1894 Swede Carbine

[Uncle Grinch]

I had a little extra time today, so I dropped by one of the local pawn shops and looked through the dozens of used rifles on the rack out on the floor. This makes it easy to browse when they do this. They had the typical Enfields, Turks, used Remingtons and even as $1200 M1 Carbine. What caught my eye though, was a short little rifle and I new immediately what it was... a matching number Model 94 Swedish Mauser carbine. It was well used and somewhat dirty with dried cosmoline everywhere. The bore had defined rifling, but was coated with a thin layer of cosmoline also.

I checked the numbers several times and yes, they all matched. The hang tag showed $499, so I picked up and carried it to the guy I usually deal with. I offered $325 plus tax, but it was a no go. He wanted $350 plus tax, but I wasn't able to match his number so I had to walk away.
I gave him my number and said "call me when you are ready to sell it".

Man, that was hard to do. If I didn't already have two projects already going, I would have jumped on it. $350 is not a bad price for this little gem. I may be regretting it tomorrow.

Oh well.....

[copperlake]

If it was in good condition, $350 would be a very reasonable deal. Good luck with the second guessing!

[Hang Fire]

Don't think i could have walked away, if $ was the problem, would have made a good down and put on layaway.

[Dutchman]

Sometimes we are our own worst enemy in trying to ~talk down~ a gun price :(.

What if the carbine you looked at was worth $650 ? Or $850. And you walked away over the difference between $325 and $350? A tank of gas cost more than $25.

I sold this 1915 carbine TWO YEARS AGO for $850. 1st Kavalry, Stockholm palace guards. Nice clean all matching #.

http://images43.fotki.com/v1384/photos/2/28344/157842/kar1-vi.jpg

One like this that takes a rolling block yataghan blade bayonet would easily bring $1,500+ in the U.S. Less than 100 of them converted. They show up and nobody knows why they are different. Knowledge is POWER $$$$. The bayonet by itself is $350.

http://images58.fotki.com/v132/photos/2/28344/157842/Mvc007f1-vi.jpg

Lots of little factors can make what appears to be an ordinary carbine worth a lot more than you'd think. An interesting unit disc like KI for the 1st Kavalry. A carbine dated 1915-16-17 with elm stock or fiddleback maple can jack the price WAY up over $1,000 so easy it would shock you. For years there was a MINTY 1915 elm stocked carbine at the Indy gunshow priced at $995. Was it overpriced? No. It was priced high EARLY. Now in 2013 it would easily bring $1,500+ due to condition and the scarcity of elm stocked carbines. It was so sweet I was dearly tempted to burden my poor mastercard. It even had a bayonet.

Friend of mine once at the big Indy gunshow was holding up a minty long Mauser bayonet. Price tag was $105. I looked and said 'yeah so what?'. He said no, the rifle and the bayonet were $105. Unbelievable.

The $105 Persian 98/29 Mauser with matching # bayonet. I had the money paid and the 4473 filled out so fast that dumba$$ dealer never knew what hit him. Did I try and talk him down to $100? Not even!!

http://images15.fotki.com/v588/photos/2/28344/1676633/DSCF1428yy-vi.jpg

Swede carbines are a whole world unto themselves. They have official CULT status among military bolt action rifle and carbine collectors. Buyer competition has prices so high I would never even try to compete with the money boys in 2013. But I know the market and KNOWLEDGE is $$$.

Uncle Grinch, you practiced a bit of self-fornication today. You may be able to self-correct the situation. Go back and put the carbine on "hold". Get the date, serial number, photos if possible and check back here maybe you can redeem yourself in the eyes of the world. You may be able to make a couple hundred $$$ pretty easy. Capitalism is still the American way and you don't need a license to do it once in a while.

Dutch

[Uncle Grinch]

Man Dutch, I think I will go back by there this morning. Hope they still have it.

[gnoahhh]

Why are you on the computer and not waiting for the door of that place to open? Even if you only have $20 in your pocket to anchor it for a couple days, do it. The last Swede carbine I bought I paid $500 for it, and the numbers didn't match.

I agree that a sort of cult following has grown up around these things. I think it stems from all those ads back in the 60's touting it. I know I was familiar with them for that reason long before I ever laid eyes on one. It is one of the few military rifles nicely suited to sporting use without modification, and one of the few Mausers I wouldn't think of cannibalizing as the basis for a custom sporter. (Sorry, that's all I see most milsurps as being good for.)

[Fishman]

Anxiously waiting a report . . .

[TheGrimReaper]

Sometimes we are our own worst enemy in trying to ~talk down~ a gun price :(.

What if the carbine you looked at was worth $650 ? Or $850. And you walked away over the difference between $325 and $350? A tank of gas cost more than $25.

I sold this 1915 carbine TWO YEARS AGO for $850. 1st Kavalry, Stockholm palace guards. Nice clean all matching #.

http://images43.fotki.com/v1384/photos/2/28344/157842/kar1-vi.jpg

One like this that takes a rolling block yataghan blade bayonet would easily bring $1,500+ in the U.S. Less than 100 of them converted. They show up and nobody knows why they are different. Knowledge is POWER $$$$. The bayonet by itself is $350.

http://images58.fotki.com/v132/photos/2/28344/157842/Mvc007f1-vi.jpg

Lots of little factors can make what appears to be an ordinary carbine worth a lot more than you'd think. An interesting unit disc like KI for the 1st Kavalry. A carbine dated 1915-16-17 with elm stock or fiddleback maple can jack the price WAY up over $1,000 so easy it would shock you. For years there was a MINTY 1915 elm stocked carbine at the Indy gunshow priced at $995. Was it overpriced? No. It was priced high EARLY. Now in 2013 it would easily bring $1,500+ due to condition and the scarcity of elm stocked carbines. It was so sweet I was dearly tempted to burden my poor mastercard. It even had a bayonet.

