Been offered a Steyr M95 - no clue about these

[spinecracker]

I have been offered a Steyr M95 with a ersatz bayonet. I have no clue at all about these rifles. Apart from overall condition (which looks not too shabby - I like to see honest wear on old rifles) and bore condition, is there anything specific (markings, etc) I need to know before I lay down my hard-earned cash? I am more of a Lee Enfield/Finnish Mosin Nagant kind of guy, but I am happy to stray a little out of my usual collecting field. I would also like to know how much I should offer for the rifle, the bayonet and 3 boxes of nazi 1938 ammo in boxes on strippers. I do not want to gouge the seller, but I don't want to get bitten, either. I am in the US.

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[Eaglelord17]

So I can't help with price in the States but what I can tell you is that is a M95/30. Originally that would have been a long rifle that in the 1930s was cut down to carbine length and converted to 8x56R (which is what the 'S') stamp on your receiver means. It was then used in WWII generally by Bulgaria. The ersatz bayonet was likely not issued with that particular rifle (would have been a WWI expediency, by WWII they had enough of the standard M95 bayonets to go around) but it is still a cool addition.

The only real issue I can see is someone loaded the Mannlicher clip incorrectly as the first round wouldn't have that angle otherwise (also the Mannlicher clip which is loaded is the earlier M88 style Mannlicher clip, the later M95 style had cut-outs in the steel, functionally there is no major difference just something I thought I would add).

[Aragorn243]

The bayonet is a huge plus as it might be worth more than the rifle so long as it's real. The rifles were selling for around $100 just a few years ago (that is what I paid for the same M95/30 rifle in the same non-arsenal refinished state) but the import market has dried up so prices are rising. I'd take a look at gunbroker and what people are paying, not trying to sell them for, on there. The cartridges aren't especially valuable, they are still available and amazingly still work. I try to buy them for $5-$7 for the five round full clip, more commonly they are about $10 and then there are the guys that insist they are worth $20 because they were made in 1938 and have the Nazi emblem on them (they are wrong). The bayonet, I can't really put a price on. They rarely show up for sale and they go higher than I'm willing to pay at the auctions when they do. I am not willing to risk a lot of cash on an auction for something that has been commonly reproduced. Do a search for Austrian bayonets, Old Smithy has a good site. He should have examples of the real ones and possibly the fake ones.