Hungarian M95

[Texas by God]

I sold my first one to a vaquero in North Colorado along with 100 rds of the surplus ammo. My brother showed him how to clip the tips off the bullets for hunting. He killed a cow elk from horseback with it I'm told. That poor horse must be deaf....

[Battis]

I think those five shots realigned my spine. I gave the carbine a nickname - the Hungarian Chiropractor.

[meistermash]

Well I think the nagants hit me harder than my m95. As long as I don't have my thumb behind the bolt. Then it will smack my thumb into my lip. I hate fat lip. Wish I'd have bought 4 or 5 of these when they were cheap.

[Dan Cash]

I don't understand the complaints about recoil with the M95. I have one, though it is a 95M converted to 8x57 and recoil is about the same as a 98 Mauser in same caliber. Have you guys only been shooting "cat sneeze loads?

[Battis]

I can shoot surplus Mosin ammo all day but the M95 carbine rattled me. I put a slip-on stock pad on the carbine and I'm wondering if that made it worse. I can't use one on my Mosin. Next time I'll try without the pad.

[Texas by God]

Dan Cash, it's the nazi 8x56R that is so nasty in the 95. Worse than any 98 I've ever shot and that's a bunch! If I still had one I'd rebarrel it to .30 Army or .303 British (if possible). Neat actions and so well made.

[junkbug]

Recoil is subjective. I do not find the M95 to kick painfully hard, even with the 1938 Austrian ammo. Also I have had several KAR98k rifles, and the recoil was not severe, even with WWII surplus ammo.

However, I have had 2 Kar98a (WWI) rifles. Both were the most painful rifles I ever fired, even with reloads from the starting load column of the old Sierra manual. Only a synthetic stocked H&R single shot 3" 12 gauge with slugs, or a Mossberg 835 with 3.5" goose loads came close.

I can only conclude the design and geometry of the buttstock caused such a difference between the KAR98k and the Kar98a. They all weigh about the same.

And that is only for me, and the way I hold them.

[swheeler]

I just recently started drawing down .338 Hot core 200 gr to load in the 8x56R, 46 grs IMR 4064 gives almost identical velocity as the Nazi ammo, but with an extreme spread of 1/4 that of the surplus ammo. Five of the surp gives 2285 fps with ES 124, yikes! mine average 2280 fps with ES 34 fps for 5. My 110 pound daughter and myself shot 50 of 44-45-46 and 47 gr loadings, she said no it doesn't kick bad Dad. She did find something I had never seen in the decade or so I've shot it though, the eagle with a wreath and swastika in it's talons( believe it is called Reichsadler)stamped on the bottom of all three enblock clips, so so tiny I never noticed! :-0 young eyes you know

[Battis]

Recoil is subjective

No, the force of a rifle coming backwards is as objective as the velocity of the bullet coming out the front; it can be measured (like trigger pull), therefor it is objective. But the measurement of objective recoil has to be based on shooting a specific gun with specific ammo; different guns with different ammo might produce more, or less, actual objective recoil. The perception of the recoil by a shooter is subjective to that shooter.

[pakmc]

...........I've had several of these over the years. I paid $39 from Century when I had my 01 FFL. I still have 2 of'em. I converted one to 30-40 Krag.





The largest headache with these rifles is the extreme variability of the bore/groove & throat diameters. My first suggestion before you do anything is to slug the barrel. The 2nd thing (as a previous poster suggested) is to NEVER drop a round into the chamber and close the bolt on it. I HAVE done that before and have never busted an extractor. However the possibility is that it CAN happen. If it does, good luck in finding another without having to buy another rifle to get it. If you DO find a spare loose extractor thank GOD and be prepared to pay the devil's own price for it. At one time there were some around and the price for ONE started at $75.00.

When I got my first M95 the ONLY ammo for it was the milsurp stuff at $1.47 per box (2x5 rounds in clips). Berdan primed, corrosive, and powerfull. In order to reload, I had to convert the brass to use #209 shotshell primers:

These are the cast boolit's I've used in my M95's: The slug marked 'A' is an old, no longer available Saeco mould for a .338gr PB shuetzen slug, 'B' Is the Lee 338 bullet, 'C' is the RCBS 338 bullet, and 'D' is a slug from the original "Frankenstein" mould produced by Mountain Moulds.

In this photo you can see just how long the Leade is: The slug in the photo is the Saeco scheutzen bullet.

Good luck. Enjoy yourself and don't give up too soon. These rifles CAN shoot if the barrel is in good shape. The triggers suck. The one I rebarreled to 30-40 Krag is very nicely accurate and the equal of many other milsurps.

