Sarco Husqvarna rifles

[Frank46]

Some of you may have been following my posts regarding the huskvarna rifles as sold by sarco. Well to date I'm on my second rifle and this like the first will have to go back due to corrosion/pitting in both the barrel and chamber. The first one had corrosion/pitting in the bbl only. Since they don't make .366 bore brushes I've been using .375 caliber brushes. Since they fit tight its very easy to feel the brush as it goes down the bbl. In fairness I should say that the second rifle the corrosion is what I would call fine, but on this rifle the corrosion is also in the chamber. I have been bouncing this thread back and forth with barnes-450 as he is a 9.3x57 fan, and which happens to be the caliber of the two rifles in question. Has anyone else ordered one of these rifles from sarco and had any problems with them related to bore corrosion/pitting??. At this point when this rifle goes back I'll have $45 in shipping costs over and above the origional cost of $300 for the rifle. And at this point I'm not really sure as to wether or not I want to risk upping the ante in getting a third rifle in the same caliber and finding out that it has the same problems and the previous ones. But in all fairness I do have to say that sarco did not hesitate in accepting the first rifle back. So if anyone has had similar problems I'd be happy to hear from you. Frank

[Buckshot]

.............How are they advertised? I would not put up with paying the return shipping on a *** that doesn't match their advertising. If that's the case and you paid by credit card, dispute the charges and have the company credit you. That's a bunch of BS. Don't they even LOOK at them before shipping them out? It's not like a bunch of palletized milsurps they tell you are coming right off the pallet.

.............Buckshot

[JDL]

Frank,
I've been watching to see how well you faired with Sarco as I was intrested in some of their Husqvarna's. I don't really want to put up with the aggrivation, although I would like to have a 9.3x57, I'll just have to make do with my 8.8X51.
I believe Buckshot is correct about the advertising and suggestion on how to handle the situation.-JDL

[Frank46]

Buckshot, they have them advertised in shotgun news and on their website. Have been playing with #2 right now and the pitting in the bbl I believe can be polished up. I used to use automotive rubbing compound (the red stuff) mixed with hoppes to clean up grungy bbls. And methinks the same can be done with the chamber. Unfortunately I paid with a postal money order, Will give them a call monday depending what hurricane katrina does here in louisiana. The rifle does have weaver bases and the bolt is bent for scope use. And the more I look at it the more I want to keep it. These husky's seem to be a mixed bag. Some have the bolts bent and some don't, you pays your money and you take your chances. The first one was not bent and came with weaver bases. Wonder what kind of rig was used so the scope could be used with an unbent bolt??. The bolt was curved but no way that I could see how a scope could be used. JDl, barnes-450 suggested a web site for husky firearms, checked it out and they showed the 9.3x57 loaded with 280 gr bullets. Sure looked neat. Just what is an 8.8x51?. Frank

[Scrounger]

Buckshot, they have them advertised in shotgun news and on their website. Have been playing with #2 right now and the pitting in the bbl I believe can be polished up. I used to use automotive rubbing compound (the red stuff) mixed with hoppes to clean up grungy bbls. And methinks the same can be done with the chamber. Unfortunately I paid with a postal money order, Will give them a call monday depending what hurricane katrina does here in louisiana. The rifle does have weaver bases and the bolt is bent for scope use. And the more I look at it the more I want to keep it. These husky's seem to be a mixed bag. Some have the bolts bent and some don't, you pays your money and you take your chances. The first one was not bent and came with weaver bases. Wonder what kind of rig was used so the scope could be used with an unbent bolt??. The bolt was curved but no way that I could see how a scope could be used. JDl, barnes-450 suggested a web site for husky firearms, checked it out and they showed the 9.3x57 loaded with 280 gr bullets. Sure looked neat. Just what is an 8.8x51?. Frank

My guess that's a .358 Winchester...

[JDL]

JDl, barnes-450 suggested a web site for husky firearms, checked it out and they showed the 9.3x57 loaded with 280 gr bullets. Sure looked neat. Just what is an 8.8x51?. Frank

Frank,
The European disignation of just a plain ol' .358 Win.

How's the weather treating you? My daughter and her family evaced Ponchatoula yesterday and the grandsons and I have been playing on the atv. We just have a little breez here but, otherwise it's nice. -JDL

[Frank46]

Husky 9.3x57's, checked out sarco's web site. The site except for the pictured rifles does not list bore condition, nor wether or not the bolt has been altered for use with a scope. The second replacement I received did have such a bolt alteration. I fired off an e-mail to T.J. at sarco explaining the situation, regarding the pitting/ corrosion in the bore and chamber. Will see what they have to say. Jdl, I live in new iberia which is about 140 miles southwest of the sunken city. We made out ok. Did have some heavy rain and high winds. Some tree branches fell but no damage. My sister in law and her daughter live in st.benard parish and their houses are flooded. Since she went north, she cannot get back to their homes until the water sunsides. But they are talking about another levee breech. They had at least two in new orleans. They have always been saying that new orleans would flood someday. But when you actually see it, its truly horrifying. But the sad part of it is that people will not be allowed back into N.O. or surrounding parishes until Fema or what ever gov't agencies are in charge says its ok to go back. They already have had reports of looting in new orleans. And there were new laws recently put into effect regarding looting and price gouging. Lets see how that flies. Glad to hear you are all ok. Frank

[Frank46]

