Steyr M95 sporter!?

[Snood Dewlap]

I looked at an interesting M95 yesterday. It was a sporter with a 3/4 length stock, checkered (Ok quality with some overruns) with a monte carlo comb, dual set triggers, bent bolt, full length solid rib with a 2 leaf flip up sight, chambered in 8X56R. A very nice handling rifle. The owner imported it from Canada about 20 years ago.

Does anybody know if Steyr factory built sporters on the M95 straight puu action? Or can this only be a "sporterized" military rifle. The only markings on it are a serial number begining with "P" and followed by 4 digits stamped on the side of the barrel just in front of the front receiver ring.

Oh, and what a sweet handling thing it was, even with the mannlicher magazine protruding from the bottom of the action! I really wanted to take it home since I already reload for the 8X56R in a Steyr M95 Stutzen.

But anyway, anybody know if Steyr built sporter M95s?

Thanks!

[JGarner197]

Interesting. I just saw a similar rifle with the same background of being imported from Canada. Originally I was under the impression there were no sporters made on the 95 action. However after further research I found that a village in Austria, Ferlach, had a series of guilds and produced custom sporting weapons. This area of Austria is apparently well known for its craftsmanship and high quality. The rifle I looked at had a forward receiver ring that was hexed, was this the case on the rifle you handled? Out of curiousity what part of Washington are you located? It would be random and highly unlikely, but I wonder if we in fact handled the same rifle. I am in the Spokane area.

[kwells6]

that would be a nice set up.

[DrLaw]

I have a friend who brought a bolt action Steyr that had been sporterized to the range one day. I shot it and was impressed.

So I ordered an M95 when it came available here not too long ago. Whoops, something different here. The M95 was a straight pull, his was a turnbolt.

I goofed, but I think I will keep the M95 anyway.

The Doc is out now.

[PetahW]

After the turn of the 20th Century, Steyr-Mannlicher made Sporting Rifles based on the 1895 Steyr action - the 1904 Exportmodell.

Jefferies, in England, also made them, IIRC.

.

[JGarner197]

I went and looked at the rifle again today and am seriously considering purchasing it. It is definitely a Steyr action due to the K code on several different components of the action. Upon further investigation it looks as if someone has machined the forward receiver ring to give it a hexagonal effect (very good work with quality machining). The barrel is the only part that has me slightly stumped. It has a full length rib, a four digit numerical serial number follwed by a P on the left side just forward of the action. This leads me to believe it is a custom barrel and not an altered military barrel. Yet on the right side of the barrel just forward of the receiver it has what appears to be a military stamp (Eagle stamp or possibly the Hungaran crest it was hard to tell). It was quite worn and tough to distinguish. What do you guys think. Also I was going to see what you guys thought on a price. He is firm at $489.99, however I did manage to get him to throw in 4 clips (Nazi marked) and 20 rounds of ammunition (It is German 1938 headstamp Nazi marked corrosive). Any thoughts?

[PetahW]

Choices. That's why some like Vanilla ice cream, while others prefer Pistachio.

The early turnbolt types (Steyr/Mannlicher/Carcano/Berthier/whatever) hold no interest for me, for several reasons.

Some are chambered for unobtainium, mostly corrosive stuff.
They cock on closing ILO opening.
All generally have need for clips to feed said ammo.
All generally have pregnant-looking (IMO) magazines.
All don't have the gas-handling safety features of, say, a 98 Mauser.

But, those are MY dislikes, and certainly YMMV.

They are obviously of interest to a LOT of enthusiasts, including yourself - so, if it appeals to YOU, why not ?

If it's a Steyr Sporter, it's well worth the asking.

BTW - I've owned German/Austrian sporters before, that had a ribbed barrel like yours.
It seems a common custom installation for European gunsmiths of the day, and probably picked up it's military markings after the Nazi's took it.
If it could only talk.

.

[JGarner197]

Thank you for your post. I looked at the rifle a final time and have decided against its purchase. Typically a Ferlach Guild rifle should have an F or Ferlach marked somewhere on the rifle or at least a gunsmiths name based on historical documents. Beings as this rifle does not I have no way to prove this in fact is a legitimate south east Austrian custom sporter. Thus making it even more difficult for me to warrant spending that kind of money on a 95 type action in 8x56R. As far as the barrel is concerned it is my honest opinion, after even closer inspection, this was in fact a military barrel. The serial number is that of a military rifle with the letter code suffix allowing for the numerical digits to reset and begin again with a new suffix. (ie: 9999A, 9999B, 9999C, etc...). The stamp on the left side of the barrel is also that of a military marking. The rifle had definitely been refinished at one point and this also explains the low visibility of the stamp. Whoever installed that rib did a damn fine job. All and all, except for some of the checkering, she was in great shape and deserves a good home I too prefer the cock on opening of a typical Mauser style bolt action. However with the straight pull rotary style bolt of the M95 its cock on closing method is hardly noticeable. Again good point on the safety as well. My father is the big M95 enthusiast, I know quite a bit about them but must be honest by saying they are not a true passion of mine. Though as part of my second world war collection I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a Nazi marked German Police M95.

[Snood Dewlap]

Jgarner,

Been a while since I visited this site so I'm far behind on the posts. I'm sure you and I were looking at the same rifle at All American Arms in Spokane. I agree with your assessent, I too think it was a refurbished militray rifle, but a very nicely done job. I have a standard M-95 that I enjoy shooting becasue I get teased about the way it looks, the straight-pull bolt, the Mannlicher clips etc. etc. etc. I been struggling to make mine shoot cast bullets well so I can use it to suprise people in the Cast bullet assoc. carbine postal matches. But I digress.....

I too considered it as a fun gun to hunt NE WA whitetails with, since I load for that caliber already. But it wasn't worth almost $500 for the novelty factor to me.

Interesting you mention a Nazi marked M-95. There was Nazi marked M-95 Stutzen a the April Spokane gun show. I wasn't sure what that meant, so maybe it was a police carbine like you talked about. I saw it on a private table in the back of the show and I THINK they wanted $400, based on the Nazi marks. I had no idea what it really was, and wasn't willing to pay the price for the markings over a typically $100 gun.