Steyr M95 anyone?

T

tahunua001

New member
I'm looking at getting myself a steyr M95 but I have some questions.

I know the ammo is hard to find as are the en bloc clips but they aren't impossible and lee makes 8x56R reloading dies so I could probably have about as much fun tinkering with loads as I can shooting.

the current rifle price leaves a little concern however. they are currently neck and neck with mosin nagants for price and having bought 2 mosins I'm well aware that you get what you pay for with crude tool marks and not great accuracy. are the steyrs in the same boat or are there other reasons why they are so cheap?

lastly, is there any major difference between the stutzen and budapest made M95s or do they both carry the same value?
 
From what I've seen, bore condition varies widely, which predictably enough could affect accuracy.

What I would recommend is getting a Yugoslavian M95M instead of any of the regular M95's. It's chambered for the far more common 8mm Mauser cartridge and does away with the en bloc clips to load in the more "traditional" manner. It costs a bit more than the typical M95, but the ones I've seen aren't obscenely expensive either.
 
I really think they're cheap because they're such an oddity. The use an oddball caliber, sights are in schritt instead of meters, they use an en-bloc clip, straight pull (and not smooth like the Swiss actions), and they will bruise your shoulder in short order. Add in a ton of them available, and you end up with a cheap rifle. The bores do vary, but accuracy is typically better than Mosin Nagants.
 
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I have an Austrian and a Hungarian M95. Mike is right, the recoil is right on up there, but it's not much different from a Mosin. They're relatively light rifles with a pretty stout cartridge. I may have gotten the luck of the draw, but mine are at least as accurate as I am. They're infantry rifles, not target shooters, so bear that in mind.

Ammo is not hard to find online, but it's not terribly cheap. I reload mine, which drops the cost substantially. I'm also signed up for a group buy on a mold to cast my own bullets over at Castboolits. En bloc clips are also pretty easy to find online.

My advice would be that if you get one in the traditional caliber, buy as many clips as you think you'll ever need...just in case.

As far as the value between the two types, I really don't know.
 
scimmia,
I think you probably just about nailed it, with the only ammo available being PRVI and hornady and both costing well over a dollar a round it isn't nearly as appealing as mosin nagants where you could shoot a full mag for the cost of a single 8x56 round. I recently watched a youtube video of a pair of guys shooting one and they were whining the entire time about recoil. after sporterizing one of my mosin nagants I realized that some of those 10 pound rifles may have been 10 pounds for a reason couple a larger bullet with a larger casing in a considerably lighter rifle I would probably be wise to only shoot it on cold days(extra layers). I have never heard of the yugo M95Ms were they only made in small numbers or did the surplus just dry up before my time?
 
have never heard of the yugo M95Ms were they only made in small numbers or did the surplus just dry up before my time?
Click to expand...

A bit of both, I suppose. But the numbers do indeed have a lot to do with it, something like 120,000 M95M's were which does make them a good deal rarer than the standard M95.
 
Also remember the 8x50R Austrian and 8x56R Austrian-rifles with the big S on the chamber- are two different calibers.
 
Mine came with a PERFECT bore...but the barrel was an obvious depot replacement. She's a SWEET shooter, very tight groups but nowhere near point of aim! The recoil....wow, it does have some wicked kick to it!
 
I have both an Austrian, and a Budapest M95. Both shoot reasonably well for a short, light milsurp carbine. Luckily when I bought them several years ago there was still some of the Nazi WWII ammo available cheap. 2-5round chargers in a funny looking angled box for $1.95. I bought a lot, and still have about 700 rounds left. I don't shoot them a lot, so that should last me quite a while. The reputation for a stiff recoil is well deserved. I think it is noticeably heavier than the recoil of any of my M/N's. Interesting design, and fun little guns. Even if they do tend to color up your shoulder after a range session with one.:D
 
I'll second what Cheapshooter said, fun little carbines with stiff recoil! The bolt design is very interesting, fun to confuse folks who think that a bolt design must always lift up. Moving the bolt feels stiff when inspecting, but at the range it just feels solid.

Without the slips, you have a single shot rifle. There still is the Bulgarian ammo floating around which is loose without clips typically. Find at least one box of the WWII ammo for the clips. The clips work better than some other clip designs such as the Mosin Nagant or even the Mauser charger. Slides right down into the mag and still holds the cartridges firmly. Pay attention and pick the clip back up once it falls out for reuse.

The M95 should be a requirement in more collections. Without this design, and the prototypes it spawned (see Branko's book on Yugo Mausers), you have to question if the leap to semi-autos like the SKS would have been possible. I feel that the function of the bolt in the M95 leads to the development of semi-autos, and while this design may have been an evolutionary dead end itself, the design spurred other innovations.
 
I'll second Mike Irwin's comment about punishing recoil. I have them in both 8 X 50R and 8 X 56R and even the long rifles are just not that enjoyable shooters. Funny thing is that the same 8 X 56R cartridge in a M35 turnbolt is just the opposite, a pleasant shooter. Ergonomics??? If you want to shoot a M95, I'd suggest you look for a M95M. These were reworked for 8 X 57JS Mauser and are also pleasant (though I reload and I'd stay away from some of that hot 8 X 57 out there). Just my 2 cents worth.
 
I've reloaded every round either of my Steyrs have shot. But a guy at another board just sold me 80 rounds on clips for $50. When I got them it was all Nazi marked on both the ammo and on the clips. The cartridges were all made in 1938. Don't know whether to shoot them, or keep them for a collection.


Nah....shoot 'em!

That was $50 shipped, too!
 
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