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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

M95 Austrian Project Gun


BobVZ

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Just sitting around in balmy SC (60 F in Dec!) thinking of a good winter project. I'm browsing through Century's latest catalog and eyeing the M95 carbines. My mind is contemplating a a re-barrel to the aforementioned calibers to make a nice little deep-woods deer rifle for 50-100 yd shots. I want to use .30 cal because of the abundance of bullet weights and the standard calibers for ease of finding components. The Krag rim is real close to the 8x56 but a little narrow in the body. The .30-30 is short on both counts, but I think it can work. Working pressures seem to be acceptable for both. I plan on using the issue stock and adding a Schnabel forend tip a few inches shy of the muzzle ala Rem Nylon 66 and a red dot scope. Anybody have any experience in this realm (ie. re-barrel)? My major concerns are if the en-bloc clip will work and the mag is long enough to accomodate the Krag round. I don't have one accessible to make any measurements. Maybe I'll have to create a short-necked Krag wildcat!

 

Bob

 

 

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30-30 will not stay in the clip. 7.62 Russian will stay in the clip about like the 8x56. I have some 30-40 cartridges I can try tomorrow. There are about as many different 8mm bullets as there are 30 cal. Why not just use the original. Also Krag cartridges are scarce as hens teeth. Just my HNO. Also the extractor on the 95 is very finiky about anything but the original rim size. But I put a 410 shotgun barrel in one and it worked fine with that cartridge. riceone.

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riceone,

 

The 8x56 uses a .329 bullet as opposed to the .323 stnd 8mm. Otherwise I would have stayed with it as you suggested. Krag brass is still available from several sources. The Krag rim is only 3-4 thou smaller than the Hungarian round. I wonder if the feed lips on the clip could be bent in to hold the .30-30? But then the extractor problem would still be an issue wouldn't it. Lee makes a .329 mold, so I may have to just shoot cast bullets as-is. Sure would be a lot less expensive and probably adequate at 100 yds.

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You are right about the .329, I had forgotten. I made a die for a fellow some time back to size down a .338 bullet to .329, I guess it was for the 8x56. Never asked. I'll get a box of 30/40 tomorrow and try them. even see if they will feed. riceone.

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You could rebarrel to 8*56 with a .323 bore, and use a 323 expander in your die. But you still need to find 8*56 brass, preferably boxer primed. The ammo problem is maybe why they are so cheap.

 

An M95 is partly responsible for my milsurp and sporter habit. I picked one up at a gunshop in Virginia, and I had to ask for help to make it go! When I got home, I went to Dunhams and bought a Turk, then a K-31, another K-31, an SKS, a 91/30, a 24/47, 2 more K-31's, a Springfield, an Arisaka, a Mas 36.....

 

I still don't have an M95, because I have not solved the ammo problem.

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The hornady 205 grain bullet is more than adequate. Mine is staying ai-is with the issue barrel even. I'm just removing the rear sight band and installing a folding leaf.

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  • 2 weeks later...

About 10 years ago I bought a M95 Steyr in the original 8x50R, some creative soul had cut off the bolt handle and brazed it back onto the left side of the bolt, and reversed the safety. A lefty for the paw disadvantaged like myself.

 

I went thru my dies and found a way to create the brass, used some original brass and berdan decapper(s) which is a frustrating job. Then reformed standard brass but don't remember if it was 30-40 or 7.62x54R.

 

Some oldtimer had added a pistol grip and checkered the grip. covering most of the splice. Fun to shoot but almost impossible to scope, no commercial stocks, triggers, or peep sights available. So, I swapped it for some kind of Carpathian Cat Killer and went on my merry way thru Mauserworld. Lots of cheap "fun" projects like the Jap 6.5 carbine I went deer hunting with one year. Sometimes being really different is as much fun as being really classy. Bill

 

PS some guy has Brazilian M98/08 Mauser receivers for sale on Auction Arms or Gun Broker if you really want to start from scratch on something really good. Didn't add link as I don't know if this is permissable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I have maybe a little help to offer regarding the magazine lips.

 

The 1891 Mauser that I'm working on right now wouldn't keep down 7 x 57 cartridges. Any more than one would just pop out. The magazine I have looks like its slumped a bit with age and might not be as "springy" as it once was (just like me). It seems like the 7 x 57 is a bit narrower around the middle compared to the stock 7.65 x 53 (also kind-of reminiscint).

 

I contemplated all sorts of complicated potential fixes, but ultimately concluded that any sort of proper, elegant fix was going to be beyond my capabilities. Rather than lean it back in the corner to collect dust, I popped the magazine out, put it on the anvil of my lathe, got a mid-sized sharp cold chisel and a little ball peen hammer and put a little dimple on both sides of the rails with one stroke about 1/4" of an inch behind where the shoulder of cartridges hits.

 

This was a pure Bubba approach, but it now works great and holds the cartridges down and feeds them smooth. Time will tell if this was really a good fix, but so far so good.

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