M1895 Steyr, worth the rare expensive ammo?

[lostsniper308]

There's some nice Steyr M1895 carbine rifles for $98.00 at a local gunstore. wood matchs and are mostly in excellent condition. metal finish is just as good. the downside is the ammo is only made by Hornady far as i know only online, couldn't find any surplus.
So do y'all think the low price of such a nice rifle worth the hunts for surplus and/or soley buying online Hornady...unless i find this hornady in a big gunstore.

although $20 doesn't seem too bad when i buy .300 Wby Mag for $45+ dollars

[Brithunter]

Well the Steyr Model 1895 is an interesting piece of early breech-loading history. The rifles take a little getting used to  and sometimes the extractor requires tweaking for  smooth bolt operation. The carbines or rifles cut down to carbines are robust in the recoil department. This is the oen I used to have:-



  I sold to to a friend who collects Steyr's as mine was issued in the Brno District of the Czech republic and it didn't fit into my collection anymore. I only ever used surplus ammo. Whatever ammunition you decide to use make sure you get some clips as without them the rifle is a single shot. The Enbloc clipe is actually the feed lips and is known as "The packet Loading system" and is why Mauser developed the staggered magazine so he didn't have to pay Royalties to Mannlicher as they did with the Mauser 1888.

[lostsniper308]

can i get the clips separate? cause i have not found surplus ammo, just modern factory.
Recoil i can deal with, i have at least fired all the Mosin-nagant types, K98s, and enfield.
I'd like a military surplus rifle down here, all mine are up north.
The ones i held the actions worked well, and the flip sights are fuctional and the numbers/range markings are undamaged.

I had thought of a No.4 Mk1 enfield, but i DO have one its just up north. this M1895 would be a good addition to the surplus collection between my dad and I.

[EVOC ONE]

A couple of years ago I was real hot for a Steyr.  I started spending time over at Surplus Rifle and Parallax Bills mil-surp sites learning what I could about them.  What darkened my spirits was learning of extractor problems and, as you say, difficulty in locating ammo.  Ammo does/did seem to show up sporadically, however. 

On one of those sites was a member who was having some success either making a stronger extractor or modifying the existing one.  I forget which.  Anyway it was a work in progress and he was making reports as the project progressed.  If anything came of it, I would think there would be a sticky on the appropriate forum.

Apologies for not being able to provide exact details.

From comments I've read, it seems the consensus is that the Steyr does recoil harder than a Mosin carbine.

[Brithunter]

Hmmm I think you are confused sir! the extractor helps hold the bolt in the unlocked but cocked position when you take the bolt out of the action. there is a little pip which it locks onto and this gets worn over many years and the bolt snaps back to the uncocked position which means it's not possible to put the bolt back in. A little work cleanign this up and it works fine. The otehr slight problem is that the bolt feels stiff again this is due to years of accumulated wear and a little work with an oil stone remedies it. Clipsa re available with out the ammo and are quite common in the US. In fact I got most of mine from friends off forums in the US as the ammo I was getting came in 400 rd sealed tins but without clips. I believe it was Bulgarian ammo as it had a lion rampant o the headstamp.

Remember most of the Model 95's served through the First World War and a lot did a stint in the 2nd as well. The fighting between Serbia and the Austrians was particularly fierce.

[Oldtimer]

For hunting, the front sight will have to be replaced.  I understand that the sight for the Swedish M-96 will fit, but have not tried it myself.  Otherwise, you could build up the front sight, but then the markings on the rear sight will be off.  As to the recoil, the service load is a 206 gr. bullet at around 2100 f/s.  This is in the .35 Remington range.  With a steel buttplate, it does feel noticeable.  I never had trouble with it, but a number of my rifles run to .40+, so I am not a good one to ask about recoil.  I have saved the clips and the Berdan brass, thinking sometime I may find some Berdan primers to use for reloading.  Lee makes a .330 mold, and the velocity is not too high for lead bullets, if the bore is good.

[EVOC ONE]

Hmmm I think you are confused sir! the extractor helps hold the bolt in the unlocked but cocked position when you take the bolt out of the action. there is a little pip which it locks onto and this gets worn over many years and the bolt snaps back to the uncocked position which means it's not possible to put the bolt back in. A little work cleanign this up and it works fine. The otehr slight problem is that the bolt feels stiff again this is due to years of accumulated wear and a little work with an oil stone remedies it. Clipsa re available with out the ammo and are quite common in the US. In fact I got most of mine from friends off forums in the US as the ammo I was getting came in 400 rd sealed tins but without clips. I believe it was Bulgarian ammo as it had a lion rampant o the headstamp.

Remember most of the Model 95's served through the First World War and a lot did a stint in the 2nd as well. The fighting between Serbia and the Austrians was particularly fierce.

That little "pip" you refer to may be what the fellows at those sites were referring to.  I'm not sure.  Whatever it was, it was sure giving those guys a hard time.  Though it doesn't sound so bad after reading your explanation.  Thanks for the clarification.

[S.S.]

the only thing I have that I like better in heavy brush is my Win 94 trapper.
Recoil does bite some though.