Franken-Mannlicher-Schoenauer

[josquin]

I picked this up off CGN several years ao and after a little preliminary work on it, it's been languishing in a corner.

It's a bit of a mongrel. Action appears to be a military one; the charging guides are still intact, but the trigger is adjustable. The barrel is 20" , unmarked except for "6.5 x 54 MS" and is rifled, as far as I can measure it, with a 1:9.25" twist, which might explain why I didn't have much luck with the trad. 160gn RN bullets, although I think it shot 140 gn OK. It's had lots of holes drilled in it and came with an unmarked QD lever side mount, quite high, to clear the safety. The safety is possibly longer than the original military one (?) and has a dent/line in it, which suggests a weld(?) Barrel-mounted rear sight base dovetail is likely metric as it's a bit over 3/8". Can't find the original front sight so far.

The safety, trigger guard and magazine box have been (crudely) engraved, including "MCA" on the mag. bottom, and nickel or chrome plated. The stock originally had a high gloss finish and was checkered, with white line spacers, llke a c 1961 MCA (?)

Obviously no great collector's piece but having dragged it out of obscurity I'm thinking I should get it together and try shooting it again. I'd like to get rid of the plating and even engraving and reblue the action parts, but don't know how practical /possible that would be. (A LOT of careful work with w&d paper and probably unadvisable.) In my files I found an old listing from Springfield Sporters (now closed, alas) for new/old blued action parts at not-exorbitant prices but I never acted on them, and Numrich has nothing. I'd want a cheekpiece riser to bring my eyes up to the scope, maybe one of the self-adhesive ones or a leather one from Cheek n' Stock. An aperture sight would be a nice touch but the originals (Lyman 36 etc.) are eye-wateriingly expensive, as would be anything from NEGC. Something to keep me occupied over the winter anyway.

 

[bjmurata]

As a fan of old school sporters I must say I really like that rifle, it would be really cool to know the history of it, if only it could tell it's story.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

I like that a LOT. More character than a bar full of retired Vegas showgirls.

I particularly enjoy the engraved floorplate. if you haven't named the elk (I think it's an elk) may I suggest "Shortbus"?

 

[josquin]

I like that a LOT. More character than a bar full of retired Vegas showgirls.

I particularly enjoy the engraved floorplate. if you haven't named the elk (I think it's an elk) may I suggest "Shortbus"?

Agreed ahout the character. and love the reference I also have a 1942 Husqvarna 9.3 x 57 (den gamle pataten-kaster, "the old potato-chucker" as the Swedes call them) and I feel the same way about it.

I'm not a fan of engraving generally, and not of plating, but you have a point. If the metal had been left blued and the engraving was bright I'd like it more.

I'm still musing over what to do with it. I can get filler screws for a lot of the extra holes from Brownells. One alternative to the high scope mount would be to find a way to use the rear sight dovetail as a front mounting point for a low-power scout scope. Another thought is to use one of the scope base holes in the receiver for a Skinner Lo Pro and put a nice NEGC ramp on the front. Really should have open sights; looks incomplete without them.

...it would be really cool to know the history of it, if only it could tell it's story.

Indeed. It looks like the initials on the floorplate are "WCP", presumably a previous owner.

 

[cody c]

Cool rifle fella, I like the lines and the bolt handle, not so much the bubba looking scope mounts, but if it works who am i to say.

Just curious, would that caliber be a candidate for reaming to a more modern (read: available more commonly) caliber? Not sure of the size of that shell, but would be cool if it could be rechambered to 6.5x55s, 6.5RM or 264W for instance, I'm curious if its a fairly easily done swap for that rifle?

 

[josquin]

Cool rifle fella, I like the lines and the bolt handle, not so much the bubba looking scope mounts, but if it works who am i to say.

Just curious, would that caliber be a candidate for reaming to a more modern (read: available more commonly) caliber? Not sure of the size of that shell, but would be cool if it could be rechambered to 6.5x55s, 6.5RM or 264W for instance, I'm curious if its a fairly easily done swap for that rifle?

It's .264 bore but I reload and have a bunch of Norma brass and both 160 & 140 gn. bullets. Plus, reboring isn't cheap and few people do it. I'm quite happy with the calibre, although I don't know why someone used a 1:9-ish twist for the replacement barrel unless that's what was easily available at the time. I think 1:9 is common foe other 6.5 / .264 cartridges.

The scope mount isn't pretty, I agree. My 9.3 x 57 Husky had a similar mount. The reason is to clear the wing safety, although the Husky has been fitted with a slide safety behind the bolt and similar safeties were available for the M-S. Ideally I'd like to cut the wing safety down a bit or see what the size of the original was and try to get one. I was looking at the rifle this morning and mounting a scout-style scope isn't practical. Nor is lowering that side mount unless I was a skilled with a milling machine and silver-soldering!

Edit: I just found a pic of the original 1903 safety, which would look much better, plus it wold also allow for a lower scope position. Unfortunately lowering the side mount isn't easy. I thought I could just re-drill the mounting holes about 1/4" higher, then cut the bottom off the side plate but the new holes would be right where the edges of the old ones were .



I did find an old Williams WGRS rear sight that would fit on the receiver although only using only one of the existing holes. The rear of the WGRS is too thin to put a second screw in; barely enough for a pin but that might do, with a little Loctite Black or epoxy.