Steyr M95 help

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Dekooy

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Hello Gentlemen.

Long story short, I'm trying to get a dewatted long rifle into shooting condition on the cheap.

I have gone through Marstar, via Jim and he has been very helpful and pleasant to deal with but unfortunately we weren't able to get a good barrel/receiver out of his parts bin.

I need some help finding a dealer or collector that has an extra 8x56r barrel/receiver (or just barrel) in shootable condition. I know those barrels are in carbine length and this long rifle wall hanger was in very rough shape all over, so I don't feel too guilty about sporterizing it. I'll put a want add up in the EE as well, but I can't justify spending much more on this gun.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for looking
Dan
 
Is it one of the Bulgarian drill rifles with the chamber milled out ? You don't see too many of them anymore as they are parted out.
 
Trade-Ex has both 95 and 95M Carbines advertised for $200. If you want something to shoot, why not simply buy one of those, and keep this one as a wall hanger. Otherwise, if you are really attached to a long rifle, keep looking at Gun Shows or put an ad in the EE for one. Sometimes it is false economy and really not worth the time, effort and money into trying to restore a rusted old relic in poor condition.
 
I have a couple of those rifles, one was sold to me as a "Dewat" (which it isn't) and the other as having a milled chamber and not being fireable (and it isn't). Both were cheap and bought for the parts. Funny thing is that I have yet to see a sporterized M95 rifle that required parts, and so you might never find a good barrel, as they're all attached to good rifles.
 
I have a Bulgarian-contract 1903 rifle here which has been rebored/rechambered to the 8x56R30M cartridge.

It has a 30-inch barrel, so the things ARE out there.

A 7.62x54R should feed through the action and from the Mannlicher clips with NO problems. I just run 7.62x54R brass through the resizer with an 8mm expander ball, trim to length and I have fully workable 8x50R for this little Vienna Police Carbine which demands space on the Ross rack. Stuff works fine.

Why butcher one of the remaining Long Rifles into a Carbine when real Stutzens and reworks are available so cheaply? For a practical hunting rifle, one of the Stutzens from Trade-Ex would be far preferable. They are short, light, handy. You don't even need to remove the top wood because it protects the rifle and your hands and it weighs almost nothing.

The inexhaustible supply of cheap surplus rifles ran out 30 years ago in most cases..... because the inexhaustible supply had been exhausted.

MOST of them ended up butchered.

Today we are trying to reclaim or restore the few remaining which are not too far gone to help.

A POX upon Bubba, verily, I say!
 
Hi guys and thanks for all the replies.

desporterizer is right in that I have the drill rifle and I am trying to make it shootable. The drill rifle was given to me for free by a non-shooter and it was in very bad condition (rust, nicks, scratches, etc.). I have been able to get the gun functioning again but just need a 8x56r barrel to finish her off.

I know a lot of you don't like sporterizing the rifle but it was in such rough condition, that it wasn't even a wall hanger......I think getting it shooting and putting some meat in the freezer would do a lot more justice to this rifle then letting it languish in the back of my gun room or a closet.

@ buffdog, I understand what you're saying about false economy, but since I got the rifle for free, I figured I'd try to get her going for under the cost of one of the previously mentioned trade-ex ones. If I can great, if not, I'll just use something else.

I hope this post doesn't come across as snarky or biting, that is not my intention. Just hoping to get this thing shooting and have some fun with it.

Thanks for your time
Dan
 
I'm thinking of picking up one of the Tradeex ones myself in coming months, and making a cast bullet plinker of it. Anyone able to comment on the general condition of them? Cast bullets don't much tolerate anything less than shiny bores.

The K31 has put me on the road to wanting some straight-pulls. I'll need to find a Ross some day too (that isn't an arm and a leg)
 
I bought a carbine from Tradex a couple years ago. I've put a couple hundred cast through it. Have never tried jacketed bullets although I have a good supply of 329 Hornady's (both SP and FMJ). My rifle has a good bore and groups fine for plinking. My understanding is that bore size with these carbines can be an issue for cast bullet accuracy. Many are oversize. I was lucky mine slugs at 329. My Lee mould casts at 330-331. I opened my Lee sizer die to 331 to seat the 8mil GC then pan lube. Going to try liquid allox as well but just haven't got around to it. I've read that some bores can be as large as 334 and guys are sizing down the Lee 338 bullet to fit.

They definitely make a fun mid bore military plinker if you can sort out the cast bullet fit to bore situation.
 
Mark-II said:
Cast bullets don't much tolerate anything less than shiny bores.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ.

I shoot M95 Steyr and M91 Mosin with far less than perfect bores and both shoot just fine.

I have seen number of rifles with pitted and dark bores,frost,even parts of rifling rusted away yet still shooting on par with many modern rifles.

If you are looking for cast plinker you might be better off with K31.There are many more choices of bullet molds in this caliber than for 8x56R.
 
Lee makes a bullet mould for .329 which would be perfect for the M95.

If you ever do find a barrel replacement, make sure you note if the barrel is "S" marked or not.
 
CURVED Carcano-looking clips hold 5 rounds of 6.5x53R.

They were used by both the Dutch and by the Rumanians.

They are VERY hard to find.

You should have little trouble swapping for a few 8x56R clips (which are the same as 8x50R clips, BTW).
 
Definitely sounds like a Dutch or Romanian clip.

You can find en-bloc clips for the M95 at gunshows but your best bet is to look for the surplus ammo in the card board boxes and "borrow" the clips for your shooting and return them to the box later.

Ebay has inflated prices for the en-bloc clips (one clip was on there for $25 !).

If you cannot find any clips, send me a pm, I have a few extra I can provide you with to get you going and keep that M95 singing at the range.
 
Nabs said:
Lee makes a bullet mould for .329 which would be perfect for the M95.
Click to expand...

Diameter of this bullet is too small for great majority of M95,to work it would have to be at least .332.

.329 is a jacketed bullet size for this caliber.

It's a great shooter in 8x50 Lebel and worn out bore/throat in 8x57 rifles but not in 8x56R.
 
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