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Contributing Member
Portuguese Kropatschek Rifle
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The Following 4 Members Say Thank You to Aragorn243 For This Useful Post:
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06-19-2017 06:20 PM
# ADS
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Nice rifle, these have always interested me though I have never gotten around to getting one. Maybe one day.
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This is the first one I've ever seen. Of course five or ten years ago I never even would have noticed it so who knows how many I walked past.
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I managed to get 40 rounds of ammo today. 10 surplus, 10 reloaded surplus, 20 reloaded converted brass. I identified it at my local gun shop quite a few years ago and they still had it.
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Thank You to Aragorn243 For This Useful Post:
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Legacy Member
Definitely looking forward to a range report. The guy who has the world record for iron sight shooting (he shot the record with a K31), was using one of these for regular shooting at distance. He was definitely getting some good results.
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Who knows when I'll get it to the range. The surplus stuff looks great but I'll probably just hang on to that. Made in 1928. The reloaded stuff has short bullets that go all the way into the barrel to the case head. So, not thinking that will be especially accurate. The reloaded surplus has really small bullets. Could just be specialty rounds I guess but I bought them for the brass more than anything
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Are you sure yours ever had a top hand guard? From what I have read over the years, Most were made without hand guards. Very few come up for sale with them. Mine doesn't look like it ever had one.
I've fired a few original rounds and bought a case of blanks to try reloading but never gotten around to it. I've had mine since I was a teen, (mid '70s).
john
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I can say with 98% certainty that mine did indeed have a hand guard at one point. It has the cutouts for one in the stock which are not on rifles without hand guards in all the photos I've seen and it also has faint wear marks in the metal in all four locations where the clip would slide down over the barrel.
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Legacy Member
Any idea when it was made, mine is from 1889. The cartouche on the butt has the date on it which is hard to read except in perfect lighting. I have the short rifle which is sized in between the rifle and carbine and is somewhat rarer than most. I fired mine back in the early 80's with surplus ammo made in Chile between 1915 & 1924. The ammo worked back then, not so sure about now. It shot ok but was never going to win any matches so I cleaned it and retired it to the collection. What amazed me is the loading gate spring is made out of aluminum which I didn't expect in a firearm this old. Could this be the very first use of aluminum in a firearm, very possibly. The Steyr firm were truly cutting edge pioneers. They are beautifully made firearms. The wood to metal fit is exceptional and although most of the outer bluing on mine is worn off what's left under the wood is amazing in it's depth. These rifles must have been something to see when they were new. - Bill
Last edited by oldfoneguy; 07-03-2017 at 10:01 AM.
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Not knowing how they date them with certainty, I believe it is 1886, first year of production. It has M1886 which I assume is the model and then under the Steyr manufacturer it has 1886. Can't imagine a reason to put that on twice unless that is the date. The cartouche on mine is too fine to see.
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