A few months back I picked up an old German made Swedish M96 Mauser rifle, the first four years of their production, the Swedish Mausers were made in Germany, not Sweden. This gun is from 1900, one of the last of the guns from there. Someone years back had already cut the barrel back a couple of inches and put on a different front sight, but it was the wrong sight and was so tall it would have been like shooting an artillery piece. So, I had the barrel cut back to 20 inches since the collector value was gone, had a different ramp put on and a Skinner sight blade that is pretty close to what the original blade was like in height and width, only 1/8" wide.
The caliber of course is still 6.5 x 55mm, one of my favorite rounds, and now the gun is essentially a carbine and is very light and pretty handy. I took it out the other day with some factory loads, these were Remington 140 grain SP, I have my own handloads as well. I was shooting at 11 x 14" poster board, and at 50 yards from the bench, the group is only 2 inches, and then I shot it at 125 yards, the longest distance at my range. I didn't measure that group, but it was pretty good for the range. I want to use this for a cornfield gun this year if I can get out with it, but either way, it's a pretty handy gun, especially for being 117 years old.
