M96 Swede Mauser bolt testing.

[ukrifleman]

Following some discussions on a US Swedish Mauser forum, about reports of the sudden catastrophic failure of the locking lugs on some early M96 swedes, I would like to get mine checked out.

The reasons cited for the failures were due to poor heat treatment of some of the bolt bodies during manufacture.

At least one documented report states that a Swedish cadet was fatally injured when the locking lugs sheared on the M96 he was shooting and the bolt hit him in the face.

The fact that he was using Swedish military ammunition precludes the use of dangerous loads.

Does anyone know where I can get my bolt (x rayed?) to check for cracks and weakness? preferably in East Anglia.

I may be worrying about nothing, but better safe than sorry.

ukrifleman.

[Meaty]

You could give these folks a try,
http://www.oilfieldtesting.co.uk/non-de ... esting.php
They are in Great Yarmouth and do a lot of stuff for the oil industry.
Or tap these up.
http://www.isandt.co.uk/

[zanes]

See if your local "proper" university has a mechanical engineering department with this sort of capability- drop one of the lecturers an email and you might be surprised, they often like something a bit out of the ordinary.

As Meaty says, you'll have plenty of oil industry support near you, but you might need deep pockets.

[saddler]

I'd be interested in more info on this, as I can then pass it to my contacts in Sweden for verification.

I have a feeling from past conversations, that most Swedish military ammo in 6.5 is of 1960's vintage, or earlier.
There's also a chance that the M96 in question MAY have been used with hotter reloads in the past, designed for stronger actions, which may have weakened the bolt: this is a KNOWN issue with the M96 design.

NEVER heard of ANY issues with M96's not being heat treated correctly during production.
The Swede's were never in a rush, as they were not at war with anyone!
Japan = YES
Germany - YES
....both had issues with poorly heat treated bolts in later war production rifles...

[ukrifleman]

Thanks guys for the suggested places to check out, I will certainly be contacting them.

If you want further information about the M96 failures, log onto Gunboards.com go to the Swedish Military Rifles forum and scroll down to the relevant post on the subject.

There are a few links posted, including Swedish newspaper reports of the cadet who was injured, plus an English translation.

Although it is not conclusively proven that the rifle was at fault, the fact that the M96 is recognised as a a weaker action than the subsequent Model 98, is enough for me to get mine checked out.

[ukrifleman]

An update on my quest to find somewhere to x ray the bolt for cracks on my M96 Swede.

I spoke to Chris Goodwin of C&G and he will get it done for me.

Good old Chris, came up trumps as usual!

ukrifleman.