My First Semi-auto Rifle

[Mel-4857]

I was over at my buddy Tony's shop last night ; where guys from the gun club gather on Friday nights to drink coffee and swap lies. So out comes a rifle I'd never handled before a 6.5x55 AG42 Swede Ljungman. Great bore and only surface wear and some scratches in the stock. Well my friend Chris who had picked the gun up from an elderly widow ;offered it to me for a price I couldn't refuse and the Lady( not the widow) came home with me.When he picked it up it was still full of packing grease so it was bought and never fired.Will have to load some j---ted bullets to give her a try. Mel

[Four Fingers of Death]

Strange action, noisy, but effective. Never tried cast in it though.

[Jumptrap]

Prepare your self for some grief.

I had one of them and it shot great, phenomenal actually. The muzzle brake is super effective except it'll burst your eardrums.

The gas system has no regulator and it destroys casings......it will eject them at least 30 feet and sometimes 40...forward and right of the shooter, god forbid anybody is standing in the way.

Those beautiful 6.5x55 cases will have the rims flattened by the ejector due to the violence of the process. If you reload them and and it feeds a round with the flattened rim where the extractor grabs it, it'll either jam because the action can't go into battery or it will fail to extract it when fired. Also buy yourself a field maintinence kit that was commonly sold with the guns...it has spare extractors in it.

The Ljungman is super accurate and very mild to shoot, but it has it's flaws...why mine found a new home.

[Buckshot]

............4fingermick and Jumptrap's comments are the same as mine would have been.

If you look closely at the photo of my rifle, just ahead of where the handguard ends, you can see my modification to the gas port. Go to Springfield Sporters as they have the Ag42B parts very reasonable. Buy yourself another gas port so it can be put back stock if you want to sell it to some purist.

That is, if you modify the existing gas port. To do that, remove the existing screw from the top of the gas port (or gas tap). Drill a new larger hole, then tap the new hole to a suitable TPI. Take a screw (I used a sockethead) and grind a bevel on the end. This way you can cutoff the gas feed completely or incrementally turn it on.

For shooting cast I turn the gas on just enough to unlock the bolt and extract the case maybe a quarter inch.

A point! You should feed from the magazine if at all possible. Even one round. If you drop one into the chamber and let the bolt slam shut on it you could break the extractor (sooner or later).

............Buckshot

[waksupi]

I have the Egyptian version of this, the Hakim. As Jumptrap says, it is not the reloader's friend. It throwns brass far and wide. And tears the crap out of it. Pretty much as good as my HK G3 for keeping the brass companies in business. But, very accurate, and noisy! I shoot milsurp ammo in it, and clean up after the corrosive primers.

Buckshot, I know you have described your modification before. Any chance of a close up? Mine is pretty much locked in place, and I do need to do something about it. I ruined one cheap ass chink socket trying to move it, and managed to bugger the valve point somewhat. I either need to fix it, peddle it, or both.

I saw another pristine Swede like this recently at a gun show. Is there a small stock that is creeping out of the foriegn armory closets?

[Mel-4857]

Thanks for all the info fellas. It would be nice to see a close-up pic of your modification Buckshot. Will check the sites for spare parts. When the rain lets up I want to get a chance to put some bullets down range. Mel

[Buckshot]

Buckshot, I know you have described your modification before. Any chance of a close up? Mine is pretty much locked in place, and I do need to do something about it. I ruined one cheap ass chink socket trying to move it, and managed to bugger the valve point somewhat. I either need to fix it, peddle it, or both.

I saw another pristine Swede like this recently at a gun show. Is there a small stock that is creeping out of the foriegn armory closets?

I have a Hakim too, but didn't do any alterations to it's gas cut off dealie. My brother and his son's were over once so I took them to the range. One of the rifles I brought along was the Hakim and a bunch of Turk surplus. Our dad was sitting at a picnic table maybe 20" behind the line. He mentioned when we were shooting the Hakim that he could feel the air pushing his pants leg around.

So Mel and Waksupi, you guys want closeups of the Ag42B gas tap mod? I'll see if I can't get a couple pic's of it tomorrow.

...............Buckshot

[Buckshot]

Rather then take a closeup of the gas tap which really wouldn't show anything, except the gas tap with a sockethead screw sticking out, I drew this up.

Pretty straightforward. There is an existing screw in the top. Remove/ Drill out larger and tap. I'd use a 8-32 at minimum for thread engagement, or equivilent metric size. You can use an 8-36 or 8-40 too. The more threads the better, and the finer the adjustments.

..............Buckshot

[waksupi]

Thanks, Buckshot. Your picture is worth a thousand words!

[Mel-4857]

Thanks Buckshot. Definitely a mod that I want to do. Mel