Ive wanted a Ljungman ever since I was a kid. I remember seeing one in a gun shop in Seattle when I was in high school and ever since then I've lusted after them. Having a strong strain of Swede in my famly didnt help matters and after I got out of the C&R scene I never thought I'd own one. A few weeks ago a buddy back home called and said a friend of his was trying to move an old rifle and wanted to know if I could identify it. Sure as shit, it was a  Ljungman!
After some back and forth we worked out a deal. I traded him a stainless Taurus PT1911 with some extra mags and ammo for the Ljungman, some ammo,and a few spare parts. I picked it up from my FFL on Thursday and I'm very happy with it. I need to get geared up to reload 6.5mm Swede now!
I deciphered the arsenal disc on the stock, bore measures 6.49mm with no recorded corrosion or darkening, which is obvious, the bore looks like a rolled up mirror. Can't wait to shoot this beast.

Welcome to the Ljungman club; where spare magazines are made up and your fingers don't matter!



Sounds like you got an awesome trade too. On top of them being superbly accurate, for the beast they are the recoil is pretty non-existent.

As a side bonus, you can make even seasoned M1 fans cringe at the thought of m/42b thumb.

+1 on that! It's like a little spring loaded guillotine!

Very nice.

Sounds like the bore on your rifle is excellent.  But a word of warning: you can't always go just by what the stock disk states.  Those markings were placed on there at the rifle's last inspection by the Swedish military.  Who knows what kind of abuse or neglect it's seen since that final inspection, at the hands of previous owners.  In addition, some of the Swedish rifles were imported without any disks, and some owners bought loose disks to install on their rifles to "complete" them.  So the markings on the disk of a Swedish rifle may have no relationship whatsoever to the rifle's bore.

I gotta stop clicking on these threads. Every time I do I find something else I just have to buy.

Lee's Gun Parts in Irving TX has a poop pot load of replacement parts....because nothing ever breaks.

Before I even deciphered the disc I could have told you the bore on this thing was a gem. The only milsurp rifle I've ever seen with a bore that even comes close were my Swiss K31's, and the bores on those things looked like they had been polished by angels. The previous owner obviously shot the thing very little but also stored it poorly. There was some fresh surface rust on the charger guides and the front sight hood. There are also some newer gashes and scuffs in the wood, like it was tossed around in the back of a closet or something. It appears I rescued it from a life in a trailer park.

Word of warning; They don't like slow burning powder. If the port pressure is too high you get hard extraction, violent ejectionand torn off rims (the least of the trouble) OR it will tear off the head of the case and dump the pressure right into the reciever/magazine. They're a great rifle, but ammo sensitive.

Also, you can take off the handgaurd, pull the retaining pin from the rear sight drum, and remove it, reverse it and re-install. It will show the shape of the bullet in the window. It is calibrated for both 156 round-nosed loadings and the 139 grain M41 spitzer bullet.

Rabid,
That's great information. What powders do you reccomend? Right now the only powder I have that is suitable for the Swede is IMR 4064 and is listed has being suitable with the 140 grain bullet.

Pretty much all I've used for Ljungman loads (I have several M96 mausers) was 4064 and 4320.

If you have another 6.5X55 you have to segregate the different loadings. I have three clearly marked boxes, for the AG42B, the 96 and the 98 mauser. THe 98 gets the heavy (6.5 SKAN) loadings which are much hotter.

If you use surplus M41 ammo, make sure you clean out the gas tube well. I like to fire 5 or more rounds of non corrosive at the end of a run of surplus. I am not sure if it helps that much but it makes me feel better.

The best way to dis-assemble the bolt is IN the rifle. You can take the whole thing out, cover carrier and bolt, and separate it but you can end up launching the parts into the ceiling (just ask my wife where the dent next to the living room light came from)
Safest way; move the cover up until it locks, remove the safety assembly (saftey lever on center and pull upwards) then press the action cover latch and let it disengage and move to the rear under control while still in the reciever rails. You'll save trouble.

If you are loading with stripper clips take the extra second and switch the rifle on safe, it'll prevent that latch from disengaging and guillotining your fingers!
I've never had Lungman or M1 thumb, but I know that Ljungam thumb would make the other injury seem downright enjoyable.

Oh, and keep people out of your ejection pattern. At my range a casing bounced off the wall, into the window and cracked it


Get some spared BEFORE you ned them. Springfield sporters has the cheapest and best. Get all the springs, and a couple extractors at least!

Have fun and take care of her, she's one of the best, most accurate semi autos ever made!

