1903 Greek Mannlicher

[gnoahhh]

Has anybody here messed with one of these? Particularly interested in suitability for a custom build.

[pietro]

They're eminently suitable, but I would suggest staying with the original chambering, due to the rotary magazine's spool being user-unfriendly for other cartridges.
The 6.5x54's no slouch, though - google "Karamojo Bell"

Bolt Action Rifles, by Frank DeHaas, has a chapter on the Greek Mannlicher.
He mentions using a "ring", similar to Mannlicher Schoenauer sporter's, to space a .308 Win in the magazine but doesn't show a picture.
Said it didn't work very well anyhow.
DeNaas says that the magazine lips and rotor can be enlarged for .473" casehead cartridges like .257 Roberts or 6.5x57 but that anything longer OR *shorter* than 6.5x54 will be hard to handle, hence the spacer ring in the 7.62x51/ .308Win.

.

[gnoahhh]

I knew a guy a bazillion years ago who had a shot-out 6x54 Mannlicher rebarreled to 7x57 by Paul Jaeger. Jaeger refused to muck with the magazine, leaving it up to the owner to sort it out. He spent an ungodly amount of time tinkering it up but in the end it fed flawlessly. If I get this thing I'll barrel it to 6.5x54.

[Gunaria]

Please don't bubba up a perfectly good Greek manlicher. They are worth a pretty penny in orginal milsurp condition. If it has already been tinkered with but still in 6.5 ms it maybe still worth up to $400 or more. These are very tough to find. I've only seen two in my lifetime.

[bob208]

i agree they are very hard to find in orginal condition. and are worth 3x what a sported one would bring.

that all said guns and ammo had a how to artical on sporting one. it was 63 or 64. they made a butter knife bolt handle out of a snap on wrench.

[gnoahhh]

Fear not. It's a bare action

[Tedly]

I had one along time ago... converted it to 7x57..if I were to do it over I'd re-do in 6.5x54.

[Harry O]

I have a couple of M-1910 Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbines in 9.5x57MS caliber. I have also collected a bunch of literature on them.

The Greek military Mannlicher was very similar to the 1903 commercial model. Many, but not all, of the parts will interchange. As has been mentioned, Frank de Hass wrote an article on converting the military Manlicher to make it more like the commercial model. It was published in the Guns & Ammo magazine, March 1964 edition.

He, and most other gunsmiths who wrote about the M-S rifles, recommended NOT to rechamber it to any cartridge other than the one that it was made for -- the 6.5x54 M-S caliber. The rotary spool magazine is the primary problem. It was machined in three dimensions for the exact cartridge it was chambered for and it works great for that and only that. Evidently, the 7mm Mauser is VERY difficult to get to feed properly, but it has been done. The .257 Roberts (if handloaded to a shorter overall length) is only difficult to get to feed properly. Other than that, a whole list of other common cartridges that will not work are listed in the article.

Actually, the 6.5x54M-S is very similar to the 6.5x55 Swedish caliber, which is generally well thought of. For deer, it does not need to be changed (we won't talk about the people who took elephants with the 6.5M-S).

[George Tucker]

I have a 1903 in excellant condition, the bore is bad, been looking for a barrel for a yr, cannot find one, its to nice a Rifle to part out, i keep hoping for a barrel, George.

[john hayslip]

Semper Fi George. Springfield Arms, who advertise occasionally in Shotgun News has some M-S parts but I don't remember barrels. I have one that was very nicely sporterized by someone before I got it and they even did a nice job on the trigger. Mounts are nearly impossible to find. The best one is a Redfield and the last one I saw advertised was for in excess of $250. I have an old Kuharsky Brothers mount on mine that externally adjusts a straight tube scope. I don't know of anyone currently making a mount that will fit. Brass is iffy and I once read George Nonte where he said you could make them out of 30-06 which requires reducing the base. There hadn't been any brass available for it for years at that time. I did some - take my advice and don't try that route. Graf and Sons has had some brass in years past but all they are showing now is Norma at $88 per hundred; but the easiest - and perhaps cheapest way is to use 220 Swift brass as it is usually available - the base is the correct size and you can make the 6.5 with the sizing die for the 6.5 M-S. The silly little semi-rim has never bothered my rifle. It would be easy to remove if needed.

[john hayslip]

George, there was an outfit in Kentucky that sells barrel liners by the inch and has almost any thing you could want. probably easier to line it than find a barrel in good condition.
I bought a spare trigger guard from Springfield Arms years ago with the idea of setting a pair of double set triggers in it but have I haven't gotten "around to it yet" Reid Coffield did an article in Shotgun News about a year ago on putting a set in a Mauser that should be a good guideline. I've got the triggers but will have to make a sear bar, I think, if I ever do it.

[George Tucker]

Thanks John, for the info, George.