Need help with rifle "HEMBRUG 1916 "

[chetrogers]

Ok My friend has a rifle that I remember looking at a year ago or so.I dont recall much about it other then it didnt have magazine on it "Its just missing" but the caliber if it did would be about .22lr size or maybe a little bigger.I asked him on the phone yesterday if he could read any markings on the gun and the only thing he sall was "HEMBRUG 1916 " ..Is there anyway i can find out what type of gun/caliber ect..He wants to sell it to me but i told him if its worth anything that I would let him know and he should keep it..Thanks for any info

 

[Gewehr98]

I'll bet the action looks something like this one's:



Steyr 6.5x53R Dutch Mannlicher cavalry carbine, Model 1895. Hembrug is the arsenal that gets stamped in a circle on the buttstock, on this one you can make it out.

 

[chetrogers]

He said he couldnt see anything on the stock and that the writing is on the side of the barrel..Im gonna have to go over there in a few days and take a look at it again..Thanks for the reply..Are they worth anything value wise.

 

[Gewehr98]

The gun predates the more popular military and sporting Mannlichers.

Namely, the 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schonauer, and the even-later 6.5x52 Mannlicher-Carcano.

The 6.5x53R Dutch and Romanian Mannlichers are somewhat forgotten by the collector's crowd, although they do turn up in daylight every now and then. I have two of them, the cavalry carbine above, and an engineer's carbine. Ammo is not readily available, although custom formed brass and completed rounds can be bought, for a premium. The proper 5-round en-bloc clips are necessary for repeater functioning, otherwise the gun is just a single-shot bolt action. I ended up with a lot of ammo and clips, but sometimes you can find sources of the clips in Shotgun News or The Gun List.

The gun is fun to shoot, as stubby as it is. The bolt is as smooth as glass in operation, and when chambering the 5th round from the clip, the empty clip simply drops through the slot in the magazine floor. The gun is ready for another full clip when you open the bolt after firing the 5th round.

I don't know what the value is on these guns, I haven't even seen one listed in Fleyderman's Blue Book of Gun Values. Several variants were produced, to include a full-length infantry rifle. Around WWII, some in the Dutch East Indies were rechambered for the bigger .303 British round. (Ouch!) Randy Rick's website talks about the Dutch Mannlichers, among other Mannlicher variants.

Wish I could be more help, maybe somebody else will chime in with the particulars concerning value and scarcity.

 

[Cosmoline]

These are rare enough that I've never seen one in the flesh, out of the thousands of mil surplus firearms I've laid hands on. As to value it's hard to say--there aren't any auctions to view on line that I could see. If it's a common variant value might be under $300, but IIRC there are some very rare versions.

One thing's for sure. If it's not altered it should NOT be messed with. Intact military rifles are getting more and more valuable, but only if they're intact. This includes no cleaning or sanding of the stock, rebluing or anything else.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

See: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18434&highlight=dutch+mannlicher