Rabid,
Again, great info. One of the first things I did after picking up the rifle was YouTube how disassemble it. The video I found showed exactly the method you describe and it worked great, no launched bolt carriers, recoil springs and no dents in the ceiling. I've used Springfield Sporters in the past and as soon as they're open I'll pick up some spares..I already have a spare extractor, plunger & spring that came with the rifle.
I'm still waiting on an order of ammo from Aim Surplus. As soon as it arrives I'll do a range report and start developing some loads for it.

Get a couple spare ejectors. Simple part to replace.

What Springfield Sporters lists as "headspace gauges" are #18 on the chart below. They are not "gauges" but are headspacing blocks. Numbers 19 & 20 hold them in place. The set of blocks shortens or lenghthens the headspace. Most AG42b will be on the long side. Wouldn't hurt to get a set of these headspace blocks and #19 & 20.







This is the spare parts roll for the AG42b.



DO NOT SHOOT DANISH AMMO THROUGH YOUR AG42B!!!  This rifle below came apart after less than 10 rounds of the Danish 6.5x55. The jacket material is so soft it fouls the bore and causes excessive pressure real fast. I know the owner of the below rifle personally.



United States patents on the Ljungman AG42b rifle.

That's a damn shame. Was the shooter okay? Pretty nasty KB. Currently, the only ammo I have is some federal commercial hunting ammo and some PPU 140 grain match HP. Once those are shot up I'll be reloading my own.

Very nice! I have one of it's cousins, a Hakim, but haven't scored one of the Swedes for my collection as of yet.

I finally had a chance to shoot the Ljungman today. I had to hang a blanket from the tailgate of my truck and position my bag and shooting mat juuuuuuust right to be able to catch my brass. Whoever said that policing up the brass was a bitch was dead right. Before I got my bag and shooting mat positioned I had several pieces of brass go sailing off into the great unknowns. The rifle probably tossed it on average 25 feet.
Accuracy was okay. Using PPU 130 grain BTHP I was able to get four shot clusters right at 1.5" at 75 yards. I could probably have shot better with proper follow through but after every shot I was taking my eyes off the target to see where my brass was landing. The big problem was how chewed up the brass was. On every round there was a big triangular gouge in the case rim from the ejector and on several the rim was slightly bent from the extractor. Is this just a fact of life with the Ljungman? I plan on reloading as much of the brass as possible. Is there a way I can get more mileage out of my brass or refurbish the rims somehow?

This is one reason I never purchased a Ljungman.  The brass gets tossed to the next county, and if you find it, the brass is dented up.  The Swede brass isn't cheap either..

The only Swede I have are bolty gun and the M41 B is a sweet shooter.

I strongly suggest NOT using that ammo in the Ljungman - that sort of ammo is designed for most 6.5 guns - which are BOLT ACTION GUNS.  Unlike a bolt action, the Ljungman is sensitive to the burn rate of the powder used.  If you do use that ammo the gun could come apart.  Even if it holds together, ejection will probably be violent, it will probably fly 30 feet away from the gun at high speed and get all gouged up - usually the sign that a KB is about to happen as pictured above.

BTW - the Garand is no different in that respect:  plenty of people have blown Garands to bits using commercial hunting ammo not built for the relatively rare semi-auto .30-06 rifles out there:





EDIT:  Just read the last entry in this thread.  OP - I believe you got lucky.  For the future, use published reloading data AND - select a powder from that published data at the faster end of the burn rate chart.

Why would you not recommend the PPU or Federal? Since most 6.5mm is loaded to the same pressures as the old bolt guns will handle wouldn't they be perfectly safe in a semi?
What powders would you recommend for safe use in the Ljungman? I have heard several people recommend IMR 4064, which I already have.

You're missing something that has been gone over in this thread. In a bolt gun, all you have to worry about it peak pressure- there is no gas system. Granted the peak pressure may be the same for several different loads, but the pressure curve may be different --- which is where you aren't understanding about semi autos. You have to worry about PORT pressure as well. If the pressure curve is longer and you still have too high a pressure when the bullet passes the gasport you get violent extraction, hard ejection or torn case rims OR as the pic of the KB'd ljungman showed the case or case head will extract before the pressure has dropped thus dumping all that pressure into your action/magazine/and or face.

If you don't understand this principle, do not handload for semi auto rifles.

+1000 Pay attention to these words of wisdom.

Dutch

Okay, I get it now, hence the aforementioned need for powders on the faster end of the spectrum. I downloaded a burn rate chart and I'll make my selections accordingly.
I'll also break down all the PPU & Federal ammo & reload them with powder more amendable to the Ljungman.