Gevär M/96 [Swedish Mauser M96] 1,000yds: Practical Accuracy + the Swedish shooting tradition

This video is brought to you by Slate Black Industries. For grips and accessories, visit slateblackindustries.com That's a good start. The elegant and beautiful Swedish M96 Mauser. A rifle that pioneered the use of 6.5 caliber projectiles. A projectile, I might add, that is still used nowadays within a lot of long range shooting circles. But did you know that hailing from a neutral country, Sweden, yes, it built a lot of friendships, a lot of camaraderie within the Swedish communities through competition and hunting. But it also built a lot of enemies, waged war against the Russians through the hands of the Finns, through the hands of the Swedish Volunteer Corps. And at the end of all this, this rifle also won Olympic gold medals. Some may say that it is one of the most interesting rifles in the world. Or perhaps the most interesting rifle in the world. But too much about that. Let's get some shooting action going. But don't miss our segment with Karl, the Swedish marksman's instructor, where he talks about the rich Swedish shooting tradition and culture that goes behind the making of this particular rifle. We'll see you at the debrief. Target number one. Fire when ready. Impact. Target number two. Impact. Location. Target number three. Impact. Target number four at the gongs. Okay. Impact. Jeez. I'll let it settle a little bit. I mean, what caliber is this again? A 6.5 by 55. You can see it. It's coming in so flat. I mean, granted, we're only at 300, but it's coming in so flat. Yeah. So basically on all of those, I'm pretty level on my holds. It's not like the 30 cal for 8 mils. Yeah. Okay. I'm on target number four. Okay. On the right edge of the target and the bottom edge of the target. So bottom right edge. Dead. Center punch. Neutralized. Okay. I'm on the next target out. I'm going to start bumping this to the 400 meter and do a base hold. Impact. Just left of center. Nice shot. Just right. All right. The wind is dancing on me a little bit here. Okay. Right by about a quarter target at his neck line. Impact. Okay. Good elevation on that last shot. It was just left of center. Okay. I pushed it back left and low, but we knew that was going to be like a lower than six hold though. Okay. I'm on at four fifths. Impact. Dead on. Nice. Man, you zipped that right in there. Final target. Impact. Dude, that thing was an ace. You want to know the Ryan count? How many? 19. Sick run. Does that challenge the Finnish Mosin? It's close. I don't know if we're able to push this to a thousand. Maybe. We'll see if time permits. One thousand. Can we make it? I think you're going to get it. Off to the left by about a target and a half. Maybe two full targets left. One was off to the right. About a target and a half right and a little low. Just underneath. Very close. Just underneath on the left edge. Yep. Bing. That one was good. That was just on the bottom edge. Good windage. I believe that one was up left. Just left like a tenth of a mil. Is that helpful? Thank you, Josh. Let me dial it in a tenth of a mil. Be honest. Impact. I actually saw it flex from here. No, did you? Yeah. No, no. Because it went from white and then it faded. Henry's eagle eyes. Six. Remember this thing was built in 1900. The year 1900, 1900. And so that's quite good. So there's a difference between a rifle that could reach that distance just with ballistics. But then also a rifle that I could listen to what Josh is telling me and do fire corrections. And that's what I was doing with the rifle. And I think that speaks volumes to the accuracy. So anyways, I'll see you guys at the debrief. Stay warm. Oh, hello there. I was just deeply consumed with the excellence in Swedish optimization of foreign weapon systems. Now, all of these weapons were actually purchased through Nine Hole Reviews. And with the support of Slate Black Industries and our small community of patrons of Patreon, we've been able to bring to you these interesting takes on different weapon systems. And it's a small group of distinguished ladies and gentlemen. Mostly. That become the driving force of Nine Hole Reviews. Emotionally, financially, intellectually. We owe it all to you. And for those out there who are considering becoming patrons, I'd like to invite you to become one of us. But we're also very happy to just hear from you in the comment section as well. We'll see you around. Behold, the new record holder. As we would have expected, a freaking 6.5. Yeah, 6.5 bolt action does pretty well. It does pretty well. Wow! Yeah, it does pretty well. Despite the fact that this is a rifle that's over 100 years old. This rifle was made in 1900 on the dot. That's crazy. And it is, as of now, 121 years old. Just punching thousand yard targets. With iron sights, no issue. So, I mean, there's a lot of ground to cover on this. And we're going to bring Carl back into this conversation. So, yes, it was absolutely amazing run with a Finnish M39. Quite frankly, I thought they did the same until I reviewed the footage. And the king has been usurped. Oh, no. 21 rounds clearing the course. 