Steyr 1895

[rcflyer]

Anybody familiar with the Steyr 1895 Stutzen Carbine. They are selling for pretty cheap. Good, Bad, Ugly?

 

[shooter521]

A friend of mine recently picked one up. Says of all his mil-surp rifles, it is the most fun to shoot and is among the most accurate. The crapper is finding ammo for it.

Many of the "stutzens" (carbines) out there were built by cutting down full-length rifles. These are known as M95/34s.

Some info:
Mannlicher M95/30 Rifles and Carbines in Austria Hungary

My friend's carbine:

 

[steif]

m95's

Yup, they are fun... and have a very stout recoil!! I have read that there were actually as many of the M95 and all the variations (rifles, carbines, etc..) in service in WW1 than any other rifle except for the Mosin M91's. They were in use by Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Germany, and a host of other countries as well.

The ammo and Clips are hard to find now, Dunhams used to carry it and might still, I don't know, have not looked lately. I still have a couple thousand rounds in my Stash.
Keep every clip you find, they have to be used to shoot the rifle.
reloading is a option, but with bore sizes averaging .326 to .329 you need to slug your bore before getting set up to load, it's hard to find bullets to fit unless you cast your own, then they are really fun! download with a light cast bullet load, and you can get the target groups going small!
New unprimed brass is available, as well as lee and rcbs dies.

bottom line is for the money, it's very much worth picking one up.
When I had my C+R FFl I ordered 20 from Century for $9.87 each as a ufixem... had good luck and only had to part one out to get the others fixed, but those days are long gone. This was only about 7 or 8 years ago.. But I still see some for under a hundred at times.

 

[rcflyer]

There are several companies selling them for $79.95. I think I might get one. Also want a K98 Mauser and a MN M44. Already have a MN 91/30 and a Nagant 7.62 Revolver. I like Russian stuff. I fly Giant Scale Russian Aerobatic RC airplanes as well. They fly great. Russian stuff is cool and cheap.

 

[dice dealer]

Very fun to shoot but without the clips they are basicly single shot rifles ...and good luck finding ammo ...8x56R is not a common round ,
i found some from a guy on gunbroker for not to bad a price .

 

[Disposable Heart]

You can handload for it, using (if I remember correctly) 7.62x54 brass, resizing it, trim and then get a bullet that is of an odd diameter. Its larger than .311 but smaller than .338. Graf and Sons carries some bullets in that diameter, but only two or so choices in bullet type.

All in all, great rifle, but one would usually end up only with the ammo they can get immediantly, as additional ammo is hard to come by. Great triggers for a milsurp gun too!

 

[decalguy]

I have a 1903 Steyr I bought at an Indy gun show. I too found out how hard it is to find ammo, I tried every dealer at the show. I actually found some at my local show. It is all dated 1938 and has the Nazi markings on it. I'm actually trying to sell mine now.

 

[dice dealer]

I have a 1903 Steyr I bought at an Indy gun show. I too found out how hard it is to find ammo, I tried every dealer at the show. I actually found some at my local show. It is all dated 1938 and has the Nazi markings on it. I'm actually trying to sell mine now.

Is that 1903 the 6.5 x 54 Ms round ?......if it is shoot me a PM ill tell you were to get some ammo ......it is high but this guy will have it ...

 

[boozoo]

Sounds like it might be one of the contract guns that Steyr made... they used to put "Steyr" and the year-of-make on the side of the receiver for those.... like this:

(click the thumbnail for a close up)


Does it have a crest on the top, too?




Also from the sound of it (the Nazi marked ammo), it smells like you are talking about an m95 contract gun (8x56R). The ammo isn't normally going to be found at dealers unless you get out to Rendezvous Guns in Greenfield... he has some more of that Nazi surplus. I have found some at a higher price on AIMSurplus, J&G Sales, Sportsman's Guide, and Graf's.... Sometimes it's Nazi stuff, sometimes it's the expensive Hornady... but it does come and go. I was looking at J&G just yesterday and they were selling tins of Bulgarian surplus.