rebarreling a steyr m95

[acsteve]

can these be rebarreled to 6.5x54r? and will they feed from the enblock clips? thanks

[Buckshot]

A Steyr conversion to 30-40 Krag I did. As with any other rifle conversion, the farther you stray from the dimensions of the original round, the more issues you will have to overcome. I cannot answer your question with specifics as there are many things to consider and many options you can think about. What you can or cannot do will be determined by you. What kind of equipment do you have to make alterations with, what will it look like when done, and how much are you willing to invest?

The easiest conversion would be to 7.62x54R Rooski. All you'd need was a new barrel. Similarly the 30-40 Krag was pretty much that simple. Just some tweaks to the clips after that had it working like a champ. I've heard of .444 Marlin conversions and .410 Shotguns being made from them.

With some major triggerguard alterations, and undoubtly some milling work on the bottom of the action you could possibly convert it to feed from a box magazine fo some description.

..................Buckshot

[jonk]

Given the 6.5X54R is based on the 7.62 parent cartridge, it should work fine. Same size head.

[Pepe Ray]

Hold on Jonk'
POI
The 6.5x54R is an old Greek Military ctg. Same as 6.5x54 M-S only with a rim.
A 6.5 based on the big Russian Rimmed would be a wildcat. This would cause some confusion in the naming for sure.
I suppose that that WC is what acsteve was referring to but- Buckshot read your minds ok, Guess I should leave it alone.
Pepe Ray

[acsteve]

Actually was thinking about the 6.5x54r(or also 6.5x53r) which is not based on the russian case, but is an older case(MS). I would like to drill and tap the front for the rear scope base. Figured why I had the barrel off, I would consider replacing. The factory barrel is really fine, but a bit oversized and wouldnt mind if it was a different caliber. Love the action. How about the 9.3x54russian?

[skeet1]

Buckshot,
That's a nice looking Steyr, and a great combination with the .30-40 Krag. How does it shoot? I've been thinking of picking one up while they are still available.

Skeet1

[Buckshot]

Buckshot,
That's a nice looking Steyr, and a great combination with the .30-40 Krag. How does it shoot? I've been thinking of picking one up while they are still available.

Skeet1

..............It shoots just great. It proves there is NO problem with the M95 action at all. You can make the 30-40 look very similar to a 308 .

acsteve, " Actually was thinking about the 6.5x54r(or also 6.5x53r) which is not based on the russian case, but is an older case(MS). I would like to drill and tap the front for the rear scope base. Figured why I had the barrel off, I would consider replacing. The factory barrel is really fine, but a bit oversized and wouldnt mind if it was a different caliber. Love the action. How about the 9.3x54russian?"

..............You'd be MILES better off building from the Russian case. One major concern with smaller rims is the extractor of the M95. It is made out of Unobtainium, so if it breaks................ It is also a darn complicated and dainty bit of machining or file work to replicate if it came down to that, let alone trying to heat treat it. You have the rifle, and if you've had the bolt apart you know.

The M95 can be a FAST shooter. Of course accuracy will depend upon the shooter's skill. At the NCBS in Nevada a couple years ago Ammohead shot it and had 2-3 empties in the air The main thing is practice and to YANK the bolt open and to SLAM it shut! You aren't going to hurt the bolt, and I'm quite sure it was meant to be operated with vigor.

...................Buckshot

[jonk]

ah. I was thinking of the Finnish wildcat 6.5X54R. If you are referring to the 6.5X53.5R as used in the Dutch and Romanian Mannlichers then it would be harder as the rim is smaller. Might cause extraction issues.

[acsteve]

did you find it difficult to thread the 30-40 barrel for the steyr m95? thanks

[Buckshot]

did you find it difficult to thread the 30-40 barrel for the steyr m95? thanks

............I had a gunsmith do it. I've only had my lathe about 5 years now, and the conversion was done before that. He didn't mention anything so far as threading difficulties. He did mention that he had to take the barrel to a friend with a milling machine to mill the small slot or pocket for the extractor.

..............Buckshot

[Bret4207]

The single weakness with the Steyr 95 is that darn clip. Overcoming it's limitations is more of an issue than the case head size IMO. I have a dozen or so and should get a few dozen more and some more brass. As far as mil-surps go I think the 95 is as close as you can come to an off the shelf deer rifle. I should buy 3 or 4 more and play with them.

[Andrew Mason]

bringing this old thread back to life,
did anyone do a 7.62x54r?

got a M95 action laying around.
im thinking of making a nice carbine out of it with this round.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Mr. Buckshot, sir, I've seen and admired that rifle of yours on previous posts. I'm wondering what model peep sight you have on it, and did the sight require any adaption to fit?

[KCSO]

I used a Mauser Peep on mine. So far I have a 410 and a 30-40 but never tried a Russian as I didn't want to buy a reamer set for just one job.

[Tedly]

8x56R is a decent cartridge , and boxer brass is probably easier to find now than 30/40 Krag , I've got both and thats my take on it....8x56R is ballistic equivalent of 33WCF , nearly a 348 WCF...just saying...getting a 6.5x54R Russian reamer will not be cheap , but can probably be ordered from Manson reamers , Grand Blanc Michigan ...HTH

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I've actually got 5 of these cute little carbines, and no two of them have the same bore measurement. I guess ideally they are supposed to measure .329 but the closest I've got is .330 and the largest is .336! I've never gotten any of them to shoot worth mentioning with cast boolits, and they kick like a donkey with the issue ammo. I really do like the idea of .30-40, and like I said before Buckshot's rifle is pretty nice. So KSCO--what was involved in your conversion? Did you do it yourself? Any pitfalls? Any problems in making it feed with the original clips?

I got my first one from Revere Supply Co. (long gone now) back in about 1966 mail order. At the time ammo was just impossible to find. Eventually I was able to pick up 5 clips full at various gun shows. When they became available I bought two of the Lee .329 molds, but since all my bores were oversize anyway it didn't work out too well. I actually phoned Lee and chatted with a guy about the problem and he said, "Yeah--mine doesn't shoot very well either." I've got the RCBS dies to convert 7.62x54Rmm to 8x56Rmm, and eventually acquired about 1,000 rds. of the 1939 headstamped Austrian/Nazi ammo in the clips, but the .30-40 sounds like the way to go. Anyway, the conversion dies solved the boxer primed brass problem, because for awhile boxer primed 7.62.54Rmm was easy to find and could be converted for the M-95.
Now you can usually get either one from Graf, so that's not such a problem anymore.

[Dan Cash]

Some of these were arsenal converted to 7.92x57 and the magazine converted to functiion like a single column box magazine not requiring clips. Magazine conversion looks pretty simple.

[pakmc]

I've got 4 of them, two rifles and two carbines. the two rifles have .327 dia barrels but one of the carbines has a .337 barrel. That's the one that could be converted to 7.62x54R, yes, the back of the cases are the same(I made some 8x56R cases out of the 7.62x54R cases just to see if it could be done! and it can! but anneal the brass after the neck up job. and the converted case will be a little short but it will still work. On powders try 23to 25gr's of H-4895, and/or 13-14gr's of trail boss.(my bullets are about 215gr .330 with gas checks. and i"m getting good accuracy with these two powders but they don't hit any where close to each other on paper. my gun(with a scout mount scope) doesn't like loads with red dot powder. and that rifle isn't real happy with acc.#9 either.