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

I have four of them, two carbines and two Rifles. and I don't shoot 1938-9 ammo in them (my old shoulders don't like that any more). I shoot powder coated lead. my barrels go from .330 to .333. so I use the Lee 338 cast bullet and resize it to .334. they're pretty accurate it weights about 240 gr.s. they seem to work in all four guns.(I have scout mount scopes on three of them.)depending on the powder and amount, they run from 1200FPS to 1600 FPS. I would love to see what one of these rounds would do to a pig!(but I'm too old to go tramping through the woods anymore.)

[swheeler]

Bullet Weight:
206
(gr)
Bullet Velocity:
2285
(fps)
Powder Charge Weight:
46
(gr)
Firearm Weight:
7.1
(lbs)
Recoil Impulse
3.11
(lbs.sec)
Recoil Velocity
14.1
(fps)
Recoil Energy
21.93
(ft.lbf

I had to take a WAG at the Nazi 1939 ammo as to powder charge, used the 46.0 grs I shoot. 22 lb ft of recoil is right in line with a 7 pound 308. You guys must be getting SOFT!!!!

[fatelk]

I'll readily admit, you're more macho manly than I am. I've shot a lot of different guns over the years: .300 magnums, 45-70 loaded up, 12 gauge 3 1/2", etc. I've never shot any of the really big magnums, but I am used to fairly heavy recoil. I just don't really enjoy it any more. When I first got my M95 about 20 years ago, I shot a couple boxes of the '39 nazi ammo. Out of that little carbine with it's steel butt plate, I remember it as being downright painful, about the most painfully kicking gun I ever shot.

[Battis]

Powder Charge Weight:
46
(gr)

Was the 46 gr measurement from a pulled Nazi-era bullet?

[swheeler]

I'll readily admit, you're more macho manly than I am. I've shot a lot of different guns over the years: .300 magnums, 45-70 loaded up, 12 gauge 3 1/2", etc. I've never shot any of the really big magnums, but I am used to fairly heavy recoil. I just don't really enjoy it any more. When I first got my M95 about 20 years ago, I shot a couple boxes of the '39 nazi ammo. Out of that little carbine with it's steel butt plate, I remember it as being downright painful, about the most painfully kicking gun I ever shot.

I'll let my daughter know, she'll get a kick out of that! I've never really thought of her as macho or manly though

[swheeler]

Was the 46 gr measurement from a pulled Nazi-era bullet?

Battis if you look at post 31 you'll see I used the load I shoot of 4064, I only had 15 rounds of the Nazi ammo and shot it up years ago, but I did chrono 5 rounds of it. 9-27-09 2265-2330-2215-2339-2275, 2285 FPS average, if you corrected that instrumental velocity(taken at 15 ft) to muzzle velocity you would be real close to 2300 and IIRC those were 206 gr bullets, no slouch! Recoil is an actual number in pounds feet, but what it feels like to different people is just opinion, nothing wrong with that at all.

[Battis]

Well...if you're gonna call us soft, you gotta use the same ammo. I'm kinda kidding, but, might the Nazi ammo measure different recoil, due to its age, unknown powder, etc? I'm not a fan of heavy recoil, but that M95 with the 1938 ammo is nasty, probably the worse I've ever fired. I use, and like, 4064 in various guns - I'll try it in the M95.

[swheeler]

All I had was 15 rds of the Nazi stuff and that was a long time ago, but yes it had a thump to it. Somebody with some Nazi ammo left could pull one down and weigh the powder charge, I just used an online recoil calculator. I did find it interesting that even the clips had tiny little swastikas stamped in the bottom, held in the talons of the eagle, they marked everything.

[Battis]

I bought a Lee mold and new brass, and when the weather breaks, I'll cast some bullets for it. I really like the gun, but I don't want to shoot too much of that Nazi ammo if I don't have to. My son was on leave over Xmas when I bought the carbine. We watched a few YouTube videos of the gun being fired with the old ammo and just about every shooter complained about the kick. Of course my son wanted to see for himself if it was that bad, but we couldn't find any Nazi ammo at the time. The day after he left to go back to ND I found a bunch of it. Might be awhile before he gets back this way. He'll probably tell me it kicks like a .22 just to bust 'em on me.

[swheeler]

My daughter just left for work and I let her read a couple posts here, I won't post what she said but I'm still giggling, the kid got my sense of humor! Still chuckling

[fatelk]

I’m glad we can amuse you. I hope she got a real kick out of it!


No offense, but I’d like to be there to see you pull the trigger on an M95 carbine, with full power surplus ammo, and try to tell me with a straight face that it wasn’t bad. It’s not like we’re all a bunch of newbie wimps from arfcom who will whine about the kick of a Garand. Heck, I’ll shoot my M1s all day long with no problem, but five rounds of full power ammo through the little Steyr carbine? Only if I absolutely have to!

I prefer mine with cast, powder coated lead bullets going a bit slower. It tames it down nicely. I just don’t enjoy getting beat up anymore. I don’t have anything left to prove.