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I've got one of these as well but in my case the bore is pretty rough. I assume it was shot with corrosive primers at some point and not cleaned properly.

Anyway, does anyone know why these rifles suddenly appeared on the market some years back? They're clearly hunting rifles so how is it that large quantities suddenly became available for sale at roughly the same time?

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A rough bore doesn't mean it won't shoot well enough for hunting. It'll just be harder to clean. Check to make sure the chamber isn't pitted though. I had one I had to rebarrel because the chamber was so bad it held on to the cases. But, for a $75 rifle, it was worth my labor and a $75 barrel. These M46 rifles were all produced before non-corrosive priming was common everywhere. They were also used in a pretty harsh environment. Hence, it didn't take intentional neglect to get corrosion started.

Sweden passed a law which only allows one to own six hunting rifles, eight pistols, or a combination of 8 of both. So people are unloading granddad's old rifle to purchase new pretty ones in super duper cartridges. Plus, Sweden has some stringent licensing and storage requirements. Like licensing restrictions, club membership, training, qualifications and such.
So people were trading them in, trying to sell, or turning them in to authorities as unwanted and there was no home market. Our Milsurp importers jumped on it.
Dennis

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Dennis
Dress the bun, not the dog. And throw away that stupid knitted doggie sweater.

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