Steyr SSG 69 "green machine" picture thread (updated with new pics!)

SRSA311 said:
Snowy Owl; I feel sorry for us! I just "assumed" that having a 69, that you would have a Kahles mounted on it. I regret that I will have to withdraw my offer for the trade in case another member was looking to jump on this incredible deal.
What are you running for a scope? Pictures?
SRSA311
Click to expand...

Scope : US Optics SN-3 1.8-10x 44mm Objective with some bells and whistles (EREK, ERGO, etc). I have great respect for the SSG 69/Kahles scope teams but I have not yet decided which load I will use and chances are that the Kahles Ballistic Cams will not be in line with the trajectory. Many possibilities here. No pictures - for now. US Optics scopes are big, heavy and burly.

Mounts : Recknagel, from Germany - via our good friend Phil, of course.

I think that I am suffering from another severe relapse of my Steyr Mannlicher SSG 69 rifle addiction ... !

And I also have other rifle addictions : Springfield Armory Inc. M1A, Lee Enfield No4 MK2, to name a few ! Life is hard, yes really hard ...
 
Snowy Owl said:
9.3x62,

It took me a while to get back to you - and I do not have all the answers but here is what I know. I might be wrong. I am sometimes.

The Steyr Mannlicher SSG 69 P1 and P11 rifles have a press fit barrel - meaning that the barrel is not screwed in the receiver (no threads). Instead, the barrel is litterally pushed into the receiver and pressed under ten tons of pressure. The lenght of the barrel shank in the receiver is unusally long, at 57mm (roughly 2¼"), resulting in a very rigid barrelled action.
One exception for the SSG 69 P1V which has a short (16.1") threaded (screwed) barrel with a different twist - 1/10" instead of 1/12".

As for the possibility of rebarrelling the Steyr Mannlicher SSG 69 P1 and P11 rifles, it seems that there are two options that might or might not be available, depending on where you live :

1) You could send the barrelled action back to the Steyr factory. I have read that somewhere but I don't know anybody - or have ever heard of anybody - who has done it. Here in Canada, I think that you might as well forget about that option unless you know someone who is well connected with the Steyr people at the factory and that someone DOES NOT include the actual Canadian Steyr Mannlicher importer, for reasons that I will not elaborate here.

2) It looks like that the Steyr SSG 69 P1 and P11 rifles can be rebarrelled outside the factory but that would be a rather "major" undertaking from a gunsmithing point of view : cut the barrel, clean up the receiver without damaging it and then thread it for a new barrel. Not many gunsmiths would be interested - methinks.

But all hope is not lost. In september 2008 (09-22-2008 to be more precise), Mr Oliver Bauer sent me an email that I transcribe here for you - verbatim :

"Dear Sir,

About 25 years ago, some SSG 69 CHAMBERS (and only chambers) were chromed lined.
All newer SSG 69 rifles feature a cold hammer forged barrel for outstanding accuracy and lifetime. Our internal tests show a lifetime of around 15,000 rounds (with proper care and handling, the use of high quality ammo ......).

All the best,

Oliver Bauer
Sales Manager

STEYR MANNLICHER GmbH
Ramingtal 46
A-4442 Kleinraming
Austria"

Well, 15,000 or 12,000 or even 10,000 rounds is a lot of rounds for a non chromed rifle barrel. Maybe then, after so many rounds and if the rifle is not grouping under 1 MOA at LONG RANGE, maybe it's time to get another Steyr Mannlicher SSG 69 rifle ?
Click to expand...

Sir - the barrels of the older SSG69 rifles were inserted cryogenically.

The barrels were frozen and the receivers were heated, and the two were pressed together. As such, they are VERY difficult to change out.

As for the barrel life, my part of the Army bought a number of SSG69s in the early 1980's. I got to shoot one in particular between that date and leaving the Army back in 2000. I last shot it the day before I left, and filled out the gun log with the figures 14880.

The group, fired with S&B 190gr Match, was smaller than the test group that had accompanied the rifle when it was new.

I'd buy one like a shot, if I could.

tac in yUK
 
SRSA311 said:
#4 Mark 1*, #4 Mark 2 and stuff...
How does your 69 group @ 100 yards?
Nice scope!
Click to expand...

