O.K here is a test I pick up a m96 mauser in 6.5*55 swed. all the number match and it was in cosmaline and that matreal they use back than. But I can not find it in any book, the rec. is mark carl gustafs stads
gevarsfaktori
1916
with the queens mark on it, the ss"hk 384453
the barrel is stamped m96 sweden 6.5*55
cal. st alb vt

it has a straight bolt with full mil. stock ? what isitworth an would it be best to leave it mil. or sporterise it., it is a real tack driver after about 6 hour of cleaning open site at 200 yards it shoots .75 3 shot groups. It also has a 29 inch barrel on it thank for any help

The st alb vt stands for St. Albans Vermont which is the location of the guns import. I cant remember the name of the importer from there, Century International I think.
If it is all original and has all matching numbers you should leave it as is. There are some folk that would give you over $300.00 for it
AND....if you are shooting .75" 3 shot groups at 200 yards with military iron sights you should ENTER SOME SHOOTING CONTESTS IMMEDIATELY.
Sure you didn't move the decimal in the wrong place? Even a 7.5 inch group at 200 yards with irons would be decent man!

Yeah, what he said!

time to enter the contest then, like I said off sand bags that what it will shoot. the sad part is I have a parker worth $1500.00 that wont shoot that good, whereI life I dont think I can find any contest closer than 500 miles I wish there was. I have a 6mm that is custom that will shoot sub .5 inch at 200 yards I have more money in it than I will amitt. Lets put it like this I payed $986.00 just for the barrel. Just for fun me and some freinds shoot eges at 300 yards for $10.00 a shot. thanks for the info.

Eggs @ 300yds.? Hmmm, never thought of that as a target.
Dang good shootin' to say the least!
I had one rifle years ago that would shoot that good - out of the box that is. It was a Remington 788 in 243Win., using Federal factory ammo, the Premium load with 85gr. HPBT. The local prairie dog towns in Wyoming loved it (ha,ha)
Of course, I traded that rifle some years ago

Just do what you want with it. There were jillions of them imported and they are one of the best shooting military surplus rifles ever built. I have shot at least 50 of them and the kind of accuracy you are talking about is the norm for these rifles. However most, me for sure could not shoot iron sights that well at 200 yards. I sporterized two of mine and left one stock military. One of the best and most lethal big game cartridges going. Also one of the most gentle on the shoulder.

Have you checked the disc on the butt stock it can tell you alot about the rifle,i.e bore size, how mant times it's been checked etc. There are sites that tell you what it all means.
I don't have the info handy or I would give it to you.

aunsaber If you can find that site that would be great

This has a little info..it may not be the one aunsaber was referring to, but it will give you a start

http://www.surplusrifle.com/mauserswedish/index.asp

Another great site is, milsurpshooter.net/ it's a forum like this with alot of people with a lot of knowledge.

Good luck