JDL, all we got was some rain and wind and no damage. Still have the boards up on the windows as supposedly there is another storm brewing. Update on the husky 9.3x57. E-mailed T.J. at sarco. Will be getting check in the mail and will keep the rifle.
Been busy today cleaning the bbl. Lots of rem clean and a .375 bore brush. Think I can get the bore to polish up some and likewise for the chamber. Hated to part with it as the action and bolt were drilled and tapped for weaver bases and the bolt has already been bent for use with a scope. Some gunsmiths down here get $30 bucks a hole when drilling for scope bases and I shudder to think what they charge to alter the bolt.I'm going to try using automotive rubbing compound (red stuff) and automotive polishing compound(white stuff) to resurect the bore. Was thinking of cutting the bbl down from 24.5 inches to 21 inches and getting the stock cut down from 15 length of pull to about 13". But regardless of what physical alterations I make it will be a cast boolit rifle only. All in all I feel that I got afair shake from sarco. And today that's saying a lot. But will try and get the steel weaver bases for a 98 action. At present it has the aluminum bases. Question is what mold to get??. One poster suggested www.pettsons.net/m46.html website and checked it out. The 9.3x57 looks positively downright business like with the 282 gr j-word bullet. Should look even better with a real boolit. Frank

[JDL]

Frank,
Glad to hear you are all right!! I can only hope the rest of our brotherhood in that area is ok. It's truly horrible what has/is happening. My kids left yesterday afternoon to go back to their home and I still can't get in touch with them as there no communication systems at present but, at least, they were here during the storm.

Nice to see the bore isn't too bad on your Husky and you are pleased with it. I believe it was C.E. Harris that said pitted bores would shoot cast fine but, tended to foul a little worse than shinny ones. It probably is no rougher than an E.R. Shaw barrel that I have that shoots cast alright.

I have a couple of moulds made by Mountain Molds and am very pleased with them, so check out their web page www.mountainmoulds.com. -JDL

[Frank46]

JDL, spoke with my wife who's still in new york. We have about 7-8 families that used to live in the new orleans, St. Benard,Plaquemaines parishes. One family had their house completelt redone by one of the house makeover shows earlier this year. Well my sister in law had spoken to the sherriff in that parish and he said the whole house was completely gone. At present they are scattered from texas, florida, and points north. Since we have plenty of room we will be opening up the house for them until such time as they can get back to their old houses and try a formulate a game plan. But as a rule they just about lost everything they had except for the clothes and vehicles that they had when they split. So things at my house should be interesting for the next few months. Husky, after going through all this I made the decision to keep it. Started work on the bbl. Got most of the crud out with rem clean and a .375 bore brush. Now will see what I can do to try annd smooth it out. Its not badly pitted but the roughness is noticable. Sort of like a work inprogress you might say. Next gun show will have to stock up on .375 brushes thats for sure. Pretty sure it will clean up.
The rifle itself has no rust, pitting or corrosion anywhere on the exterior surfaces, and the stock has a very short and european schnabble type forend. Aside from a few bumps and dings that should clean up nicely. Bore is 6 lands and grooves with mauser type rifling. Does anyone have suggestions for bast boolits and loads for this rifle. Been pecking through midway, grafs, and other catalogs for dies, and other stuff. But will have to make up an expander plug for the lyman M-die as they don't list one in that bore size. Frank

[Frank46]

The husky saga continues. Thursday was spent in the garage with the husky. Decided to try my auto rubbing compound mixed with hoppes into a stiff paste. Used .375 jas with old style military 2" patches. Very hard to get into bbl. Worked it back and forth about 40 times. Cleaned with butches. Then same process with auto polishing compound. Cleaned with butches. The jb bore brite. Haven't really used this before. In and out for about thirty passes. Cleaned with butches. I don't have a bore scope, just the old MKI eyeball. But it seems like the darkness has lightened up considerably. So will repeat with the various compounds and see what happens. But the wife is coming home from new york so's I have to sorta clean up the place first. Frank

[Buckshot]

........"But the wife is coming home from new york so's I have to sorta clean up the place first."

Yeah you better get the skivvies and dirty socks up off the floor and all those beer cans and empty pizza boxes picked up.

For a boolit I'd think some type of Loverin looking boolit would do the best with a less then perfect barrel and skinny lands. Of course it's gonna havta be a custom one.

..............Buckshot

[Frank46]

Buckshot, well I have to tell you that my two watch dogs ( read college type daughters) read me the riot act friday and were concerned about the pots on the stove. Big deal, took about a half hour to clean up. But got back at them. Seems they said the dishwasher isn't working. They had the dials set wrong. HAH, HAH. On to the husky. I did report a visible difference in the bore in my last post. But will put bbl in padded vise in garage as I have a large vise on the workbench. The crud that came out of that bbl was amazing. red rubbing compound, white polishing compound and JB bore brite. No matter what was used it came out black. Do not see any copper so thats a plus. I'm going to get this thing shooting cast boolits if its the last thing I do.
Since the bolt is bent for scope use and its already drilled and tapped I have an old redfield 3x9 with the tv window rear eyepiece. Problem is that I have to take down all the boards covering the windows. Always something. Supposedly another storm out in the atlantic "Maria" sure hope she don't come this way. Frank

[Yukoner]

Frank,

Just thought I would bring this back up to the top, and see how you made out with this rifle after your bore treatment. :)

Ted