Yesterday's Weapons Forums

More 95s at http://www.militarygunsupply.com/shop2/ ... cts_id=135
or
Military Gun Supply in Ft Worth Tx --$139 cheaper for ffl and C&R

Howdy I been lurking and am very very grateful for all the info on this site. Ya'll are fantastic.
For years I been fascinated by straight pulls but couldn't afford a Navy Lee and despite reloading and making the occasional custom cartridges for 30 yrs ( I still got a lot to learn) The swiss rubin and M95 seemed too much work. (And cleaning rifles for corrosive powder and primers the way the USMC taught me was more work and worse than black powder!!!)
That changed when i walked into Military Gun Supply for the first time- I walked out with one of each.
I liked the Swiss and the M-95 so much I bought a second one later.
I am in love with the M-95's and this will become my new Hog rifle replacing my jap 7.7. What a blast.
Got one question though the action is real stiff for a 92 year old rifle. Do they loosen up after shooting them awhile or is there another trick
Thanks Joe
PS they have 1939 Bulgarian ammo with no stripper clips. least i think it's Bulgarian - Rampant Lion head stamp looks like.

_________________
"If it killed them 150 years ago it will still kill them today. " (Response to a question about black powder fire arms)

REM,

The action on the Austrian M95 is inherently stiffer than on the Swiss K31. The reason is that the caming grooves on the M95 are internal and necessarily have a constant cam angle. The external caming slot on the Swiss K31 is progressive. This makes it easier to operate. A light moly grease applied to the internal grooves will make it easier to operate an M95, but the design limitations can never equal the Swiss K31. If Mannlicher had made the system multilug with three or more lugs on the bolt head the mechanism would have been easier to operate since the head would require less rotation like on the M16. They both are still fun to shoot. Made all the better with Grafs.com supplying boxer primed M95 cases now for the Austrians. Look ma! no corrosion. It made the Stuzens so popular that the price has doubled.

Greg

_________________
"If it killed them 150 years ago it will still kill them today. " (Response to a question about black powder fire arms)

Rem1875,

How does your m95 group at 100yds with the Hornandy bullets?

I have some 180 grain swaged Nosler ballistic tips, but have not had the chance to try them. I think they guit making the .338s in 180 grain but I am not sure.

I might try some of the 100 grain lebel total jacket that grafs sells as I don't need the 205 grain jawbreakers. Any suggestions as to a load?


Greg

My favorite load so far with the Graf 115 grain .330 pistol bullet:

6.0 grains of Trail Boss. You're not supposed to use jacketed bullets with Trail Boss, but the copper plating on the Graf 115 grain bullet is thin and softer than gilding metal on "normal" jacketed bullets. Plus, this pistol bullet has a fairly short bearing surface with minimum friction, fired in a strong rifle action & barrel. My experiments using Red Dot and Unique were not very good with the 115 grain bullet, but quite good with Trail Boss.

About the resistance in the action of the M95. Of the many I have owned or now own, I notice some work much more smoothly than others. This is only a guess, but some bolt heads might be better fit to the grooves than others. The mis-matching of parts over the years may contribute to this problem.

The M95 will never be the smooth action that the K31 is.

Gary,

The symptoms you describe with some of your M95s sound like a problem I have noticed. Would you help in sorting this out? The problem I noticed is bolt drag when operating the bolt in either direction. What I think is happening is that the bolthead is not completely locking up or is too easily upset so that the bolt head is partially tripped and dragging by placing rotational pressure on the race channels. I notice that if I place a temporary downward clockwise pressure on the bolt handle the bolt head seems to lock back into place.

BTW this is the kind of bolt that jams the action when the bolt is removed and the head pivots prematurely. Do you think this the same thing and may be caused by differences in fit as you suggested or wear? Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I worry that this may cause accelerated wear of the bolt raceways if not corrected.

Greg

I have tried 2 loads with the Hornaday 205gr- Graf brass and BL (C)2 at paper and water jugs at about 75 yards braced off the rear tire on my tractor and have another m-95 that I have not tried (YET) -nothing scientific. I need more work before I can comment, as these didnt not exactly leave a single ragged hole lol. I need to rule out shooter error and test more loads -I also received bifocals. I tried 8x56r out in a session where I tried 2 K-31 swiss. I can still hit- the swiss printed where aimed and was awesome as a rapid fire weapon but I need more time with the 95s before I can give a truly fair opinion. I did have a blast though shooting the m-95 and look forward to learning more. One of these days I will set up a casting session and try the lee molds out now that its finally cooling down (still was in the 90's today)
I do feel confident enough with the accuracy and power of the 95s to use on feral hogs if need be.

_________________
"If it killed them 150 years ago it will still kill them today. " (Response to a question about black powder fire arms)

Oldernavy:

I can't really comment as to the "why" of a bad bolt fit with this kind of action, because I haven't dug into it deeply. Obviously it is very difficult to see what's going on in there where the rotating bolt head locks up. If the action were to be thoroughly degreased, a fellow might try doing some experiments with Prussian Blue (the marking die you use for setting up ring gear and pinions in car differentials) to see where contact is being made on the bolt head. So long as the rifle still works, it never has bugged me enough to get me too excited about it. Used to be, I figured for a $15 rifle, it works good enough, and now that they are a $115 rifle, I still think that. I'm sure that the fitters at the Steyr factory had means and methods of determining proper fit, but I'm damned if I know how.

_________________
"If it killed them 150 years ago it will still kill them today. " (Response to a question about black powder fire arms)

Everyone, check this out. Since this began I have had the chance to sit down and carefully analize what causes the bolt to lock in postion with the bolt head extended.

At the tail end of the extractor is a little nib or rib that projects up and is semicircular in shape. If you look at the separated bolthead you will see two slits that interrupt the two spiral grooves. One of the slits is beveled and the other is straight-walled. When the bolthead is extended forward the little nib on the extractor rests in the straight-walled slit and the balance of forces between firing pin spring pressure and extractor pressure keep the bolt head extended.

Pushing on the bolt handle, wear on the straight wall, or insuficient extractor spring pressure forces the nib out of the slit and the bolthead retracts. The nib comes to rest in the second or beveled slit. The second slit is deliberately beveled so that rearward pressure on the bolt handle easily cams or forces the nib back up and out of the slit. I have looked carefully at several bolt heads and some have a little wear on the wall of the straight-walled slit.

I have got to try to post pictures because this is difficult to describe in words

See if this seems like a plausible expanation.

You should be able to get Prussian Blue at your local NAPA auto parts store.

Gary,

When did you get your M95s for $15. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? I hope you got a hundred.