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View Full Version : Swedish Mauser incident in Sweden 2001



Dutchman
03-20-2011, 05:29 AM
I was in error when commenting on this story before. My memory was that he was killed. He wasn't. He lost his right eye.

At any rate, this below is the google translation from a Swedish newspaper in 2001. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article16772.ab

My source in Sweden commented: "The 16 years old youth belonged to FBU (sort of like your ROTC) .

"The Swedish defence then issued a no-shoot order on all Mausers in the
inventory. The only major users of the Mausers at this time were the youth
detachments of HG and FBU and the 1st Inf. and 1st Cav. regiments (parades
and duty at the Royal Palaces)."

(I edited out unrelated information so's not to confuse anyone)

Because I have a lot of contact with collectors and shooters of Swedish Mausers world-wide there is a lot of information that comes my way. I'm not going to sit on this kind of information or downplay the hazards of shooting 100 year old rifles. The reason we'll be hearing about more Swedes like this is because there are now more of them in circulation being shot than say 1893 or 1895 Mausers and more of those Swedish Mausers are using handloads. That may or may not be a factor. In many load manuals there are 2 tiers of data for 6.5x55. The 1896 Swede is not considered modern so the lower level of load data is appropriate.

Uvex 3000 are the safety glasses I wear in the machine shop and as shooting glasses. I like the full coverage across the bridge of the nose especially for cast bullet shooting where case obturation is often incomplete and you get a little back puff of gas and sometimes powder/lube/soot debris.
http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1120&bih=524&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=uvex+3000&btnG=Search
I bought 4 pair last month. It's not like they cost a lot. Clear, amber & polarized lens.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dtools&field-keywords=uvex+3000&x=0&y=0

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16-year-old seriously injured in shooting practice
86 years old rifles used in the officers' training

The 16-year-old boy was severely injured during a shooting practice north of Örebro on Friday.

In the 86 years old Mauser rifle fired the bolt came loose and flew into his eye in.

The boy has undergone surgery but it is currently unclear whether his view can be saved.

At a shooting practice with the voluntary officer training involved 16-year-old resident of Kristinehamn on Friday afternoon, writes Nerikes.se.

The exercise took place at a shooting range north of Örebro, where a dozen boys were firing a few shots each on a target. The exercise was supervised by an instructor.


The bolt came loose

When it was 16-year-old's turn to shoot a cartridge exploded and the breech of the gun came loose and flew into the boy's eye and cheek.

16-year-old was taken to Örebro Regional Hospital where he underwent surgery by an ophthalmologist and plastic surgeon. It is still unclear what a sight the boy will recover, according to a press release from the hospital.

More operations

- I talked to the hospital around noon and it looks hopeful. But he has to go through more surgery before one can say for sure how it will go, "said Ulf Södersten, Colonel lötnant and Head of the Life Regiment grenadier group and ultimately responsible for the shooting exercise.

Mauser from 1915

The weapon used in the exercise was a so-called Mauser rifle that was manufactured in 1915, one year after the First World War and which is still used in FBU-training. The volunteer officer training is basically in every county.

"These young people have to use weapons that you can only shoot single shots with so they are forced to make a blanket motion every time. It is unlawful for them to deal with automatic weapons, "said Ulf Södersten, Lieutenant Colonel and head of the Life Regiment grenadier group.

Push Ban on guns

He has worked in the military since 1969 but is not aware of any other incident with the gun. All weapons should be checked once every year. Of accidental weapon variety is about 30 at the Household Regiment in Örebro.

- Before we know what caused the accident, it's shooting ban on these weapons. I have also reported what happened to the National Defence Headquarters, "said Ulf Södersten.

A forensic examination of the weapon and the place will be ready tomorrow think Örebro police.

But there are no less ancient weapons you can use within the FBU-training?

- Well, there are ordinary hunting rifles and other things but now it is so we used the Ossa of these in the military. We'll see what the investigation shows, "says Ulf Södersten.

He feels strongly about the injured boy.

- It is always tragic when anyone is injured. Then, of course, if a trust issue for the stock - can you trust it?

We hope that it will be a good reference for the boy's part, "adds Ulf Södersten.
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MtGun44
03-21-2011, 10:44 PM
Clearly the possiblity of failure on old rifles is always there. I wonder if this rifle
has the signs of a fatigue crack that one of the other sets of pictures showed?

The other two recently posted 6.5 Swede blowups do not seem to show any signs of
fatigue cracking, but possible extreme overpressure.

Larry Gibson's post of the bore obstuction effect with long leade, low case neck tension and
very slow powders is VERY interesting, and may possibly explain this issue, although I still
think that some portion will probably be fatigue cracking. Inspection of the fractured surfaces
under magnification will definitely tell if the failure was fatigue cracking.

Bill

3006guns
03-22-2011, 09:25 AM
I have a quanitity of Danish manufactured 6.5x55 (has the little triangle on the base) and several years ago discovered that it is unsafe to shoot, not because of any loading problems but because the bullet jacket material is soft steel. It seems that over a period of time a signifigant amount of this steel builds up in the grooves and jacks up pressures. From what I understand it's very difficult or almost impossible to clean out and can go un-noticed. I wonder if this might have been the cause?

skeet1
03-22-2011, 10:00 AM
3006guns
I have never heard of this before. I know that norma uses or used steel in some of their bullets and the U.S. Military used steel in in m2 ball ammo and in 7.62X51 and I don' think they ever had any problem.

Ken

3006guns
03-22-2011, 10:58 AM
Ken: You are correct. The only problem is with the Danish surplus stuff. I don't think there's much left out there anymore but if you get some 6.5x55 with a small triangle stamped on the case head, DON'T shoot it. The jacket material may have been cupro nickle, not steel, just don't remember but the warnings were pretty dire a few years ago. I'm going to pull the bullets on the 100 rounds I have and substitute a commercial gilding jacket bullet of the same weight. At least I can shoot it once (berdan primed)!

Link with some info:

http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforums.yuku.com/topic/9033/6-5x55-Unsafe-Ammo-Info-Danish-Not-Swede-Milsurp