Hot Gunbroker m/96 auction - $580 maple stock

2126 Views 28 Replies 14 Participants Last post by swede, Mar 29, 2010

Dutchman

Discussion Starter · Mar 20, 2010 (Edited)

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=160923473

I was made aware of this just 6 minutes before the end. I'll let you guys yak about it for the time being.

Let's hear what you all think.

Dutch

1 - 20 of 29 Posts

swede

· #2 · Mar 20, 2010

Pretty RARE " maple " stocked M-96 . Not many have surfaced so far . Maybe some collectors don't know they have one in their collection . No way of knowing how many were made with maple stocks . He said the rear sight was not matching , sort of looks like it is parkerized ? Two crowns on the wrist would indicate it has it's original barrel . It has not been in the storage all it's life , if the bore disc is correctly marked 6.50 & #1 . If has been used at some point in time .

Dutchman

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 20, 2010 (Edited)

The survey of m/96 rifles was started in 1999. It is 10 years of effort to collect 1% of total Carl Gustaf production.
And you can see why it's such a valuable research tool.....

1915

361067 beech
361311 walnut
361559
362507 walnut
362569
36325x
365911 elm (m/96 owned by Dutch since 1999) http://dutchman.rebooty.com/elm.html
365967 elm (m/38 owned by Dutch since 1969)
366292 auction rifle - maple <----------------------------------------subject of this thread
366487 <---------------------maple m/96 by JimmyC - see below photos
366544 elm
367139 elm
3674XX (Opee's maple stock previously owned by Dana J. & Dutch)
367636 elm
367954 maple - empty stock owned by NW Swede
368101 maple
368657 fiddleback maple <----- finest example we have seen http://dutchman.rebooty.com/maple.html
368978 mahogany http://dutchman.rebooty.com/mahogany.html
369224
369471 maple - empty stock owned by NW Swede
369938
370032 maple
3706xx elm
371828 elm (stock only- formerly owned by Dutch)
372510

1916:
373xxx mahogany http://dutchman.rebooty.com/mahogany.html
374871
375130 walnut
375334
375502
377713
377798 beech
379197 elm
380580 elm
382065 elm
382812 elm
383315
384191 elm
384418 walnut
384471 elm
384561 elm (Dutch has handguard only)
385518 elm
387930 walnut
389669
3900xx
390255 beech
390617 elm (stock only - owned by Dutch then Dana J.)
393960 elm
394023 elm
394308 elm (confirmed by USDA)
394341 beech
395095 elm
396322 elm
397195 beech
399578 elm
400xxx elm
400496 elm
400593 elm

1917:
401423 elm, stock & handguard only
401933
402262 elm
404408 walnut
405036 beech
407452 elm (Dutch has stock only)
408386 beech
408874 beech
411xxx walnut
411086
411731 walnut
412973
415015 elm

See less See more

swede

· #4 · Mar 20, 2010

Well , we can clearly see that the Swedes considered a stock , no matter what type of wood , as just a stock . No attempt to keep wood types separated . Just another part of an assembled rifle .

NW Swede

· #5 · Mar 20, 2010

That's a nice maple m/96. I wonder how many more are out there and the owner has no idea what it is.

Dutchman - I have two empty maple stocks you can add to your survey: s/n 367954 and 369471.

MP78

· #6 · Mar 20, 2010

Nice rifle and may be well bought. Looking at the rear sight spring I'm with Swede in thinking it doesn't look right. Shouldn't the spring be fire blued? Still the wood is unusual. I thought maybe I saw an area that looked a bit like varnish. The barrel channel looked finished also. For almost 600.00 I hate to say Hmmmm...Jim

swede

· #7 · Mar 20, 2010

MP78 : I think the barrel channel is full of grease or vaseline & that makes it shiny . I have about 20 extra rear sight springs with variations in the blue color . Some are black oxide . This one has a gray tint to it . Could be legit . Since the rear sight does not match , the original spring may have been removed as well . As we all know , not everything is perfect in collecting Swedish mausers . Given the rarity of maple stocked M-96's , maybe 6 known , I would not complain about the rifle . Might change my opinion if I had it in my hand .

Dutchman

Discussion Starter · #8 · Mar 20, 2010

The rear sight has been Dulite'd. And the muzzle is not bright. That told me, initially, that this was a fresh rebuild put in storage, as evidenced by the copious grease covering. It appears as a typical rifle out of storage. It lacks the tape and date across the stock comb.

The coloring of the rear sight is, IMO, the result of the camera/lighting/poor macro.

In the photo of the disc, to the bottom of the disc is confirmation that the stock is maple and not beech. If it weren't for the faint fiddleback I can see how it would be mistaken for beech. Its not a high grade of maple but it is in very nice overall condition.

By the frenzy of bidding and selling price I'm sure the winner knew it was maple and not beech. I would hope so.

I believe the rifle's price is a fair representation of market value for this particular type of m/96. A more pronounced grain figure could easily push the price to $650+, with all else being equal.

I hope the new owner comes out and plays with it.

