Mine bears the Steyr factory markings throughout, Austrian Eagle proof mark and 1917 acceptance date. M95s were manufactured in Steyr, Austria and Budapest, Hungary. Actually there was one contingent of the British Empire that did use a nearly identical straight pull design the Canadians armed with the Ross rifle - and the Canadians quickly abandoned the Ross in favor of the SMLE.

The trade-off was that the Steyr required more maintenance than the SMLE, and suffered from extraction problems. An Austrian soldier armed with the M95 could fire up to 35 shots per minute. I mentioned in an earlier post that a British soldier could fire an impressive 25 shots per minute with his SMLE. The Austrian troops called this “ruck-zuck” roughly “right now.” The Steyr reduced this to two smooth movements: pull then push. In typical bolt action rifles, the shooter has to lift the bolt handle up and then pull it back then push bolt forward and press it down. M95 has a then-revolutionary Mannlicher design feature that made it easily the fastest bolt action rifle of WWI – a straight pull action. Afterwards they would continue to pop up in third world hotspots like Mozambique as late as the 1970s.

When the Empire was broken up after the war, the ’95 Steyr continued to serve with the Austrians and the Hungarians, as well as the Czechs, Yugoslavs, Bulgarians and others through WWII. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Thank you.The 1895 Steyr was the standard issue rifle of Germany’s main WWI ally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Source: Wikipediaĭid you enjoy this article or find this article helpful? If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. During the war, Romanians, Yugoslavians, Italians, and other German-aligned forces used them in rear areas, while some M1895 rifles fell in the hands of anti-German partisan forces all cross Europe.Īfter the war, many Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 rifles remained in use by police forces in various countries many were also sold to the civilian market. The Netherlands, financially weak in the 1930s, kept these obsolete rifles in active service designated Dutch Mannlicher M.95, they were outgunned by the more modern German weapons as the invaders crossed into the country's borders. The Austrian and Hungarian forces after WW1 kept them in use as standard rifles.ĭuring WW2, a large number of them remained in use. Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey all obtained rifles of this design in various quantities before and after WW1 among them, Bulgaria was the largest foreign user of M1895 rifles. As the standard rifles of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Army, 3,000,000 were built between 18. These bolt-action rifles, straight-pull, had a high rate of fire for rifles of their day. Peter Chen ww2dbaseThe Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 rifles were designed by Ferdinand von Mannlicher of Austria-Hungary. Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 Rifle Country of OriginĬontributor: C.

Steyr mannlicher m95 austrian carbine