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Trying to help out another shooter. He has a really nice M95(?) and I happened to find a ammo box at a yard sale full of Steyr 8x56R (in boxes to clips of 5) with all the marks & stamps from 1938. In absolutely prime shape.All that's well & good but what DIES work for reloading this ?
Manowar's Hungarian Weapons
Go to this web site and learn almost all you want to know about these. The tabs across the top have the info on these rifles and other firearms at different times and places. Austria converted to the 8x56R in 1930 and their partners in Hungary in 1931. The M95 was the primary service rifle of Hungary in WWI in 8x50R. I've been wanting one of these straight pulls for a long time, they are rapid fire and pretty cool, just hesitant about trying to reload a strange caliber.
Graf Sons - 8x56R Hungarian Mannlicher
Reloading dies, bullets and brass can be found at Graf.
8X56R Reloading
Here is some info in an older post on this forum.
Will: Congrats on finding old ammo in good shape. I have been waiting 2 months and still no sign of the 8x56R I ordered. I have reloading dies but no ammo or brass and was hoping to use my beautiful M95 carbine for moose this year. The M95 is an incredibly fine high quality rifle that can be bought for bargain prices still but it's unfortnate that hunting ammo in this caliber is so difficult to find....you did well finding what I assume is FMJ rounds but the brass alone will be worth more that you likely paid.
Graf Sons - 8x56R Hungarian Mannlicher
Ammo Rifle - 8x56r At Sportsman's Guide
And so here's yer hunting ammo, unless yer in Canada, may not be able to order.
I found two boxes of surplus ammo at an army surplus store for $11 a box. Bought it mainly for the box as it was the one thing I was missing as far as the cartridges go. When I bought my rifle a few months back, it came with 30 rounds of surplus in clips and 30 rounds of Privi Partisan in clips. I haven't fired it yet, heard the recoil is pretty stout, this from the previous owner as well as the author of the book on them. Price was a lot better than the previous guy I ran into selling it. He wanted $20 a box, I passed on that.
Worse in prone I'm sure, with 200 gr bullets in a carbine, and if the milsurp ammo is hotter, some shoulder bruising would be expected.
In Canada, Marstar carries Prvi Partisan 8x56R ammo
Steyr
Would these be any good for shooters? Or put a different way, should I break down and get one? :)
Sorry for late thread reply, but I have one of these and it makes for an excellent shooter. You can reload the 1935 berdans as well. Will be testing some cast lead loads here soon, will let you know how those turn out. The goofy thing, if you reload, is you wont get very good accuracy out of the standard 8mm projectiles, they are a bit loose at .324. you can order some projectiles from Graf at .229 dia or resize .338 using LEE's resize kit.
Get one, if you still can, they are a hoot and would actually make a better HD with light loads then a Mosin. make sure you only chamber from an enbloc clip though, as I have heard they are prone to breaking ejectors otherwise. And you will never find one of those, people dont like breaking these down and selling them in good, serviceable pieces.
Steyr 1895 8 x 56R - Military Rifles Non-US
Check this out, for sale at Cabalas in St. Louis. I think its still there, I've been oggling this one for a while, a little pricey though looks really nice, perhaps refinished (which wouldnt bother me per se).
have one that is Bulgarian M95. arsenal rework that is easily 98% after arsenal rework. my 15 yo loves this rifle. Shot some of the 1938 ammo, but keeping it as collector stuff.
Bought 100 rds of Prvi fmj ammo to get the brass. Shot about 1/2 them. Have Lee dies. Graf has both 205 grn fmj and sp (205 gr also, iirc) bullets. Haven't decided on a load yet.
I have thought about getting another one of these and setting it up as a mannlicher stocked sporter. they are only $100. think it would make a very neat carbine sized mannlicher rifle. and caliber should thump anything up to black bear out to 100 yds, and thinner/smaller game to 150 yds easy, depending on your (MY!) old eyes and sights used.