I have the Steyr Mannlicher factory test target : 0.650 MOA at 100 meters with Federal Gold Medal Match 168 grain ammo. Three shots from - I presume - a rifle rest. That doesn't tell me much about the grouping capacity of the rifle at LONG RANGE (for me 500-800 meters).

As soon as I can, I intend to test my rifle with factory Lapua Match ammo (167 gr. bullet) just to see if I can get smaller groups all the way up to 800 meters but that could take a while.

I hope that I am not hijacking what was ghostie's thread in the beginning ...
 
I have had both of the SSG 69s the green and the P model with black stocks. I liked to shoot them but hate the mags, they seem to be fragile especially the locking system. They are great when they are new but the synthetic parts of the guns will break or crack sooner or later. I din't think you can torque down the action to the stock like you can with a HS precision stock. A friend of mine had one of the sporting rifles and his trigger guard cracked, he had quite a time getting a replacement. I really like the scope Kahles ZFM 6x42 Z I traded it off for a brief time but got it back and its staying.
 
Dreaded Platypus said:
Just curious...How much would it cost (approximately) to get into something of this quality?
Click to expand...


In 2010, I bought my rifle from the U.S. Steyr Mannlicher importer/distributor (dealer price) and had it imported into Canada by Prophet River Firearms (Mr Clay Smiley - owner of the business - was most helpful, to say the least, in this particular case). Prophet River Firearms is a CGN sponsor.

Those rifles are still advertised for sale at 1,899.00$ U.S. and you must add the importation fee (now 250.00$ Cad), shipping/insurance and the applicable Canadian taxes.

For some reasons that elude me, those rifles are just about impossible to get in Canada even if there is officially a Steyr Mannlicher importer/distributor in our country.

Now, I really think that I have hijacked ghostie's original thread !
 
Last edited:
tacfoley said:
Sir - the barrels of the older SSG69 rifles were inserted cryogenically.

The barrels were frozen and the receivers were heated, and the two were pressed together. As such, they are VERY difficult to change out.

As for the barrel life, my part of the Army bought a number of SSG69s in the early 1980's. I got to shoot one in particular between that date and leaving the Army back in 2000. I last shot it the day before I left, and filled out the gun log with the figures 14880.

The group, fired with S&B 190gr Match, was smaller than the test group that had accompanied the rifle when it was new.

I'd buy one like a shot, if I could.

tac in yUK
Click to expand...


To tell the truth, I knew about the fact that the Steyr Mannlicher SSG 69 rifle barrels might have been cryogenically inserted in the receiver but I was not able to substantiate such an assertion. I even remember reading somewhere that the barrels were frozen in liquid nitrogen before insertion. Now, where have I read that ? I don't know.

The part about the barrel life of the specific SSG 69 that you have shot through the years is really interesting - maybe I should say astounding : 14,880 rounds and still grouping smaller than the test group when the rifle was new ! Though it is not the first time that I hear about very long life for SSG 69 rifle barrels.

Without disclosing any State or Army secrets, may I ask you what was (were) the most accurate factory load(s) for the SSG 69 rifles that you had at the time - meaning S&B, Lapua, Norma, etc ? I see that this specific rifle was able to stabilize a 190 gr. bullet very nicely, by the way.
 
Snowy Owl said:
To tell the truth, I knew about the fact that the Steyr Mannlicher SSG 69 rifle barrels might have been cryogenically inserted in the receiver but I was not able to substantiate such an assertion.
Click to expand...

I can substantiate it, because about 20 years ago I saw one with the barrel cut off and the stub milled out to re-barrel. As I recall it was then threaded for the new barrel. It was a long shoulder too IIRC and I believe it was parkerized down the hole, though I could be wrong about that now.
 
RRCo. said:
I can substantiate it, because about 20 years ago I saw one with the barrel cut off and the stub milled out to re-barrel. As I recall it was then threaded for the new barrel. It was a long shoulder too IIRC and I believe it was parkerized down the hole, though I could be wrong about that now.
Click to expand...


RRCo.,

Thank you very much for the corroboration.