19 rounds to clear the course. Both rifles hit 1,000. Well, this one hit 1,100. Max out was 1,000 for us today. But that's actually an interesting point for us to talk about. When we're talking about the cartridge. Because the damn thing's been around for so long. The Swedes actually switched the cartridge design in 1941. And they used a point tip spitzer out instead. And so the rear sight leaf didn't match up to the distance we were shooting. But it was shooting so flat anyways. I only needed to make one adjustment to it. And so why is that again? Because with the adjustment to the ammunition, the newer projectiles fly much, much flatter than the old. And the velocities drastically changed as well. And so the course itself was amazing. So only three misses on course. 19 rounds to clear. I think the interesting thing is when we took it out to 1,000. And of course, I was flipping it up. Weren't you on 700 when we did that? And then I switched it to 700. Then at 700 meters, I was actually hitting it. So the newer M41 cartridge actually increased the velocity enough. And made it shoot that much flatter. That is so significant, isn't it? Yeah. So if you were to go back and look at the Finnish rifle when we were shooting it, it was like all the way up. Full-on mortar mode. Yeah. Both of these were used in the Finnish winter wars as we talked about. There were some Swedish Mausers in the rear echelon troops for the Finns. And also the Swedish volunteers to help aid the Finnish forces. Also widely used the M96 Mauser. Much lower on recoil. Much flatter shooting. And so you're talking about a .30 cal versus a 6.5. Basically the same conversation that we have in PRS circles now. .308 versus 6.5 Creedmoor, right? Right. So this same conversation has been had during the winter war. And before the winter war, in fact. Because the Mosin-Nagant has been around for a long time. So why not just make everything 6.5? In fact, the Swedes did even use 6.5 machine guns. And they had to tailor some of their maintenance schedules to that. So I think the big thing is between 0 to 5, did we see a drastic difference in performance between the two rounds? No. I don't think we did. I think the difference that you might perceive in like, oh this was like a shot or two less, has everything to do expressly with the environmentals on a day. The shooter pulling the trigger. Any number of statistical anomalies that can take place in the very non-scientific, very practical oriented thing that we're doing with these runs. So if you're taking into context the combat distance that you would experience back then. I hope I pronounced that correctly. Good job, Henry. You almost got it right. Here's a little tip. It's Simo Häyhä. He took a lot of his shots within the 200 meter, 300 meter zone with iron sights. And that's not because that's the farthest he could get it. If you're talking about you want a guaranteed hit, because as a sniper you're talking about one shot. Maybe two if you have a death wish. And you want a bug out at that point. Right, before being identified of where you're at or far away. A counter sniper is just like another sniper trying to stalk you is just one thing. The real fear is artillery at that point. Artillery and mortars. If you want that one shot and bug out, you're talking about the zero to five. So is there that in a military context? Obviously not in civilian sporting context. Is there that big of a difference between the two? I mean that's up to you to decide, right? But I mean you see the scores between the two are very comparable. And I mean quite frankly, if you're talking about the drawbacks on the maintenance, I think one of the biggest thing that we could look at right here, Josh. You see this stock disc? Here, ready? So you can see that stock disc up here. This right here is the rust condition of the bore. So I went from a one to a two. So there's somewhere on the bore. And then right here, it's the diameter parameters. So if it's between 6.51 to 6.46 millimeters, it's within the scope of acceptability. If it's over that, then it's shot out and it's a toast. But the sheer fact that they're keeping track of bore condition, what's going on with the barrel is pretty astonishing. Not just that they have the wherewithal to be doing it, but that they're actually stamping it right into the rifle. That's the military way of making sure that you keep track of that stuff instead of keeping papers, right? There's no free lunch, as we've said on many of rifles. You want a wonder cartridge? Pay with it with maintenance, sweat, and blood. Right? So I don't know. I think as a civilian rifle, it's absolutely phenomenal. Like back in the day, the Swedes actually... The ones that went to... This was a Waffenfabrik Mauser. So this was actually made in Germany. The Swedes dictated using their steel. They shipped their steel stock. That's pretty crazy. Because the Germans could not be trusted. Not, not, not... This is a joke. Because they wanted to make sure that the rifles were really made from top-notch, top-grade steel. Shall we just cut to talking to Carl and hearing what Carl, our Swedish firearms instructor, has to say? Absolutely. You have an interesting background that relates back to Finland that I'd actually like to hear about. Okay. Yeah, my relatives are from Finland. Or are my relatives. So that's why I'm in the army. And yeah, they fought the Russians in the Karelia. And in both the Winter War and the... What do you call it? The... What do you call it? The war... Yeah, I can't. What is it in Swedish? The Continuation War is what most people would understand, I would say. Of course. No, but yeah. So the Swedish Volunteer Force took their service rifle with them. Went over and fought the Russians. Like you were saying, they liked the Swiss. They had their village competitions. So they were all expert crack shots with their 6.5x55 and 96s. Here where I live, we have an old range from the, I would say, the 40s or so. And in the 50s and 60s, all the men in the village I live were shooting there. There are plaques everywhere in the community hall with old dudes shooting that rifle. This particular one is 121 years old. I took a look at your plaque and it's a really good specimen. Yeah, when they send the rifle in, the armorers get a look at them and check their barrels and all sorts of stuff. And then they put the new plaque on with a new tolerance in the rifle. Like if it's 6.48 or 6.51 and it gets a grade from there. The Swedish 6x55 is a military cartridge from the start, from the get-go. And through the years and the shooting cultures during World War II, etc., every village had a rifle association or whatever you call it. They got ammunition from the army to train. And so it's the Swedish do-all ammo, 6x55. You shoot animals. You shoot PRS matches. You do it all with it. Now I've got to interject here. The M96, I told you earlier, has won Olympic gold medals. And indeed it has, by one Oscar Swann in 1908. This rifle won the gold medal for the Swedish deer shooting team in 1908 and multiple later medals in 1912. Deer shooting, you might say, is not an Olympic sport. Well, not anymore. So the idea was to shoot at a running deer target with rifles like this. I don't know how you score that. But that was also the era when they were shooting each other in the Olympic pistol dueling categories with wax bullets. Now imagine if you were a three-gun competitor showing up to a national three-gun event. Like Josh. And you shot a stage. Man, you're feeling pretty good about it. You're thinking you're going to win the gold medal home. And then some Santa Claus-looking Swedish man shows up with a service rifle, an AK-4D or something like that, and absolutely blows you out of the water and claims the gold medal for himself. And that man lives on to be the oldest gold medalist Olympian ever recorded in the Olympic history. And he shot it with an M96 back then. For years and years, it was only field shooting, like 300 meters accuracy shooting. But we moved away from that. It's starting to be more of three-gun and IPSEC and PRS here too. Can you still get 6.5x55 from the military to do things now? Yeah, of course. We have competition guns in the army, like the Sauer STR 200, Swedish Scandinavian target rifle 200. It's chambered in 6.5x55, so you can get it from a supply if you have it. So it's like a tradition that draws from the military into hunting, into competition. And in recent years with PRS in Sweden, it's popularized again. You guys call 6.5x55... Cost more. Here in Sweden, it's super expensive. You have to hand load it if you're gonna shoot a match with it. But the 6.5x55 is the way to go if you don't hand load, because the ammunition from the factory is super. What's a downside of shooting 6.5x55 in competitions, let's say PRS or anything like that in Sweden? Yeah, it's harder to procure magazines and stuff. It's mainly hunting cartridge these days. And PRS almost always