Ag M/42 - History

History

The Ag m/42 was designed by Erik Eklund of the AB C.J. Ljungmans Verkstäder company of Malmö around 1941, and entered production at the Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori in Eskilstuna in 1942. Some 30,000 rifles were manufactured in all for the Swedish Army. This was a relatively small number of weapons and the standard infantry rifle remained the 6.5 mm bolt action m/96 Mauser.

Norwegian "police troops" trained in Sweden during World War II were issued a number of Ag m/42s and brought these rifles to Norway when the Germans surrendered in 1945. These rifles were never modified to the later Ag m/42B version. The serial numbers of these weapons were between 22000 and 25000 (see Samlarforum.nu). However, in the Netherlands there exists a weapon with serial number 22742 and is a AG m/42B. So, at least one (or more?) did escape.

After a number of issues had been discovered, including a serious problem with rusting gas tubes, the existing stocks of the rifle were modified between 1953 and 1956, and the reworked rifles were designated Ag m/42B. Modifications included a stainless steel gas tube, two knobs on the breech cover, a new elevation knob for the rear sight, a rubber case-deflector, new magazines and new cleaning rod. The Ag m/42B was replaced in Swedish service in the 1960s by the Heckler & Koch G3-derived Ak 4

The Ag m/42B was used as the basis for the Egyptian Hakim rifle, which uses the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge. Sweden sold the machinery to Egypt and the Hakim was therefore built with the same machine tools used for the Ag m/42B. Eventually, the Hakim was modified into a carbine using the intermediate-power 7.62x39mm Russian cartridge, called the Rashid or Rasheed.