Snowy Owl
 
odelleng said:
Ghostie & Snowy Owl;

It remains a pleasure to deal with you guys and to "talk guns" in person or by email anytime. I also appreciate your kind words. Let me add a few notes of my own for everyone else:

North Sylva is still the Steyr distributor for Canada. They are a full time importer and wholesaler of guns and related volume items. If you are an Anshutz or Feinwerkbau owner you really do appreciate these guys for keeping those lines alive in Canada. They have to turn a profit daily and a lot of our stuff would never ever be considered "profitable" by an accountant.

That said what we are talking about here are some very exotic, low volume, and just plain old (okay Ann Margret old - still smokin' hot IMHO!) guns and parts. We got into Steyr when we were approached by the factory directly some years ago (I was a sales guy with Diemaco and having done enough shoot offs with Erwin we had become good friends as well as tough competitors) to handle warranty work, Military/LE and special orders. At the time Bob Nicholls was the main importer, now taken over by North Sylva. We continue to have a very good relationship with both North Sylva and the factory and we have a healthy supply of older gun parts in stock as well with my background I am very fortunate to be able to ask their engineers directly for help when I need it.

Our customers actually are global, within ITAR and UN restrictions we sell our parts literally around the world, so it you have to know there isn't a lot of business in Canada to justify a North Sylva sinking the dough we can into this because, for us, it really is as much a labour of love as a business. (Yes I am really lucky to be in that position!)

So if you need something weird for the old Schoenoers, SSGs, S/M/L/SLs, the big girls (50s), or the ###y AUGs and it is marked Steyr "etc." or hangs on a Steyr host please give us a call. If it is a current SBS , Pro Hunter, etc. your local gun guys should be able to get help from Dom and the guys at N.S. If you are in doubt feel free to contact me here or offline and I will try to put you to the right place.

Again, to Ghostie and Snowy Owl, its a pleasure to know you guys and we are privileged to help with your projects. Ghostie I do have some 10 rounders for the SSG in stock and info is coming to you direct.

Thanks all.

Phil O'Dell
Click to expand...

Thank you for the announcement, I will pass this info along to friends/acquaintances. Esp. regarding the 10 rd magazines---How much do they cost? Do you also have the picitanny rail adapter available for the SSG?
Do you/can you get the other steyr precision rifles that they offer, like the SBS based one?

Also, Are the ssg barrels chrome lined? (not just the chamber). Are Steyr's newer rifles barrels chrome-lined too? They do not say on their website. Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions.:)
 
I feel better now

albayo said:
I have had both of the SSG 69s the green and the P model with black stocks. I liked to shoot them but hate the mags, they seem to be fragile especially the locking system. They are great when they are new but the synthetic parts of the guns will break or crack sooner or later. I din't think you can torque down the action to the stock like you can with a HS precision stock. A friend of mine had one of the sporting rifles and his trigger guard cracked, he had quite a time getting a replacement. I really like the scope Kahles ZFM 6x42 Z I traded it off for a brief time but got it back and its staying.
Click to expand...

I feel better now, I didn't mess up, had a 10rd mag disintegrate on me during a precision match,other than that I love my green and black rifles. So accurate they are abit boring.
 
I think Steyr should have manufactured the guns with metal trigger guards and mags, or metal locking systems. If you look at where the locking lugs attach to the trigger guard there isn't much meat holding the mag to the gun.
Other than that I loved the guns, adjustable stock length, and accurate.
I am just not fond of orphans when it comes to replacing parts, or customizing a firearm to fit the shooters individual needs. I didn't want to take it out in the winter and use it because synthetic material cracks easily in the cold.
For example, which one of there two Harley-Davidson or BMW, can you get more after market parts for customizing your ride?
Same applies to Remingtons and Steyr rifles.
 
albayo said:
I think Steyr should have manufactured the guns with metal trigger guards and mags, or metal locking systems. If you look at where the locking lugs attach to the trigger guard there isn't much meat holding the mag to the gun.
Click to expand...


Yes, Steyr Mannlicher should have manufactured the guns with metal trigger guards and mags, or metal locking systems. You are absolutely right. Why they did not do so is beyond my comprehension.

So, we have to keep spare parts at hand - when possible. The weakest part of the whole rifle is undoubtedly the mag well/trigger guard.

Like Barrett Tillman already said in his classic article (Deadly Accuracy from the Mean Green Gun) about the Steyr Mannlicher SSG 69 rifle : "it is not perfect".

Unfortunately, no, "it is not perfect" !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom