The next installment in Hot Gear Friday was Sweden’s answer to the M1 Garand – the AG42, better known in the US as the Ljungman, after its designer.
And better known to me as “my first real rifle”.
Developed in 1942, during World War II, as the Swedes realized they were going to need something a little more modern than their early-century Mausers, the Ljungman was ahead of its time in many areas – for better or worse.
A fairly conventional design in many ways, with a 10-round box magazine (usually loaded with the same five-round Mauser-pattern stripper clips that the Swedish Mauser bolt-actions used), it had one feature well-known to any current American serviceman; its operating system used direct gas impingement.
Where a conventional gas system uses a piston in a tube next to the barrel (like the tube above the barrel in the infamous AK47), the Hakim’s gas tube directly vents back into a little cup-shaped gas-catcher on the front of the bolt carrier – much like the operating system on the American M16 rifle and M4 carbine. The blast of gas pushes the bolt carrier back, camming the bolt (a tipping bolt, similar to the FN49 or the FN-FAL, and very unlike the rotating-lock M16-pattern bolt) out of its locking recess to open the action. It’s simple and fairly rugged – provided you’re using decent ammo. With 6.5mm Swedish Mauser, that’s rarely a problem. But for the Ljungman’s most famous descendant, the “Hakim” (an Egyptian rifle in 7.92mm Mauser caliber, built with the same machinery the Swedes used for the Ljungman, which Sweden sold to Egypt in the late forties), it’s been rather a different story; the widely-varying quality of 7.92 ammo can yield weak rounds that won’t cycle the action, or – worse – extra-powerful ammo that’ll push the bolt carrier back so violently that the extractor will rip the rim right off the round, causing a nasty jam that usually takes a cleaning rod and a lot of swearing to clear.
But in 6.5mm Mauser – a ballistically-sweet if fairly small round – the Ljungman was a joy to fire; fairly reliable, bone simple to maintain (for me; given the problems the M16’s similar system has had, I have no idea how it’d have fared tramping through some north-Swedish bog), and a joy to shoot.
Pretty cool piece; it looks like you could also use it as an impromptu ski pole if necessary – which was probably part of the design criteria.
Speaking of cool pieces, and not to jump track or anything – did anyone see the Lileks piece in buzz recently where he mentioned that he picked up a sweet 50’s Strat in surf green? That’s a fine-lookin’ paddle, there.
Yep.
And I was up at Guitar Center last night, and lemme tell ya, there’s some fine goodies available in them thar stores.
I wonder what it’s like to work at Guitar Center. I’d be fired in one day – I’d just sit there playing all day, name tag in my pocket, amp cranked. But it would be a decent workday.
Never fired this particular rifle (which of course is true for most rifles for ALL of us, there are just wayyy many a whole lot of them), but fired an Italian M-1A/M14 knock-off.
I’ve always liked the increased penetrating power of the 7.62 rounds over 5.56. There are arguments for 5.56 to be sure, but I really prefer 7.62 (esp weapons like G3, FN-FAL). I know the 6.5 to 7mm Mauser varieties are very solid weapons – someday maybe I’ll try one out.. someday. (wistful).
I too felt that the jamming problems of the M16 were it’s major drawback – and unfortunately have never been adequately or fully resolved. But for that, it might well be the best combat rifle ever, but, with that problem, other weapons, even other fairly old weapons like the M14 or FN-FAL, are, even with their drawbacks, ones which I would choose first.
Italian M-1A/M14 knock-off
At last a point of complete agreement. I fired one (the Beretta BM59) once. Sweet.
And an FAL. Oodles of fun. Plus a bunch of others in that range – M1s, Kar98s, Enfield MkI and MkIV, Nagants,and so on.
Also a few 5.56s – an AR15, a Mini14, a Bushmaster – but they never felt right. Like shooting a BB gun. There’s something reassuing about the .30 inch “whump”.