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Oh, yeah, where are the pics?

Ok, here's what I've done with great success in my swede sporters. Most either have or will develop a crack just behind the rear tang on the top of the grip. As nice as the swedes are their stock inletting sucks. I glass bed all mine and relieve the area just behind the rear tang. I bed all the way out to just in front of that forearm screw. I stick some of that black pvc tape on the bottom & sides of the block that the screw goes into. That way when you remove the tape the block doesn't bear in the stock. I snug up the screw but not near as tight as the actions screws. Mine is an honest 1" shooter. If the forearm were thicker you could bed the forward block but my buddy who builds stocks advised me not to and I don't regret heeding his advice. Hope that helps.

Dave, My best to you and your wife. I would be lost without mine.

As always, swell work Don.

Az, Thanks. I'm still awaiting the FFL approval. Have the shop mostly set up and will (cross my fingers) be open for business real soon. I could use it too, the job I moved to Denver for is no more. So, I have a new (to us) house and no job. :-( Not to worry though, I have a line of customers waiting for the shingle to be hung. Hopefully I'll have some repeat business and lots of new customers. I have a Jpeg of some 9.3x57 load data, if anyone wants it email me. mccabeguns(at)yahoo.com

Congrats! The Norma website has some data. The best buy on bullets I know of is the Prvi Partizan 285 grainer from Grafs. They have brass too but you can simply neck up 8x57. Hornady dies were about the best deal I found. Accurate Arms lists 41.0 grains of AA2460 as max. That is what I use in mine. It shoots 1" groups with the iron sights at 100 yds. I never chronoed it but I guess 2050 fps or so. 44.0 Grains of AA2460 is max with a 250 grainer. And 43.0 grains of 2495 is max with a 286. And lastly AA5744 can be used for a reduced load with bullets ranging from 270 to 290 grains. Start load 23.0 grains, max load 35.0 You can substitutue RL15 for Norma 202. RL15 burns about 3% slower than N202. So, back off by at least 10%. Finally, some other published data I have shows: 47.0 grains of 3031 with a 232 grain bullet at 2330 fps. 43.0 grains of 3031 with a 286 grain bullet at 2070 fps. I have a buddy that is starting up a custom Ammo manufacturing company and he will load for the 9.3x57 as well as most other metric calibers. Please excercise caution in using these loads, always start 10% lower. Feel free to PM me with any questions. Be alert - Publisher assumes no responsibility for errors in published load data.

Larry, I'm not disputing the fact that the primer may have let go. Let's say it did. The fact is that had the bolt been properly carburised it would not have sheared the lugs. An overly hard receiver( or bolt) does not just self destruct without some type of event to initiate it's coming apart.

Naw, Most likely a case of the bolt being carburised a second time by accident or simply a faulty job the first time. Some of the early post war FN 98 sporters exhibit the exact same type of lug shearing. The cause was traced back to to FN using surplus bolts which they arc welded new sporter handles onto. Then, they carburised the entire assembly again to reharden the cocking & extractor cams. As a result, the balance of the bolt became too brittle. Here's a pic of the FN 98 failure: The lugs tested in the mid 60's on the RC scale. They should be in the mid 40's max. -Mike

Gun Nutty, The 9.3x57 is the bomb on a 96. They operate at low pressure and deliver a knock out punch that is hard to argue with. One thing you have to remember is that all contract Mausers were just that, built for a specific contract. Thus each variant was built around the specs laid out by the ordinance boards which were negotiating the contract. One of the main specs was the cartridge the rifle was designed around. The Swedes were no different. They built the action (including heat treatment of it) around the pressures at which the 6.5x55 operated at. Today's powders burn with much more vigor than the powders of old and that needs to be considered but is rarely factored into the equation. One needs to take a look at the pressure spikes of a given load. Remember that the pressure figures thrown around show average. There are spikes in the burn pattern that greatly exceed the average. It is both the peak and the pattern of spikes that act as a jack hammer on the seats and leads to set back. So, yes, a re-heat treatment of the action could in fact help some if properly done. But again, it does nothing to improve the inferior gas handling ability of the action. That is why I will only build for low pressure rounds on the action. Anything operating at higher pressures is built on a 98. Again, there is nothing stopping any individual from building what they want on a 96, this is just my rational with associated research supporting it. Thanks for posting the info to Lassen. No where near the whine country, pun intended. Much closer to Reno. There was a nice Swede which was crudely sported but not messed up in the local gun emporium recently for $150. If I'd had a job, I'd have bought it. I want another 9.3x57, lol.

