Bought a rifle I didn't know I wanted - Steyr M95 long rifle

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RangeRover

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An M95 was not on my 'want' list. I had seen a few of the short rifles/carbines but the looks didn't speak to me. Then my travels took me into a gun store that has a small stack of milsurps, and among them was the M95 long rifle pictured below. Hmm,I thought, the long rifle has great lines, I like the look of the wood in the stock, and it has Great War history, but I put it down and walked out of the store. But the rifle was stuck in my head and its military history tipped it over into 'buy it' territory. Especially as they are, compared to so many milsurps now, still affordable so I wasn't going to break the bank. (I see a couple on the EE now, too).

A rebuild in 8x56R, with struck out serials (2) on the buttstock and an EP'd s/n on the bolt, but the bore is good. So, I'm new to Mannlicher 95 ownership, advice or comments from others with such rifles welcomed.







 
Fantastic rifles, ammo from Prvi is available as are components from Tradeex.

The long rifles are very elegant and the quality is excellent.
 
That is a nice looking rifle.I've had a carbine for a few years. Did a little load development work with it. Cast bullets only from a Lee mould. Turned out to be an OK cast shooter. Kind of a fun plinker. Never fired a jacketed bullet in mine. I've heard the recoil in the carbines is nasty with the old surplus ammo.
 
Grand old rifle. They made their way across Europe and back, some more than once. I have one long rifle, several carbines, and two or three that were rebarreled to 7.92x57. Above poster was right about recoil in the carbines. I have never fired my rifle. It is still all gunked up with grease. They are very well made firearms, done with the best steel of the day.
 
Accuracy in a M95 will generally be much less than a compariable bolt action of the same era. Reason being the barrel is exceptionally thin. The Austrian-Hungarians were initially proud of that fact as they used the best metallurgy of the era to make a barrel that thin and light. Best grouping I ever got with any M95 was about 3" at 100m using a little carbine in 8x56r.

Another thing that works against you for accuracy is the sights aren't really regulated very well for the 8x56r cartridge, coupled with the fact that the sights start at 500m when the sight is folded down (there is a 300m marking under the leaf when folded up and the sider moved up).

A little trick if your bolt is tough to turn and move, is to unthread the firing pin spring retaining nut about a 1/4 to 1/2 turn. This takes a little bit of pressure off the spring and makes it usable.

From the looks of it your rifle appears to be accepted in service in 1916 by the Austrians, and from there would have made the rounds.
 
Thanks for the info so far. I'm very glad with my decision to purchase it. wd113...yes I have tried it out, with some PPU 8x56R (also picked up a few enblocs with the rifle) And, Eaglelord, I'm hopeful - hopeful - of a bit better than that accuracy with this rifle based on initial efforts at 100 metres. You're right, the sights are not really set up for 100m. Once I found the right amount of hold-off, though, she began to group nicely. More range time required and I'll need to shift the front sight a bit.

Horilka, the matching serial is indeed stamped on the RHS of the buttstock. The cancelled numbers are on the left side. Last two digits are also stamped into the nose cap.

I have also wound up with two bayonets for this rifle - neither of which fits onto the rifle (one comes closer than the other). I gather this is a bit of a chronic issue with these.

And what would be the correct sling for the M95?

Thanks again.
 
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