tired ol steyr m95

[Jay2020]

The more I read and looking at pictures the more convinced I have a conversion the sticker is there is no stamp on the barrel. I ordered 8x56 dummy rounds weeks ago to determine what is chambered. My front sight is sitting on a band and there are only 5 inches between the barrel bands. Is it possible to not have a stamp? What would be the benefit of rubbing it out. That would explain why there virtually no stamps at all that area. Any thoughts. Thanks

[Eaglelord17]

The Austrian-Hungarians and later nations didn't really apply much in the way of stampings or markings to their rifles. Usually its just serial number, acceptance date, maybe a couple of factory assembly numbers, and thats it. It would be very odd if it was converted to 8x56r and didn't have the 'H' or 'S' stamp on it as the whole point it those were so people didn't get confused as to what ammo it would take which was especially important when the conversions started.

[Jay2020]

I have been researching for hours on that gun. Something different was going on there with the conversion where barrel was not changed. Reciever and barrel numbers match. They are right next to each other. Original barrel. Still no concrete answer on which round to use. About 3 weeks ago bough some 8x56 dummy rounds but still haven't shown up.that would give me answers to what but not how,why or where. I thank you for that comment since it has always bothered me that there are no stamps just about.
This is why I buy these old guns trying to learn their story

[Eaglelord17]

To put in perspective how little was serialized on a M95 long rifle when first manufactured there was 3 locations which had the serial number, the barrel, the receiver, and the stock. Bulgarian contract M95s would also have the bolt numbered to the rifles as well. Many refurbished M95 rifles will have a serial number electro-penciled on the bolts to match to the rifle.

Does your bolt have a serial number on it? And if it does is it stamped or electropenciled?

[Jay2020]

Yes there is. Stamped I never noticed it before. 359 which does not match my receiver and barrel. Lots of "K"s

---------- Post added at 07:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 PM ----------

On my barrel in the area of where there should be an s among others, there appears to be nothing but when looking through a strong magnifying glass there are things like a faint 3 or a and several other lines. Is it possible that someone would have ground them off and if so why?

[Aragorn243]

They didn't re-barrel them when upgrading, they just bored out the chamber for the new cartridge. I doubt your's was converted as in addition to having an S or H stamp on it, the rear sights would have been changed, old numbers ground off and new ones stamped which only use about half the original height. The area where you see the faint 3 is usually where the year of manufacture is stamped. During a refurbishment, these might be polished out, especially if there was pitting in that area. Wasn't a deliberate attempt to hide anything, just make it like "new"

Yours is a bit of a mystery alright.

[Jay2020]

Something happened to it its barrel is 20 inches. It has swivels under and on the side. Is it possible it was born in austria and went to live somewhere else?

[Eaglelord17]

The symbol on your barrel was originally a 'WN-Austrian Eagle-Date' which would have been when it was accepted into Austrian service (not date of manufacture but relatively close). From the photos the first digit looks like a 1 to me and the second is likely 6 which would correspond with 1916 a very common year of manufacture. Those markings can be relatively faint when applied and many are very hard if not impossible to read now.

To me it wouldn't have stayed in Austria as if it had it would have been converted to 8x56r. We can also rule out Hungary and Bulgaria for those reasons. I still suspect Italy as they were basically the largest receiver of them who didn't then send them on to Bulgaria or Hungary later on, thus retaining much of the original features.

Stamped bolts generally mean Bulgarian bolts though, does your bolt have a little hole in the bolt body like this?

Photo 6 of 26, M03 Bulgarian Rifle

[Jay2020]

No, no hole. This stuff is amazing

[Aragorn243]

Well, they did cut the barrels in addition to boring the chamber. It remains the original barrel. Didn't think to mention that as it is obviously shorter.