the AR platform.

My advice is this: Although the 6.5x55 is IMHO the best deer cartridge around, If your M38 is in very good or better condition, with matching numbers and the stock disk in place. I wouldn't touch it. Those swedes are going for better than $300 today, and prices are rising. There are plenty of bubba'd rifles around to build on.

Here's a target I shot with the Bubba'd swede scout shortly after I put it together. Three shots @ 100 yards into .285". I was pretty happy with myself that day
This rifle lives behind the seat of my truck a lot of the time. I took the largest buck of my life with it one frosty morning about 10 years ago.

I just called dad to see if he held on to any of the mausers we never got around to cleaning up..he has 2 7mm, another 6.5 swede and he cant make out the barrel stamp but thinks its an 8 mm (it might be worth a few bones.. ill take pics of them when i head up the last week of NOV). I know the 7mm aren't going for as much right now but im sure in another 15 years they might . I wish I could go back in time, the shop I bought them from was called "Fettlas" in hobart , indiana. At the time they had 15 crates of 20..all 6.5 swedes all mediocre stocks but good firing condition..

I had shopped there also, when they closed they had many display guns that were new old stock from the 60"s thru 90's. the firearms were sold at invoice for what they had paid for them at the time they stocked them. ( think colt gold cups and national match .45's for $ 200.00 ). Again, by the time I had heard about the sale they were all gone. I'm always a day late and a dollar short.