m95 steyr barrel

[acsteve]

Just recieved and cleaned up a pair of m95's. They really do look excellent with extra good bores. The first in mirror bright after just a few patches and a 329 bore the the other a really good bore with no darkeness at .330". Gonna step out and try a few aa-8700 loads at 1500ft/s. Really an interesting action and I couldnt ask for better condition from a 80yr old arsenal refinish.

[Buckshot]

...............These rifles, or carbines are great fun. No piker on ballistics. German marked Austrian produced 8x56R has a 208gr Spitzer boattail that goes a tad over 2300 fps from a 20 " bbl. Great fun! Hornady makes the .329" 200 gr jacketed bullet for them and Graf carries the brass. Cast lead can be problematic in these.

My first M95/31 was a $39 after thought while I was placing an order at Century Arms many years ago. It's barrel was a wasteland so I converted it to 30-40 Krag which is almost a painless deal. Below:

http://www.fototime.com/3F99F55C9811736/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/EF48A81FED28FD0/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/F2618D4764522E3/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/A13422269DE91E3/standard.jpg

Below are pics of my M95. It's all matching and even the front band is numbered. It has killer tiger striped walnut wood. I have a M95/31 which isn't as pretty, but mechanicly it's as nice. I have another M95/31 awaiting conversion into something else.

http://www.fototime.com/00C73BAA827D746/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/749F5ACFFD11D67/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/6FF4D290178743E/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/69C7E42565020C7/standard.jpg

So far as cast lead goes, first of all the grooves generally prove to be .330"+. My M95 is .332". In itself that isn't a bad thing (not common. but not bad) but where the rub comes in is the fact that the lands are .316", so you have a groove of .008" depth which is twice the norm. The other and possibly the most troublesome is that it is common for these things to swallow a loaded cartridge sporting a .338" slug.

The throat will handle a .340" boolit too! I have sized an assortment of slugs to .332" and .335" with neither one better accuracy wise then the other. I haven't tried cramming a .338" one down the barrel yet. At issue here is displaced lead when the slug engraves. The lands are as wide as the grooves so 50% of the barrel internals is lands, and these 4 lands are moving a lot of lead out of the way when the slug engraves.

I have as yet not found the accuracy answer. Most groups are just larger then you'd like to see, vs being wild. The conversion to 30-40 Krag is a tack driver so that pretty much eliminates the action as the problem.

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

[Bret4207]

Dang Buck! Every time you post pics of them thar purrty rifle guns I go to droolin' all over the key board!

Try the NEI .330-245. Mine casts about .334 in WW and shoots quite well with 13.0 Red Dot, not a max load at all, but I wouldn't hesitate to tap a deer with it within 75 yards.

[acsteve]

Buckshot, I have noticed your conversion a couple of time. I was wondering if getting a barrel fit for the action is a problem and if the job is much different than rebarreling a mauser. thanks