Dave DeLaurant
Member
I've been watching Simpsons for the past year or so for a shot at a Dutch M95 carbine in good, shootable condition. Last month I finally found one, priced pretty reasonably (for these times) at $400:
The stock has been through the wars, but the bore is very good and the metal doesn't have any serious pitting. Given that this was a KNIL arm that saw service in the wet climate of today's Indonesia, I think the condition is quite remarkable.
There were a few things missing from it when it arrived. Both sling attachments were gone, but fortunately Liberty Tree had replacements for sale. The marks on the buttstock indicated that the rear attachment was the ring swivel, which C&rsenal says was adopted to help unslinging the carbine while wearing a gas mask.
The safety also proved balky to apply unless pulled rearward while twisting, which suggested a spring was missing. Upon disassembly of the bolt this indeed proved to be the case, so I ordered a replacement from Numrich Gun Parts, along with a dozen en bloc clips. Works slick now.
I made some cartridge cases from .303 British using 6.5x54 Mannlicher dies. I ground about 1mm off the bottom of the sizing die to also fit the slightly shorter rimmed case; I also had to remove a tiny bit of brass from the case heads to get them to chamber cleanly.
The last alteration I made was to fabricate a replacement for the missing wooden magazine cover on the left side of the triggerguard. It's not a perfect match, but I'm not trying to fool anyone. Anyway, many of the originals were mismatched replacements too.
I have no idea when I'll get to the range with this new acquisition, but for the moment I'm enjoying the feel working the ultra-smooth Schlegelmilch bolt, the same bolt used on the fabled Mannlicher Schönauer action.
The stock has been through the wars, but the bore is very good and the metal doesn't have any serious pitting. Given that this was a KNIL arm that saw service in the wet climate of today's Indonesia, I think the condition is quite remarkable.
There were a few things missing from it when it arrived. Both sling attachments were gone, but fortunately Liberty Tree had replacements for sale. The marks on the buttstock indicated that the rear attachment was the ring swivel, which C&rsenal says was adopted to help unslinging the carbine while wearing a gas mask.
The safety also proved balky to apply unless pulled rearward while twisting, which suggested a spring was missing. Upon disassembly of the bolt this indeed proved to be the case, so I ordered a replacement from Numrich Gun Parts, along with a dozen en bloc clips. Works slick now.
I made some cartridge cases from .303 British using 6.5x54 Mannlicher dies. I ground about 1mm off the bottom of the sizing die to also fit the slightly shorter rimmed case; I also had to remove a tiny bit of brass from the case heads to get them to chamber cleanly.
The last alteration I made was to fabricate a replacement for the missing wooden magazine cover on the left side of the triggerguard. It's not a perfect match, but I'm not trying to fool anyone. Anyway, many of the originals were mismatched replacements too.
I have no idea when I'll get to the range with this new acquisition, but for the moment I'm enjoying the feel working the ultra-smooth Schlegelmilch bolt, the same bolt used on the fabled Mannlicher Schönauer action.
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