Passed up an interesting rifle yesterday.

Muir

Well-Known Member
While on other business at the trading post, I was offered a heck of a deal on a Remington 700 Varmint in 17 Fireball. It had only 100 rounds through it and came with Leupold bases and rings. Only $400 but I've owned/shot 17 Mach IV in the past and found it interesting, but nothing I couldn't live without. Besides, it was a Remington....... ;)

What I did pick up was yet another Husqvarna Model 640 in 8x57. That makes three so far this year...but I did give one to my son. Nice rifles, cheap, are hard to pass up! :D~Muir
 
What I did pick up was yet another Husqvarna Model 640 in 8x57. That makes three so far this year...but I did give one to my son. Nice rifles, cheap, are hard to pass up! :D~Muir
that's sick. Got any pics? It must be the SM one, but does it have a thumb cut or not? I'm guessing it doesn't, but I know some 640s did have the mil. action...

The existence of Husky rifles is bad for my health. I'm plotting and scheming on how i can get hold of one. Got any 1640 actioned ones?
 
:rofl: :smug: :stir: not as such............................ mine is a nice 1935 vintage Model 46........... and it's unsual it seems as there are no minute cracks near the tang inletting of the stock. Ole Mr Larsson must have taken good care of it. it has his name scratched into the butt plate. Ingmar Larsson.:cool:.
 
No thumb cut on any of them. I'll get a pic up after work. No 1640's but I do have a 146 in 9.3x57~Muir

that's sick. Got any pics? It must be the SM one, but does it have a thumb cut or not? I'm guessing it doesn't, but I know some 640s did have the mil. action...

The existence of Husky rifles is bad for my health. I'm plotting and scheming on how i can get hold of one. Got any 1640 actioned ones?
 
:rofl: :smug: :stir: not as such............................ mine is a nice 1935 vintage Model 46........... and it's unsual it seems as there are no minute cracks near the tang inletting of the stock. Ole Mr Larsson must have taken good care of it. it has his name scratched into the butt plate. Ingmar Larsson.:cool:.
I bet it's a beauty. I've got a real thing for swedes now... So am I right in thinking the 46 is made on a '96 military action? I hear they often inletted to tight around the tang, I guess this results in cracks?

So more Husky pics!!

I should would like to know more about the '96 commercial actions too. Is the breach like an FN, or military 98?
 
September Swede 8mm1.jpg

This is the latest 640 8x57. It has the solid receiver with no thumb cut. The cocking piece is devoid of the upright thumb piece but otherwise is a standard 1896. I finished repairing the chip from the stock tonight and am cleaning the copper fouling from the bore with Hoppes #9. The bore is crisp and beautiful. Can't wait to shoot it. The blotches on the barrel are cosmoline, not rust. Bad photo. I know that for you folk these rifles are plain and ugly, but for us here they are a bit of an exotic.~Muir

Addendum: Found out that this rifle, according the serial number ranges of production, was one of the last few hundred 640's built.
 
Last edited:
Very nice. The stock's a bit BSA Super Sport like (have I got that model right BH). Bet it shoots nicely. Will he scope it? You seem to rate the 8x57, do you find it a good hunting cartridge? What pill weights do you use?
 
No. I won't scope these rifles as I have plenty of scoped rifles already to shoot. These will be left with the factory sights. These sights are only windage (drift) adjustable with no elevation adjustment so they were "regulated" for a specific round, I'm thinking. Since these guns were all made 1943-1945, and have high front sight, I guessed that they were probably regulated for the 196 grain hunting load of the time, VS the 154 grain military load, but I'm not certain about that. I have shot the first of these with a 206 grain bullet over 51.5 grains of IMR 4350 @ 2300 fps and it printed fine groups about 3" high at 100 yards. These were cast bullets. I have found a .325" x 175 grain flat point mold in my collection that will fit these rifles so I will be trying the lighter bullets, eventually.

The 8x57 is a great hunting round. Brithunter will be quick to tell you that it is every bit as good, or better, than the 30-06. I am a fan of the .32 calibers, from 32 Winchester on up, and plan on having my dark-bored Model 1895 Winchester lever action 30-06 re-rifled to 8mm-06... a cartridge Kev will certainly approve of!~Muir
 
Brithunter will be quick to tell you that it is every bit as good, or better, than the 30-06
That's interesting, could you expand? In what way? I've heard it handles the heavier (200+) pills better, but not that it is better in general. I like Mauser cart's, so am certainly not disagreeing, purely interested in the reasoning as it's the first time I've heard it said.

