Interesting Rifle

[versifier]

I am leaving in a little while to go and check out a very interesting old rifle. It's a Mannlicher m95 straight-pull in 8x56R. The 8x56 uses a .328 bullet like the old Japanese Murata, not the normal .323 8mm bullet. It is fed with the Mannlicher enbloc clip like the Carcano, but this one holds rimmed cases and I'm told the clips are very hard to find and very expensive when found. This rifle has no clip with it, so in effect it is a single shot. I don't know if I will buy it/trade for it, but there's a lot of ammo with it and the price seems reasonable so we shall see. Anybody know anything about the round or the rifle? The round was also used in the m35.

[j1]

Hello the board. Testing 1,2,3.

It is nice to see my horsey again.

[versifier]

Well, I came home with it. Don't know if I will buy it or not but that beautiful little straight-pull bolt is an engineering marvel. The stock was "sporterized", not quite bubba'd, but not real pretty, but it is a handy little carbine, the length of a Carcano and a bit heavier in weight. It's going to be a real pain to find bullets that size or that can be sized down to .328-.330. I haven't priced dies, and won't unless I can get at least one clip. There is a bunch of Berdan milsurp ammo in really good shape and a bunch of fairly new Prvi ammo that is boxer primed. There was another more popular conventional bolt that was chambered for the round so there must be a bunch of them in Europe still in use. The round is similar to a .35Rem in power and trajectory, good enough for anything in the New England woods including moose at our short ranges. Recoil ought to be tolerable.

Gunbroker is a nogo for clips, likewise Numrich but I found I can get from them a working rotary mag for my Greek 1905 Mannlicher in 6.5M/S for just over $100 and it will at long last be more than just a single shot. So it was worth my time searching so far. Nothing will ever make that 05 a "pretty rifle", but how many subMOA rifles that old do you come across?

But the immediate problem is the 95.

Anyone have any ideas where I can get a clip or two?

[SkyKid]

Vers
Have you tried here
http://www.libertytreecollectors.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=64

[versifier]

Thank you!

[versifier]

Great site, I ordered a pair of them. Shot it today. Very glad of 1" thick sorbothane recoil shield as it spits out 200+gr bullet at around 2300fps. Clearly I need to put a recoil pad on it. Not real impressive accuracy wise (it pieplates with the milsurp ammo, didn't try the Prvi), but the loads were designed for a later rifle in the same chambering. I found a set of loading dies really cheap for it. If I can find a mould for those oversized .328+ (maybe .330 or .331) bullets (or one not too much bigger than target size so I can size them down without distorting them) I'll be in business. There are some in .338 out there, I can start with them. With a nice light cast load it ought to be a pussycat and downloading it to .35rem levels will tame the recoil bite while still leaving it an effective woods rifle. Once I find bullets it shouldn't take too much futzing to get those groups down to a respectable size. I've got lots of 3031 and 4895.

[versifier]

I ordered the dies and a mould. Don't know if I'll have time to do anything until this fall, but I can still shoot it in the mean time. Gotta get some more boxer brass for it too I guess.

[SkyKid]

Vers
Let us know how she performs eh

[Kirbydoc]

Versifier, You do know that if you drool on 'em they rust quicker, right?

[versifier]

I've noticed that. Fortunately women don't.

[versifier]

Tried the old girl with the Prvi ammo today and got a 3" 100yd group. Things are really starting to look up here. Recoil was not quite as bad as the mil ammo, but I was still very glad to have 1" of sorbothane Past magnum shield between my shoulder and that metal butt plate. It's like shooting a single shot 12ga. The dies and the .329" mould came today, clips are on the way. Barrel slugging comes next. Recoil pad will be a winter project for sure and some stock repairs and basic de-Bubba work when I have it apart. And I need to get a few boxes of reloadable brass. I will take some photos soon and post them.

[versifier]

Got the clips today and it feeds slick. My Carcano, even though it has rimless cases, doesn't feed as cleanly as these rimmed ones do. Go figure.

[versifier]

Here are the photos. 324

[versifier]

Action closed. 325

[versifier]

Action opened. 328

[versifier]

If you look up the cartridge, 8x56R Hungarian, in Cartridges of the World, you can see a b&w shot of how it looked in its original un-Bubba'd state and read about the round it fires. Or you can go here for a lot better pictures: https://www.google.com/search?q=mannlicher+model+1895&biw=1366&bih=657&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=2wyGVabrGoqWygT7pYKgCw&sqi=2&ved=0CCkQsAQ

[j1]

Women don't what? Drool or rust?

[versifier]

Rust if you drool on them. Slap yes, rust no.