There is an interesting, cheap, fast handling carbine made with old world quality at a world renowned factory, available at cheap prices. What is this rifle? It is the Steyr Mannlicher M95/31(34). A bolt action rifle that uses a straight pull design that was experimented with in the late 19th century and is now considered state of the art with the introduction of the "new" design by Mauser.
The straight pull bolt of the Steyr Mannlicher design originated in 1885, designed by Ferninand Von Mannlicher. It was originally chambered in 11mm (M77), the rifle was approved and adopted by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, designated the Repetier Gewehr M85. It was the first rifle to use the Mannlicher magazine system, using a spring clip inserted directly into the magazine, similar to what was used on the US M1 Garand 50 years later. The first straight pull bolt design used a non-rotating bolt, which pivots from the rear underside of the bolt, locking it into the receiver shoulder.
The first improvement to the rifle was the new Model 1886, which used the Mannlicher system of inserting the spring clip (holding 5 rounds of ammo) directly into the magazine. The rifle stripped one round off at a time, then when empty the clip fell from a cut-out in the bottom of the magazine.
Two years later the rifle came out in a "modern high velocity" caliber, the 8X50R. It was originally a black powder cartridge with a muzzle velocity of approx. 1750 fps. Then in 1890 the cartridge was reintroduced as a smokeless powder round, raising the velocity up to a then impressive 2115 fps. The rifles were retrofitted and redesigned the M88-90. These rifles were considered to be somewhat weak, but tests showed they could withstand chamber pressures up to 40,000 psi.
That same year a new rifle was introduced which used a stronger locking system, to be used from then on. It used a two piece bolt with dual locking lugs, located at the front of the bolt. The front half of the bolt rotates 90 degrees, locking it into place in the receiver. Similar to what is used on machine guns and some semi-automatic rifles. This new rifle was designed the Repetier Carabiner M90. As the name implies it was a carbine, with a barrel length of 19.5" and an overall length of 39.5". Obviously this new rifle was not intended to be a main battle rifle, but it introduced a new and stronger locking system design. The new bolt design traces it's origins back to 1884, but was never made in large quantities until this time.
The final incarnation was arrived at in 1895 and was designated the Repetier Gewehr M95. This rifle was considered to a strong rifle design, that withstood a torture test of firing 50,000 rounds through one rifle without lubrication of any kind. The rifle was made in huge quantities and was the standard main battle rifle of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during WWI. It was made in two different locations within the empire, by Steyr in Austria and by unknown manufacture in Budapest. Interestingly enough, during the war the Austrian government thought about switching rifles to the standard design of their partner, Germany. In 1914 they tested a 7mm Mauser type rifle which outwardly resembled an earlier Mannlicher design. For obvious reasons they did not make this switch during the middle of the war.
The dimensions of the rifle were in keeping with the times. It had a barrel length of 30.12", with an overall length of 50". With this longer barrel the new 8X50R round achieved a muzzle velocity of 2030 fps. This is in keeping with other military rounds of the times and is roughly equivalent to the 30-40 Krag, .303 British, or the early 8mm Mauser.
After the empire lost the war and was dissolved the armaments were dispersed throughout the new countries from the old empire. The booty was split up among the countries of Greece, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia all being given numerous rifles. Italy had even used the M88-90 and M95 against Austria during WWI. After the war Greece, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia reworked the M95's and rebarrelled them to except the German 8MM (7.92 Mauser). They also made improvements to the magazine, so it could except the German Mauser charging clips. The Greeks even converted the older M88-90 to the high powered German 8mm round, despite the rifle's weaker action.
Despite this large amount of booty being shipped out of the country, Austria still had a large quantities of rifles around. In 1930 the Austrian government decided to rebarrel the the rifles for the new 8X56R, which had been developed for use in the "Solothurn S2-200" (MG30S) machine gun. The round itself has a diameter of 8.36mm and is 55.8mm long, with a sloping shoulder and a rim diameter of 14.08mm. It uses a spitzer type bullet weighing 13.25 grams (206 grains), with a muzzle velocity of about 1900 fps (in a 19" barrel).
In order to distinguish the newly converted rifles from the older unconverted ones a 12mm high "S" was stamped on the receiver. This stood for "Spitzgeschoss", which means Pointed Projectile. This converted rifle had a barrel length of 19.5" and resembled the earlier carbine and a "Stutzen" rifle. The "Stutzen" rifle was designed and used by special unit troops; ie: combat engineers, signal corp, etc. This conversion was also enacted by Hungary which designed the newly converted rifle the 31M (Model 31) and stamped a letter "H" on the receiver.
After Germany absorbed Austria in 1938 the army did not use this as a main batttle rifle, but issued it to home guard and police units. They served in this capacity throughout the war with scant attention, compared to the Gewehr98.
Today these rifles are being imported and sold at bargin basement prices, but the ammunition availability, quality of some of the guns, and some bore conditions make for a good reason they are sold cheaply. Given the popularity of all Nazi memorabilia I am surprised they are still available at such low prices.
The ammo is the hardest part of the weapon to deal with. RCBS is the only company that manufactures anything for this caliber. They sell dies and forming dies (7.62X54 Russian to 8x54R), but they do not supply any support or data to help the reloader. There is still some original ammo available from some importers, but it all dates back to 1938 (including Nazi eagle headstamp) and is presumably corrosive, so use of this old ammo is not ideal. The real value is in that the ammo is sold with the spring clip, which without that clip the rifle becomes a single shot.
The rifle has some definite quirks, but it is accurate and fun to shoot and real piece of history available for a bargin basement price.