STEYR M95 8X56R

The M1895 was the Austro-Hungarian main battle rifle during World War I, and for some time afterwards. An estimated 3,500,000 were made and large numbers have reached the US. The rifle was produced by Steyr for the Austrian Army, marked STEYR M 95 on the receiver. For the Hungarian Army the rifle was produced by Budapest, marked BUDAPEST M 95 on the receiver. About 25%-35% of the total production was made at Budapest. The military acceptance marks show the date of manufacture: they consist of the letters Wn for Wien (Vienna), the Austro-Hungarian double eagle and a two digit date; or Bp for Budapest, the Hungarian crest and a date. Most rifles seem to be dated 17, as production reached its zenith at that point in the war. By 1918 when production ceased, Austria was pretty much on the ropes.

After the war, the small Austrian and Hungarian armies continued to use the M95. In 1930 Austria re-chambered the rifles for a more powerful cartridge, the 8 X 56 M30. The rifles were called the M95/30. Hungary followed in 1931, calling the cartridge the M1931 and the rifle the 31M. The longer round put out a 208 gr. spitzer boat tail bullet at 2280 fps from the rifle length barrel. The groove diameter remained .329 inch and a .329 inch bullet was used. Base and rim were the same as the 8 X 50, so no change was needed in the bolt head or extractor. Rifles are much less common than carbines or stutzens since most of the rifles were cut down to stutzen length. Cut down rifle barrels have the front sight on a barrel band, and the rear is usually the longer rifle sight. Recoil in the 6.5 lb. carbines was pretty grim. Rifles chambered for the 8 X 56R are stamped with a large ‘S’ on the top of the chamber, except that some, not all, Hungarians are stamped H instead. It is possible some rifles were re-chambered without receiving any special markings