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Old February 28, 2015, 11:15 PM   #51
James K
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"I never figured out why the went with a two piece firing pin."

Ever seen a Krag? They wanted to have the ability to re-cock the firing pin without opening the bolt for fear of hangfires. They made the cocking knob a permanent assembly with the firing pin, as on the Krag, and so they had to make the firing pin two piece. The Mausers (93 and 98) have no cocking knobs and have firing pins that lock into the cocking piece. The 93 has no means of manually cocking the firing pin; the 98 has a notch in the cocking piece that can take a cartridge rim to pull back the firing pin.

(That concern with hangfires and the possible danger of opening the bolt prematurely led to the same feature on the M1 and M14 rifles; if the round doesn't fire, the user can try another strike by unlatching the trigger guard and re-cocking the hammer by working the guard like the lever of a lever action rifle.)

Jim
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Old March 1, 2015, 01:18 AM   #52
44 AMP
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Thanks James, explained that way, I can see the sense of it now.

The swede 96 is a 95 Mauser, right? Not certain the difference from a 93, but I know the difference from a 98. The Swede has a "step" on the cocking piece that (looks awkward) could be used to recock it.

And I actually knew that about the M1 /M14 and M1A rifles.
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Old March 1, 2015, 06:08 PM   #53
James K
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There were two basic Swedish models, the 96 rifle and the 94 carbine. While part of the group known generally as "pre-98 Mausers", they have a few unique features, including that odd cocking piece you mention, and which I forgot in my previous comments.

There is one oddity about the carbines; they have 17 3/4 inch barrels. The ones that were imported prior to 1968 had to have an extension welded on the end to bring them over the then 18" minimum. Later, the law was changed to a 16" minimum for rifles and ones imported after that did not need the extension.

Some folks think the importers had enough clout to get the law changed because of those carbines. In fact, it was due to carbines, but not ones from Sweden. After the U.S. Army had sold thousands of M1 Carbines to NRA members through DCM, someone discovered that many had 17 3/4" barrels. Ooops! The U.S. government had broken its own law!! And no one had kept track of who got the short barrels. Call them all back? Uh, no. Search a half million homes and confiscate guns? Gawd, no. So, they took advantage of the pending change in the law to change that barrel length minimum and hoped no-one realized why.

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