Also, thought levers (winnie '95 included) liked a rim? But it would be a nice setup I can imagine - you can load the '95 action quite hot can't you? What is the accepted pressure limit for it?
 
That's interesting, could you expand? In what way? I've heard it handles the heavier (200+) pills better, but not that it is better in general. I like Mauser cart's, so am certainly not disagreeing, purely interested in the reasoning as it's the first time I've heard it said.

Also, thought levers (winnie '95 included) liked a rim? But it would be a nice setup I can imagine - you can load the '95 action quite hot can't you? What is the accepted pressure limit for it?

It's simples the 8mm Mauser seems to be more efficient than the 06. it uses a slightly larger bullet so for any given weight has more impact area. European ammo like the S&B 196 SPCE has a velocity of 2600fps if memory serves me correct. With modern smokeless powders the difference is not so great but the 30-06 was fairly lacking originally. 150 grain bullet at 2700 fps was lagging behind the 154 grain bullet at around 2900 of the 8mm Mauser. Of course the Germans and French were ahead in smokeless powder development the rest of the world was playing catch up.


Now the 8mm-06 with today's modern powders should be better still :D.

Oh the Winchester 95 I believe was factory chambered for the 30-06 during it's production run. if i am mistaken Muir can correct me I am sure. My knowledge of the lever guns is a bit sketchy :oops:.
 
THe Winchester Model 95 was chambered in 30-06 into the 1920's. IT was not a very good action for the round, but it was marginal and all Winchester had to handle the 30-06 pressures. My 30-06 has a bad barrel so I'll have it rebored and rerifled to .323" and chambered to 8mm-06.~Muir
 
Very nice. The stock's a bit BSA Super Sport like (have I got that model right BH). Bet it shoots nicely. Will he scope it? You seem to rate the 8x57, do you find it a good hunting cartridge? What pill weights do you use?


Hmmm I would say more like the Sportsman series with that fore stock. Take a look and see which you think:-

48107502.jpg

Supersport Five at top with Sportsman Five below it.
 
It's simples the 8mm Mauser seems to be more efficient than the 06. it uses a slightly larger bullet so for any given weight has more impact area. European ammo like the S&B 196 SPCE has a velocity of 2600fps if memory serves me correct. With modern smokeless powders the difference is not so great but the 30-06 was fairly lacking originally. 150 grain bullet at 2700 fps was lagging behind the 154 grain bullet at around 2900 of the 8mm Mauser. Of course the Germans and French were ahead in smokeless powder development the rest of the world was playing catch up.
Well having a quick study of load data is surprising. They are VERY similar with equal weights, when the mauser is loaded to much lower pressure, so at equal pressure, it should wipe the floor with the 30-06. I'm embarrassed now - I should have looked at this before! It's one hell of a cartridge. But surely the 8mm-06 will lose the advantage of a more efficient case design?

What's the significance of impact area then?

Oh yeah, and although pretty similar, I guess the sportsman has the slight edge...
 
Larger area to transmit initial shock to the quarry followed by a larger wound channel. The downside it a slightly lower SD for the same weight bullets as .30 cal.
 
We had this discussion before but in my opinion, there really isn't a dusty spit's worth of difference between them. As Brit points out, the 30 caliber will have a greater S.D. than a comparable weight bullet in the 8mm but who cares? Either would be lethal. One aspect of the 8mm is that some European loaders load to smewhat higher pressure levels than the 50K pressures that the 30-06 is held to. Int he US however, they are deliberately and woefully underloaded, with undersized bullets, to keep the ammo makers out of court when some fool with a 1888 Commission Mauser with a .318" groove diameter shoots a standard 8x57 round in his rifle. These are again, two old rounds that are held to somewhat subdued pressures in deference to the weaker arms that they were once chambered for.

As to the 8mm-06. Well, the advent of this wildcat had nothing to do with efficiency, and more to do with practicality. When loads of surplus 8x57's were being imported into the US, shooters wanted a more readily available case, or one more "powerful" (remember the downloading of the 8x57 here...) for big game hunting. The 8mm-06 filled that requirement nicely and was an easy conversion: it was a simple reaming job for the gunsmith. (I have made many of them in the past) The only problem with such a conversion was that the magazine usually ended up a bit short and if the conversion was done correctly, the magazine would need to be lengthened. In the case of my Winchester Model 1895, it is again, an expedient. The bore is dark and rough from mercuric priming. I would rather it remain a 30-06 if it had a bright, servicable bore, but it doesn't. An 8mm-06 is the logical choice. A "35-06" would be a hazard as that constitutes a 35 Whelen... a round that would definitely be dangerous in such a weak action.~Muir
 
Last edited:
Back
Top