m95m mauser

Could you post some pictures? I have never seen a Mauser marked M95M. Does the gun have a Mannlicher magazine? Turn bolt or straight pull? It could be a reworked Steyr 1895,chambered to 8x57JS by the Yugoslavians. Steyr 1895's were marked M95, and the reworked ones usually had an extra M stamped after that. Of course this would be a staight pull action with an en-bloc type magazine.

I have a Spanish Mauser in 8mm but only because I had a spare barrel off a Turkish Mauser that I put on it.
It shoots fine, but I do only use reduced loads, mostly just because of the Age of the rifle, and not knowing its complete history because it was not in the original 7mm when I got it.

M95M are invariably M95 Mannlichers made for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 8X50R chambering prior to WW1, then rechambered to 8X56R, and later re-worked to 8X57 mauser cartridge in Yugoslavia.

http://candrsenal.com/rifle-yugoslavian-mannlicher-m95m-and-m9524/
http://www.milsurps.com/content.php?r=392-Yugoslavian-M95M-Infantry-Rifle-(Puska-M95)

Definitely a Steyr then. There are conflicting reports on just how safe they are to shoot. The original 8x50r, or 8x56r caliber operated at much lower pressure than 8x57 Mauser, plus the receivers were cut for the longer cartridge to work. Probably safe with moderate handloads, or watered down US commercial ammo, but I would be hesitant to shoot milsurp or full powered European 8x57 in it. Proper en-bloc clips are almost impossible to find, and the extractor can break if you try to close the bolt on a cartridge loaded directly to the chamber. If you do shoot it without the clip, you will need to push the shell into the magazine, while slowly closing the bolt to make sure the extractor slides past the rim, into the groove.

If your M95m is a carbine like mine it wil be a hard-kicking little beast that is a single-shot if you don't have any embloc clips. (-And using it as a single-shot is hard on the extractor, by the way.)
I picked up four loaded clips from my local gun shop for less than ten dollars, so they can be found.
Go shoot it, but your shoulder won't thank you for the experience. Much more vigorous than a Mosin Nagant 91/30.
You've been warned!

IIRC there are 2-3 generations of the conversion. some have a modified mag well that contains an integral clip, and some do not, and can be shot with the 8X56R type. read the links i posted to get a better understanding.

After WW1 The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes/Yugoslavia had 180,000 Steyr-Mannlicher M.1895 rifles in 8x50mmR Mannlicher, both captured and given as war reparations. In 1924 The Yugoslavs chose the 8x57mmIS Mauser cartridge and the FN M1924 short rifle as their new service rifle, and to simplify logistics decided to convert all their preexisting rifles to 8x57IS, including the Steyr M.95 rifles. The contract was awarded to the Yakov Poshinger Arms and Ammunition factory in Uzice, Serbia in 1933, and work continued until the outbreak of WW2.

The rifles were stripped to the receiver, and the Mannlicher en-bloc magazine converted to a blind-end box loaded with Mauser-type 5rd clips. This involved adding a permanently-fixed metal clip in the magazine to retain the cartridges in the same manner as the en-bloc clip (NOTE: If this internal clip is missing, the magazine will not retain the cartridges when the bolt is open). The hole at the bottom of the magazine for clip ejection was permanently closed. Two guide notches for the stripper clip were cut into the receiver bridge.

The barrel was a typical Mauser-style stepped-profile, with the same sights and the same length as that of the FN M1924 rifle. The bolt face was modified for the smaller case head diameter of the 8x57 cartridge, and the extractor reshaped and enlarged to help secure the recessed rim of the 8x57 cartridge.

A new full-length handguard like that of the M1924 rifle was fitted. The stock used the same sling mounts and upper barrel band as the original M.95 rifle (the lower band was the same as the Yugo-production M24 rifle), and the M.95M mounted the same bayonet.

I wouldn't have any concern about shooting surplus 8x57IS in this rifle, or modern ammo marked "8mm Mauser" as long as the headspace checks out.

You remove the bolt by pulling the trigger forward.

Post a photo of the receiver and rear sight and we can probably tell you all you need to know.

I was wrong again.
All I have is a plain old 95/30.

Never mind.

Poor fella. He's had a hard life.

Bubba wuz heer.

Looks like a handy and functional little gun, though.

I think that the gun illustrated above shows more history than its brother, which spent the last seventy years in an armory or a warehouse. That there gun has been places and done things!

I've got a number of similar Bubba-fied guns. I'd never try to restore them. It's better (and usually cheaper) to just go out and find an unmodified original.

Anyway, think of all of the history that you would be erasing!

Okay, I'm one who laments Bubba, and my dad did bubba a Tikka M91/30 once - a crying shame since they only made 24,000 total of them. But, when Dad passed away, his work is what remained. My nephew got that rifle, but were I to have gotten it, I would not have restored it.

A rifle my grandfather once owned and used would stay in that same configuration as it was left. I wouldn't restore it. Familial history trumps military history.

To remove the bolt ensure the weapon is unloaded push the trigger forward (opposite of firing it) and it should come out. The old surplus rifles cached pages have some better instructions

Be careful that when you pull the bolt you don't let is spring itself into the closed position (by rotating and letting the firing pin fall). It is a pain to get it back open. When you take the bolt out, treat it like a sleeping baby or a glass of slightly-shaken nitro-glycerine.

Ash,

SO I am I a local pawn shop when I see the nicest one of those I have ever seen. I start to think serious about it when the owner said we might do something about the marked price. While giving the rifle a once over I on a whim try to remove the bolt by just pushing the trigger forward and indeed you where correct! I looked through the bore and this does not look bad at all. I pick up the bolt to replace it and it goes "SNAP!" and changes shape......

Well he would not sell it to me without it being together and functional. After ten minutes of both of us attempting to re set the bolt and get it back together and having it snap back or just not go back to the original position at all we gave up. Apparently his gunsmith did fix it and also liked it and took it for some other work.

Apparently late nineteenth century Austrians had two left hands and a vise like strong right and a third eye on a stalk that allowed them to view the bolt from different angles while they got it back in the rifle..........

I would like to know how to get an non cocked bolt back in the rifle.....

-kBob

The trick to putting the bolt back in involves a penny.
Pull the bolt head out, give it the required twist, then lay a penny in the space between the bolt head and body. Spring pressure will hold it in place until you slide the bolt into the guides.
-Then pluck out the penny and slide the bolt home.