Vintage Tackdriver
One lesson I took away from all this shooting was the Swedes made wonderfully accurate rifles. Prior to the experience, I knew the American-made Model 1903 Springfield .30-06 ruled in terms of military bolt-action accuracy. Although ’03s are obviously capable of very precise shooting, I now think the overall winner in a military bolt-action accuracy contest would be the Swedish Mauser.
Here’s an example: One day I was shooting my Swedish Model 41b (nothing more than the Model 1896 fitted with a 4X scope for sniper use) with a receiver ring dated 1919. A reader had recently sent me 100 rounds of 1976 vintage Swedish military surplus 6.5x55 loads. Afterwards I discovered the rounds had been made by Norma.
A friend was spotting for me while I shot a five-round string. He never uttered a word until I was finished. Without giving me any indication of how I did, he said, “It must be a fluke. Shoot another group.” After I fired three rounds he said, “Stop! Don’t waste any more of that ammo.” The first group had five shots in 5/8" and the last three cut a nice cloverleaf.
Remember, this was with a rifle nearly 95 years old at the time, mounted with a likewise old 4X scope with a single pointed-post reticle. Since then — using my own handloads in the Model 41b — I competed in a 200-, 300- and 600-yard paper target, vintage sniper rifle event and a vintage sniper rifle metallic silhouette match. The latter consisted of chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams at 200, 300, 385 and 500 meters. The rifle and I won both of those contests.
