Help with a M38 Swede Oddity

[Buckshot]

http://www.fototime.com/0CBE90888A4B22D/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/BE9E30A0AAA4EA8/standard.jpg

It's a very nice rifle, all matching (cleaning rod unmarked) threaded muzzle, maybe 90% finish?

http://www.fototime.com/D618B2434E0F9D9/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/077F702BC3EDBAE/standard.jpg

The problem is the rear sight! There is NO NOTCH cut into the elevator :groner:

http://www.fototime.com/581D3F709542AB8/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/8037062AA31D959/standard.jpg

Anyone have an idea wassup with this M38 & it's rear sight? There are numbers stamped on the underside of the ladder when you stand it up, and IIRC there's something odd about those too, but I need to go look at them again to refresh my noggin'.

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

[XBT]

Mine is the same. I think the slider is there only to raise the sight and has no other function.

[Gtek]

With the slide pulled all the way to the rear, where does the front line / edge of the slide land? Gtek

[Dutchman]

Not an oddity, Buckshot.

Your rifle has a Husqvarna m/38 barrel and rear sight. Some of the conversions were done using Husqvarna m/38 barrels that had the rear sight base and front sight already soldered to the barrel. It is a minority of m/38 conversions having these HVA barrels but they're not rare. To a serious collector it would be considered a legitimate and worthy variation.

We don't know if these HVA barrels were obtained by the Carl Gustaf factory and installed during the original conversion process. I don't think so. I tend to think these HVA m/38 barrel assemblies were installed later in the lifecycle of that particular rifle. This barrel may have been one that was replaced into the 1980s. By that time it was 1925 when the m/96 were made by Carl Gustaf. They were well into other production. But Husqvarna had production facilities and a manufacturing process for the m/38 barrel assemblies with sights attached.

Your barrel may have the crown/C stamp of the Carl Gustaf factory indicating it was changed out at the Gustaf factory. You can check that when you take it apart. The barrel shanks can be very revealing.

The m/38 rear sight is a tangent base.
The m/96 rear sight is a stepped base. Those m/96 rifles converted to m/38 using the shortened original barrel had the Vasteras rear sight insert installed calibrated for the shorter barrel. These are the sights with the wheel graduated from 250-600m. It's a very good sight.

Beech stock looks like a much later replacement stock and the reddish stain is not unusual. I'd have to see it close up to have much more of an opinion. There are some beech stocks and linseed oil finishes that can be closely compared with Ljungman rifle stocks indicating a likely time period when the stock was made. We consider that anecdotal but it has proven to be pretty darn accurate, in an estimating kinda way.

G.F. - Gustaf Fredrik Valdemar Fredenberg
2 May 1894 - 1 May 1896
28 May 1897 - 31 Dec 1902

Oh yeah... threaded barrels started in 1955 so there's a good indication why it has later characteristics. Some of these characteristics are rather subtle and interesting only to die-hards.

If the bore is new or like-new you have about a $450 rifle.

Dutch

[Dutchman]

Husqvarna tangent m/38 rear sight:

http://images46.fotki.com/v1482/photos/2/28344/2479279/sm16-vi.jpg
http://images45.fotki.com/v1481/photos/2/28344/2479279/sm17-vi.jpg

m/96 rear base with the steps:

http://images46.fotki.com/v1482/photos/2/28344/2479279/es24-vi.jpg
http://images47.fotki.com/v1474/photos/2/28344/2479279/es25-vi.jpg

Vasteras insert for the m/96 rifles converted to m/38. There is also a version of this for the m/96 rifle but it was a civilian-only item. Calibrated from 100-600m and it tends to sell for $$$ due to intense competition. Not a common item.

http://images45.fotki.com/v1480/photos/2/28344/2479279/scan0015-vi.jpg

[Buckshot]

..............Dutch, thanks so much for the information. I'd taken 3 rifles to NCBS that I knew had the accuracy with the assembled loads to be competitive at the 400 yard, sitting/standing match. The first rifle was a Turkish M88/35 in 8x57, but my eyes just weren't up to the task of resolving the sights and that steel plate. Later that afternoon I tried the M38 initially off the bench to get me 'on', but then I had to stand the ladder up to get that little extra elevation, and no notch! [smilie=l:

It was then I recalled there was something odd about the sight on this rifle:oops: So no known reason for there being no rear notch? Just a factory faux pax? I suppose it wouldn't make any difference for shootings sake to provide a replacement WITH a notched elevator?

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

[ELFEGO BACA]

Your Husky sight looks identical to my mdl 96/38 Carl Gustaf 0ne.

Will a 96 sight with notch fit my rifle?

elfego