Pawn shop Mannlicher Schoenaur

Of all of the fine rifles made in the 20th Century, the Mannlicher Schoenaur has always held a special place. A go to Safari rifle. Small, deadly. W.D.M. Bell killed elephant with one in 256 Mannlicher. Hemingway bought one for his wife, actually several for his wives to take on an African Safari. They are also a very neat looking rifle, with the wood heading to the front sight in the carbine models.

Of course they are expensive. If you want a new one you are out of luck. No longer made. After WWII the Austrians made these rifles in not only their old pre-war classic issues, but in classic American calibers like the 30-06 and .243.

Hemingway killed Rino with his Griffin and Howe custom made 30/06. He would probably not hesitate to take one with a rifle like the one shown here.

I strolled into a pawn shop and was nearly knocked over by the rifle hanging on the wall. It was in bad shape. A homemade recoil pad, dinged up from obvious heavy use? Africa?

Price $450. Handy and fast. With 220 grain solids bear and moose medicine.

The rifle is in 30-06. It shoots pretty good. It has never been scoped, no drilled holes anywhere. Has a flip up rear sight marked 300 (yds? prolly).

When I bought it the front sight which is either bronze or an amalgam of gold was pounded down. The front sight guard was gone. I suspect it was hammered down while on Safari somewhere. Therefore, even with a severe 6 o'clock hold and a very fine bead it shot high as a cat's back. So I had to replace the front sight with a higher blade with ivory looking bead. Now she shoots right on at 100 yds.

I'll take another picture and post it.

It is a shame that the original butt plate is gone. I suspect that some guy bought it for his wife to take on a hunt. She must have complained about the recoil so he chopped off the end of the butt and attached a homemade recoil pad. It was really terrible, several slabs of rubber and plastic. It may have been a field replair.

I had it removed and put on the one you see. The rifle does kick, and I appreciate that recoil pad. It is not punishing to shoot. It is a little short, but not bad. The sights are fine, but I'll never scope it. It is rare to find one that was not buggered up with some off the wall scope mount. Because of the split receiver it takes some kind of side mount.

It is a close range rifle. I have only shot it at paper. Carrying it is like carrying a Red Rider BB gun. Be a great hog rifle.

osprey176 said:

Shame on you! You stole that rifle.You should feel awful.I will help ease your guilt by giving you $500 for it..That is a fine rifle,and what a deal.

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That's nice of you. Yep, I enjoy the rifle. Just read the new book on Hemingway's rifles and it has a story on the model 1952 that Hem bought for Mary, his last wife. She left it to a friend of theirs in Idaho.

My rifle therefore is not the old 1903 model, and if you know the old rifle you can see the difference. The older issue had a straighter bolt handle that was mounted a bit more foreward. Hemingways' came with the double set triggers, but he had it changed to a single, since Americans really don't cotton to the European type trigger. I don't know if mine is factory original or not.

I have touched the metal here and there where it had chunks knocked out of it. From a few feet it looks much better than it did when I bought it.

Really though, I never thought that I'd ever own one. They have an interesting history of being African hunting rifles. Small and deadly.

I also bought a Steyr Mannlicher in another pawn shop. I got it for $1200, not exactly cheap, but about half of what a new one costs. It is a .243. It also sports a mannlicher stock. Has that twisty barrel. Fancy rifle, totally mint. I have yet to shoot it. It is a very different gun and I don't like the way the bolt handle wiggles, but that's no biggie. That rifle has double set triggers. It also has blond wood. Also no scope. Nice open sights. Easier to see than the 1952 carbine sights.

When one holds the two rifles up next to oneanother it's easy to see that the 1952 carbine is neater, but the newer rifle is absolutely new. I'll have to put them together and snap a pic and post it.

Someplace in these pages someone compared the Steyr Mannlicher and the Mannlicher Schoenaur. Since I own both I thought I'd post this picture of them. Very different rifles, but also similar in feel and quality. I'd like to have one of the 1903's. But the 1952 is pretty nice. The Steyer is a .243.

BTW: I bought both of these rifles in pawn shops. Right now, with the lousy economy good pawn shops are chocked full of nice old guns. Good shops won't accept junk. Man, you can get nice Remington Model 11's, which are really Browing Auto 5's (not interchangable) for $200 to $250 and those Model 11's, especially the 20's, are very nice shotguns indeed.

Yeah, I could buy a new Hi-Power at the PX for $104 in the 70's. That was in the US. I don't think you can bring guns onto the base anymore. Not sure.

I'd like a 1903 too in one of the metric calibers, but I think my MS days are over. The 9.3 would be big bear medicine. It is just astounding how much power they crammed into these little MS rifles.

I like old Winchesters too, but I only have one Model 70. An early .270. Nice rifle.

I passed on a relic of African hunts, a Rigby take down .318. Cost was $4,400. It had some nice wear, obviously used pretty hard, but it was a tight rifle and it would have been wonderful to own. But 4.4G's is 4.4G's and them G's don't grow on trees!

Outlaw81 said:

You have found one of the finer guns ever created. The mannlichers were built with very minimal tolerances and are a true engineering piece of art. Look at the magazine with the case release button. The flip up 300yd sight. The butterknife bolt handle. It screams luxury sporting rifle from a time that people were proud of what they built. I personally own ten full stocks, three take Downs, and three mca's. So u can safely say that I love the rifle and have no doubt that u will as well. Hang on to that one for good.

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I'm blown away! What a fantastic collection of Mannlicher Schoenaurs! Tell me about the long rifle takedowns. Do they hold zero? When Heminway went on his 1953 safari Mary used a takedown long barreled rifle that they borrowed from the PH. I think in .256 MS. Not sure.

I suspect that you have all of the calibers. How does the 9.3 shoot? Have you taken any of them to Africa? If so, how'd they do? Do you hunt with them here? What about scopes? I see many with various scope mounts, usually side mounts of some sort. Do you have a favorite?

Hemingway, of course, never used a scope. I don't think is wives did either.

Do any of your rifles have those wonderful Austrian claw mounts?

Thanks for reeling in. I'm so happy that you have such a wonderful collection! It must be something to see.

The MS has a certain charm, that you obviously sense. Just having one is a great. I like the Steyr Mannlicher too for that matter.