Friend of mine once at the big Indy gunshow was holding up a minty long Mauser bayonet. Price tag was $105. I looked and said 'yeah so what?'. He said no, the rifle and the bayonet were $105. Unbelievable.

The $105 Persian 98/29 Mauser with matching # bayonet. I had the money paid and the 4473 filled out so fast that dumba$$ dealer never knew what hit him. Did I try and talk him down to $100? Not even!!

http://images15.fotki.com/v588/photos/2/28344/1676633/DSCF1428yy-vi.jpg

Swede carbines are a whole world unto themselves. They have official CULT status among military bolt action rifle and carbine collectors. Buyer competition has prices so high I would never even try to compete with the money boys in 2013. But I know the market and KNOWLEDGE is $$$.

Uncle Grinch, you practiced a bit of self-fornication today. You may be able to self-correct the situation. Go back and put the carbine on "hold". Get the date, serial number, photos if possible and check back here maybe you can redeem yourself in the eyes of the world. You may be able to make a couple hundred $$$ pretty easy. Capitalism is still the American way and you don't need a license to do it once in a while.

Dutch

Those are some sharp looking Swedes!!!

[Uncle Grinch]

Ok.... after kicking myself in the tail a few times and hoping and praying they still have it. I got my self in gear and took off to the pawn shop. Thsnks for the reprimand Dutch!

S/N is BH 1129xx

Short story, they still had it and now I do!! Soon as it is cleaned up, I'll post better some pics.

[Sam Johnson]

Have a look at this Model 94 / 14 I bought a few weeks ago. Found it on the used rack at Cabela's for only $299. It had been on the floor for three weeks, > Knowing the history pays sometime . http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?190658-Swedish-94-14

[Dutchman]

Ok.... after kicking myself in the tail a few times and hoping and praying they still have it. I got my self in gear and took off to the pawn shop. Thsnks for the reprimand Dutch!

S/N is BH 1129xx

Short story, they still had it and now I do!! Soon as it is cleaned up, I'll post better some pics.


The first Swede carbine I ever owned was in 1966. It was a 1932 date s/n 113150. That is the HIGHEST known serial number of all Swede carbines. The 1932 carbines are $PECIAL!! Regular production ended in 1918.

1918
66350 (out of sync #)
97245
97485
97686
98957
10343x
104880
10557x
105770
106175 SA Finn Army
107684 SA Finn Army
108382
108836
110339
110662
110878
111002

1929:
111406

1932:
112321
112328
112642
1129?? now owned by Uncle Grinch
113019
113150 owned by Dutch in 1966

I'd study on it until you're comfortable taking it apart. To get the front bayo mount off you have to depress the band keeper through that small hole. The bolt looks like it's stained with some very old grease/oil. I'd use Kroil and steel wool (000).

You could easily more than double your money. The 1932 date would be desirable to a collector who doesn't have that late date. I'll say from the two photos so far that you could probably get $750 for this today without cleaning it. It looks like it came out of somebody's closet where it's been for a very long time. Grampa bought it at Monkey Wards for $29 back in 1963. They were happy to get $150 from the gun store.

If you have questions about taking it apart post them in this thread and I'll help out. Be very careful with the handguard. They crack too easily.

Dutch

[Uncle Grinch]

Dutch,

What is the meaning of the BH in front of serial number?

[Dutchman]

The Swedish army inspector's initials. The initials are NOT part of the serial number but they are often included on "official" paperwork so they become part of the s/n by proxy. Dumb gun store employees :).

http://dutchman.rebooty.com/insp.html


B.H. - Sten Harald Bertel Hard af Segerstad
1 Oct 1917 - 31 Sept 1920
7 Apr 1926 - 10 Jan 1934

Pretty sure Segerstad is the community where he was from.

Dutch

[Fishman]

Well now that is too cool. :)

[Uncle Grinch]

I had a little time last night, so I started wiping the 94 Swede down and ran a patch and brush through the barrel. It was really clogged up with cosmoline. Most every part has either a s/n or last three of the s/n stamped (all matching) except for the trigger guard, so I decided to pull it to look further. Had to soak the screws for several hours to get them to loosen up. Being extremely careful not to mangle the screw heads and using the proper screwdriver, I finally got them loose with no damage. They were coated with cosmoline also. I had to use a rubber hammer and a dowel to gently knock the trigger guard out. It was also lined with cosmoline inside. All this was worth it as I found the last three digit s/n the same as the rest of the carbine. I wiped the excess off and put it back together.

Plan on taking the action out of the stock as soon as time permits and will strip the bolt down also. This carbine really was like Dutch described. Somebody bought it years ago and never shot it and stored it in a closet or under a bed as it was covered with dust and dried grease.

[NYBushBro]

I'm envious... great find.

[TCFAN]

May 21 1959 my dad bought a Sweed carbine from Kleins's sporting good in Chicago for 34.95 plus 2.95 for some ammo and 1.00 dollar to ship. Serial number is 57172 and it matches on all parts.

For such a low price it was easy to take it in and have the bolt handle cut for scope clearance and drilled and tapped.Course we threw the stock and sights and all unnecessary stuff away. It has been a very good shooter. I do wish it was back like when he first got it...............Terry