Dutch

See less See more

opee

· #9 · Mar 21, 2010

Saw this rifle about 3 days ago and watched until the last few hours before bidding. I knew it was Maple because I have one almost identical to it with similar wood color and grain, and a very close serial number. Was willing to go to $500 on it, but after that I just sat back and watched. Corresponded with the seller, but he never mentioned it was maple, in fact he mentioned beechwood in the description. Wonder if the buyer knew it was maple or if he just wanted the rifle because it was in very good condition. Nice to see high quality and rare variations are still bringing top dollar. Have noticed that average Swedes have dropped $50-100 in the last year, probably due to the economy??
Opee

Dutchman

Discussion Starter · #10 · Mar 21, 2010

2

I got permission from the seller to use his photos on my website. He's sending the hi-res photos.

Opee. what's the s/n of your maple? I recall that I had two maple stocks that were about 8 numbers apart. Yours must've been the yellowish color while the other was a former FSR rifle and had been stained a brown. Knew I had photos of them.. One of these is yours.

Dutch

See less See more

opee

· #11 · Mar 21, 2010

Dutch, My rifle pictured below is the same one in your picture with the yellow range decal. It is the one that came from Dana Jones Garage but came from you first. The same one that you were trying to find the buttplate for in your garage. I was visiting Dana and noticed he had some stocks in his garage. I picked out this one because it was unique, as well as a handguard that had the same thin tiger stripes and color. Later I bought a bunch of rifles from a Proxibid Auction and one happend to be a nice 1915 Swede unthreaded barrel with a nice black finish on the metal. Only problem was the stock had been slightly sanded, so I knew then that this maple stock was going to have a home. The stock serial number is 3674XX. You will notice the thin stripes are more profound around the handgroove area. Almost as if this stock and the one that sold yesterday had come from the same maple tree or forest?

See less See more

MSTN

· #12 · Mar 21, 2010

I am the (lucky) buyer.

When I found this for sale, I sent a link to Swede, who correctly pointed out it looked like maple and was a "keeper", in his words. Swede seems to be quite conservative with his endorsements, too. I had completely overlooked the possibility the stock might be maple.

After reviewing Dutchman's stock wood thread for the umpteenth time, I realized that this auction presented a rare opportunity for me, a 100% new collector of the Swedish Mauser. I am quite grateful for both the tip and access to the research done by the moderators here.

After I get the rifle and it passes the "in-hand" inspection (The first two purchased most definitely did not!), I'll get some pictures up.

Good shooting,

Wes

Dutchman

Discussion Starter · #13 · Mar 21, 2010

Welcome to the forum, Wes.

Its getting so we can almost predict new buyers will be showing up after such an auction. It's happened so many times now.

I'm fairly confident that your new rifle will be as nice as it appears. The heavy storage grease guarentees it hasn't been used since it was imported in the late 80s or 90s.

Even if the stock was beech it would still be an excellent rifle due to condition alone.

Dutchman

Dutchman

Discussion Starter · #14 · Mar 21, 2010

Opee

That stock sure looks better. Tons better.

The two maple stocks, yours and this new one, are certainly very close. You'd have to lay them down one over the other and see if the fiddleback "bars" lined up. It's entirely possibly that they would given the closeness of the numbers.

How did you refinish your stock? The color looks very good.

Dutchman

MSTN

· #15 · Mar 21, 2010 (Edited)

Link to auction page with pictures:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=160923473

Same link as above, I just noticed. Sorry!

racin500

· #16 · Mar 21, 2010

I picked this M/96 stock up last year. The grain never did look like walnut. Being a rookie, I guess I better ask. Please take a look and tell me what you think. SN is 401614. I have all the matching stock hardware also.

See less See more

RosemontCrest

· #17 · Mar 21, 2010

racin500 said:
I picked this M/96 stock up last year. The grain never did look like walnut. Being a rookie, I guess I better ask. Please take a look and tell me what you think. SN is 401614. I have all the matching stock hardware also.

Interesting. That serial number is either later than the known range for 1916 rifles or earlier than the known range for 1917 rifles. It's too bad that the date of the matching receiver is not known. It's beautiful wood and it doesn't look like walnut to me, but I'm not going speculate as to what it is.

JIMMY C

· #18 · Mar 21, 2010 (Edited)

10

Here are a few photos of my Maple stocked beauty. also made in 1915. Very close in S/N to the auction rifle in the O/P (195 rifles).

See less See more

swede

· #19 · Mar 22, 2010

racin500 said:
I picked this M/96 stock up last year. The grain never did look like walnut. Being a rookie, I guess I better ask. Please take a look and tell me what you think. SN is 401614. I have all the matching stock hardware also.

View attachment 298064

I do not know the wood type for sure . My guess would be beech .

opee

· #20 · Mar 23, 2010

Dutchman said:
Opee

That stock sure looks better. Tons better.

The two maple stocks, yours and this new one, are certainly very close. You'd have to lay them down one over the other and see if the fiddleback "bars" lined up. It's entirely possibly that they would given the closeness of the numbers.

How did you refinish your stock? The color looks very good.

Dutchman

Dutch:
I just took the wifes iron without her knowledge and steamed out all the dents, then used a very light stain to get the proper color back and a couple of coats of BLO. The hanguard was already in good shape and the barreled receiver and new buttplate from the 1915 rifle all fit very nicely. So, if you look at the rifle from the outside, all the numbers are matching. But being the honest person I am, I will always let people know the stock number inside the barrel channel does not match, but the year is correct for a 1915 maple Swede. If I did not own this rifle I might have gone higher on the GunBroker bidding, but on the other hand, I probably would not have recognized the rifle for sale as being maple without first seeing and holding my own rifle in person..... You just dont see maple Swedes all that often, Opee

1 - 20 of 29 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.