Restored (Saved) Dutch M1895 (pic heavy)

[nwilliams]

I work at a gun shop and the other day a guy walked in with a bunch of old guns that he was planing to take to the next gun buy-back. He wanted to know if any of the guns he had were worth anything first before he got rid of them. He said they all belonged to a relative that passed away and that since he wasn't a gun guy he just wanted to get rid of them. He had some pretty decent guns, couple old Smith's and a Colt 1903. The shop owner ended up buying all the guns from the guy except he didn't want this Dutch M1895. So I offered the guy $75 and he was more than happy with that and so was I.

This Dutch Mannlicher M1895 was in pretty rough shape but had all matching numbers and I figured I'd do my part and save a piece of firearm history. At some point in this gun's life someone thought it would be a good idea to paint the entire stock brownish/orange. It also had some rust on the trigger guard and some severe rust on the buttplate.

I set to work with paint stripper and removed all the paint. Using a brillo pad I got the stock back to bare wood and then used a light coat of linseed oil. I then cleaned up all the rust on the trigger guard with Flitz and fortunately it was just surface rust. The buttplate took a lot of work but I got it pretty cleaned up.

I didn't want to make the gun look too restored, I like the look of a worn old milsurp but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and I feel like I gave an old battle rifle a new lease on life.

I don't know if I'll ever find ammo for this rifle (6.5x53r isnt all that common) but for $75 I have another neat rifle to add to the ever growing milsurp collection.

Here are the before and after shots...

Before...

 

[nwilliams]

After restore....

 

[juk]

That's a good looking old rifle! I like seeing threads like this. You did a good thing and did it well.

 

[cal30_sniper]

Very nice work. You might even want to try a few more coats of oil on that stock to darken it up a bit. It's awesome that you were able to save the cartouche and stuff on it.

Almost a sad story though. To survive two world wars only to be nearly scrapped in a gun buy-back program. What a shame that would have been.

 

[nwilliams]

You might even want to try a few more coats of oil on that stock to darken it up a bit.

Yeah I was thinking I'd probably do that, I didn't want to darken it too much but I'm thinking one more coating might be in order.

 

[cal30_sniper]

That must have been a beautiful rifle when it was new. There's some very noticeable tigerstriping in the back half of the stock.

 

[airedaleman]

Interesting rifle, and a great job of bringing it back! The English built some very nice sporting rifles on Dutch and Romanian Mannlichers in the original chambering.
Oddly enough, I just encountered an ad for your rifle; terms were kind of stringent. Price for the 1895 Mannlicher is $18.95; C.O.D orders require a $10.00 deposit!
(I just came out of the "reading room'" where I had an American Rifleman from June 1952 strategically located. On page 11 there's an ad for Winfield Arms Corporation out of Los Angeles.) The copy associated with the Model 1895 reads:

$18.95
Famous Model 1895
Dutch Mannlicher
An ideal low-priced hunting rifle
Cal. 6.5x53 rimmed (.256) Noted for long range accuracy; used by he Dutch Infantry. Clip loaded, 5-shot repeating rifle weighs 9-1/4 lbs. Overall length
51". Barrel length 31-1/4". Good condition. Complete with one clip.
BAYONET FREE to the collector who wants the Mannlicher rifle complete.
Sporting Ammo, soft nosed 160 grain bullets made by Kynoch Works. 20 rounds $3.80. Ammo clips 75 cents ea

Wonder if your gun came from Winfield?

 

[RPRNY]

Great find and save!

Loaded ammo:

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Dutch_Ammunition_it-158103.aspx?CAT=4451

or

http://www.qual-cart.com/catalog.pdf



http://www.loaddata.com/members/search_detail.cfm?MetallicID=1078

Properly headstamped Bertram Brass:

http://www.loaddata.com/members/search_detail.cfm?MetallicID=1078

Dies available, if pricey:

http://www.ch4d.com/catalog/dies/caliber-list?page=44

As for bullets, you will need to slug your bore. While nominally a .256 bullet, they were actually .263" and the Hornady 160 gr RN (.264") will likely be your best bet. But, barrels of the era were somewhat widely variant. You may end up using Carcano .268 bullets.

Great job on saving that rifle. Enjoy it.

 

[kBob]

Great links from RPRNY (thanks!) especially since I can not find any cartridge that might be modified to make this cartridge.

Great restoration. Thanks for saving it.

-kBob

edit Can't believe I missed the .303 British meantioned in the Amercase link. Embarassment. Shame.

 

[Sam1911]

Very cool! I love stories like this. I'd have a terrible time passing that up.

 

[U-235]

Nice work and great photography!

 

[RPRNY]

and great photography!

True, you're giving Saxon Pig a run for his money

 

[GCBurner]

The ammo clips for loading the Manlicher are the hardest things to find. They're different from the Manlicher-Carcano clips, I think.

 

[RPRNY]

The ammo clips for loading the Manlicher are the hardest things to find.

$7 a pop bought in twos here:

https://www.libertytreecollectors.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=291

 

[Dentite]

Not trying to sound like a broken record but nicely done and great photography. Good looking rifle.