use 10 round mags. And we have 7 in the STR. But if you live in Sweden, then ammunition is almost unlimited, it sounds like. Especially if you're in the army. And to be a good shooter, you have to shoot a lot. Because if you have the world's best gear, it's like comparing me to a pro football player. Yeah, I can play football, but it doesn't matter which shoes I use. I have to train. Right, training matters, you're right. I don't have the AWM, but I've got my Accuracy International AE. So we could do like a little Swedish sniper team. That rifle was my first service marksman rifle. Oh, really? So I trained a lot with that one. I prefer shooting and training with my service rifle. Because I ultimately want to be proficient with my service rifle and pistol. I train a lot with my service rifle. But it's sometimes hard to get the civilian associations to understand it. Like they don't want to approve of it. But in recent years, like I said, my brother shoots PRS with his Accuracy International service rifle. And in the PRS matches, they have a class for military. So if you get sponsored by the military and shoot 6.5 or if you have 308, you can enter that class. Have you experienced the action yet? The action is slicker than many of the wartime 98ks. The Swedes, as a neutral country, were able to manufacture these under peacetime conditions. So they were not worried about having their factories bombed apart. Because the early batches, of course, were Mauser made. The later batches were made in Karl Gustav, the state factory. Basically craft some of the most beautiful surplus rifles that are out there. Shooting one of the most lethal civilian-centric cartridges that basically turned all of these things into laser beams. Cock-on-close, too. Ultra smooth. I love cock-on-close. Yeah, cock-on-close is just so easy for me as a shooter. All of these things. And then the 6.5, unlike the 8 Mauser, the recoil is vastly different. Much more enjoyable to shoot. I think that's probably a really good way to summarize this within the context of all of the different ones we've shot. This feels like an amazing rifle to own as a civilian shooter, right? I would say, too, the sights. You know my big gripe on the Mauser sights. Yeah, the barleycorns is not your favorite. It's not the favorite for many people. You wonder why people don't win CMP matches with barleycorn sights. It's because they suck. I mean, I'll say that on record. They're horrible for shooting targets. Cartridge makes sense. Cock-on-close, debatable for some people, you know, because the 98s were cock-on-open. All things added together, and on top of this, beautiful French walnut. The Germans knew what the Swedes were making. It's not like they didn't know. It was in their factory, right? In their factory, the same factory that made the 98ks. I don't know. That blows my mind on why. I mean, that says a lot about the Nordic countries and their shooting tradition, and why it could be a fatal mistake to invade the Nordic countries. But to the end of it, you know, even the Norwegians, when they captured a lot of the 98ks post-war, first thing they did, convert the sights to a square front post. Because it was just, this makes no sense. Let's get rid of it. And also change out the cartridge for .30-06. So this is one of those things that I personally knew was going to perform extremely well. I knew that it had a chance in breaking the record on the course. And so even though I had some friends who were offering to send it over, I said, thank you, I would like to purchase one to own and enjoy as a civilian sporting rifle once it is done. And I didn't want to borrow someone's rifle and ask if I could buy it. These are very nice rifles, and I highly recommend a lot of people who are interested in shooting iron sights to also enjoy the Swedish M96 rifle. It is a very long rifle though. But you know what? That means that there is more powder burnt and less flash signature. And when you're shooting at fear, crossing the Finnish Laplands. Oh, hello there. I didn't realize you were still in my home. Now, since you're still here, I've got to thank my friend Mike B from Mike's Militaria for sending me this top. Carl and I actually are switching uniforms, trading uniforms like football teams do. And his uniform's just not on hand yet. So Mike sent me a Swedish M90 splinter camo uniform top. Very nice. I'm most definitely going to be using it in further on videos. But there's a few more people that I'd like to thank. It's a cool looking top. I'm gonna wear the shit out of this top. 716, this is 096, 4-6, 8-packs, red con 1, green to green, top copy, over. 096, this is 716, roger, over. 096, 096, 1, 1-pack, green, green.