Larry, Feel free to call the school and ask for John Martin, one of the instructors, and ask him about the Kimbers. I've another friend who went through the program that saw the same. Maybe all three of us are hallucinating? You couldn't get me to sell my Husky 96's and other Swedish made sporters based off the action but you also couldn't get me to rebarrel them to a high pressure round or shoot hot loads through them. There are too many other better actions around. Have you ever considered why the Swedes used the 96 for so many sporting rounds? Could it be limited production of alternative actions? Excess supply of 96's? Even the guys at Schultz and Larson understand the limitations of the 96's. But, as you say, we still have some freedom of choice in this country, feel free to exercise yours.

Don, Looks good. I think a bit of acraglass & dye is the quick fix. Otherwise, gluing some shavings in will work too.

Swamp, Two in my family have overcome this very problem and went on to lead long happy lives. You will too!

This one sports Verguiero bottom metal. The left guard is an issue Verguiero guard, the middle has been cleaned up, the right one is a 1909 Argentine guard. The Verguiero has locking screws, the Argie doesn't.

Tinkerfive, The argie guards came with two types of releases. One that is flush with a groove in the bow near the end of the release and the type Don shows in his pics. Don's interpretation is very nicely done. Great work Don.

Colorado, Denver in particular has tons of houses in foreclosure. Almost all because people bought into houses with no money down. They have nothing to loose when they hit hard times so they abandon the houses. That wouldn't be the case if they'd had to put money into the house to buy it.

San Antonio used to be very much like that. You could buy a house with your housing allowance and then rent it if you got transfered. By the time you retired the house was darn near paid for.

Included tooling is very important to consider. Tooling alone can cost you more than the machine. Also, regarding my recommending the biggest machine you can afford, remember that we all had to start somewhere and that often meant with a machine that was smaller than we wanted. You can make do with a smaller machine. My old south bend and I cut many a barrel despite it's relatively smallish 7/8" bore.

My advice, buy the biggest lathe you can afford or have space for. As for chambering speeds, call Manson or Kiff and see what they say. you'll find they recommend tripple digit speeds. Where slower speeds come in real handy is for threading at 10 or 12 TPI. But, even at 60 RPM on my old South Bend, I found it easier to thread by hand since it didn't have a thread dial. I left it engaged and ran the chuck by hand. Not a big deal.

Ken, You should be able to "straighten" it out absolutely.

Standard boltface, slightly larger case head .006" than .30-06, slightly shorter OAL than -06, bullet diameter is .366". Super cartridge! if I hadn't just spent all my money on a house I would pick up a winchester 1895 at the local gun shop and have it rebored by either dan perdersen or jim dubbell (sp).

650 or 1000 is what I ran my little Clausing at with a 1/2" 4 flute carbide endmill.

yup, that is why we build not buy. Whatever floats yer boat.

Great score. I picked up a Fajen Mannlicher stock for the 96 last year. If that stock were mine, I'd shorten the forend to 9" with the tip or without, and remove the white spacers. Finish and go hunting. If you shorten the forend you will need to recontour and that will thin things up nicely. Nice Job!

I would single point the threads. Not much would need to be done to bring them in line. The key is to properly align everything to the bolt bore. Your typical screw in mandrel is not the answer for aligning things. A friend had Dave Kiff at PTG make him a piloted tap like those used on the rem 700s. Pretty pricey though at $250 a pop.