Inspector's mark. Means accepted into service in Vienna in 1916. The crown is actually the Austrian Coat of Arms. Bill

 

Oh, that makes more sense than the other ideas I've heard. One guy at the show tried to tell me it was a Finnish capture mark over a German acceptance mark... I laughed so hard I felt bad for the guy, who was under the delusion that the S was interchangeable with the SA and that the W stood for Kaiser Wilhelm... I can kinda see where he was coming from, but still...

Anyway, thanks for clearing that up. I couldn't find a reliable source of info on these markings, so I'm glad to finally figure out what it means (I seriously thought it was a rebuild marking for a while there.) I also picked up a weird box of ammo that's had the cover turned around and stamped with a 1941 on the outside. The clips inside are both different marks, and the ammo doesn't have dirty birds on it, so it's probably not Nazi, but I won't make assumptions.

 

There's some good info on these rifles, stutzen, and carbines in the book
"Bolt Action Military Rifles of the World". Get a copy, you be glad you did.
Regarding the ammo, I bought a few boxes of the ammo that SOG had. One box contained a lock of blond hair along with the cartridges. Bill.

 

Very nice... you could probably sell it as an original Aryan hair on Ebay if you felt like it... I wonder what kind of price that would command on there...

I just went out back this morning and put one round down the pipe on the 95... that thing kicks something fierce, but the muzzle flash is incredible. It reminds me of a tank or an M38 or one of those weird little Mitchel's baby mausers (the M63 "tankers" that they make by cutting and recrowning K98s or M48s)

 

Is it normal to have the marks stamped on top of older marks? My "S" marked stutzen has "34" stamped on top of a previous number which I can't make out fully, the second number is a "4" also, that's all I can tell.

The stamping is: HV-eagle-34. I understand this means Heerseveltung(sp?) austrian eagle and the acceptance mark 1934. But how does one identify the original date, or IS this date the original date? I thought all these rifles were cut down from original WWI long-rifles? It sure does look like the new numbers are stamped on top of old ones.

Did an arsenal restamp them while re-working? Also, mine is an all matching numbers, no electropenciled stuff, so I was confused too as to the re-working. Wouldn't a reworked rifle have non-matching or electropenciled stamps?

As you can tell, this is my first M95.

 

Heeresverwaltung.

The original manufacture & acceptance date is before 1920 and may have been obliterated, in which case there is no way of establishing it.

These rifles were reworked numerous times and it is difficult to establish what was stamped when and where. The only thing for sure is the re chambering date in Austria in 1934. Everything afterwords was most likely done in Bulgaria.

 

It's one of those cases where the rifle's been reused so many times (without any known written record), that it's impossible to trace where it's been and when. I suppose it's natural that things like this happen when a rifle has been used for so long by multiple countries, each with different acceptance standards and marking practices.

 

Wn34...Rebarrel date, not "re-chamber"

M95/30s with a 1930s date (most common, 34 and 37) are a sign of a NEW Barrel.

The others (converted original WW I dates) are simply a "rechamber" ("S" Overstamp).

Regards,
Doc AV
AV Ballistics.

 

M95/30s with a 1930s date (most common, 34 and 37) are a sign of a NEW Barrel.

The others (converted original WW I dates) are simply a "rechamber" ("S" Overstamp).

Regards,
Doc AV
AV Ballistics.

What does it mean if you've got both the "S" and the 30s era re-barrel? As that seems to be the case with mine.

 

Kind of sort of...by NEW do you mean not original to the receiver or a completely new barrel? There are some NEW production barrels chambered in 8x56r with 1930's dates, but there are also some WWI dated pieces that also have Hv-3# overstamps (or stamped next to the original barrel markings).

 

I've got that W-16 under the S mark on mine as well. But my barrel is obviously not the original one that was installed on the reciever, the finish is noticably lighter and the metal condition is better. So it would seem that a better condition cut-down long rifle barrel was installed on mine?

 

Yeah, I'm curious about my new one, too, which I got in from J&G last week. It doesn't have any of the eagle or Wn markings. Just the big S on the barrel and a 7840V serial.

 

If there is no acceptance stamp it is probably a re-barrel.

 

(really showing my Mannlicher ignorance now) What's an acceptance mark?

What I mean is, I know what it means, but what does it look like?

 

Here's a hint that I know of-

The acceptance mark is essentially a mark showing it was accepted into service (and in M95's case, year aswell).

On this pic- you will notice "HV [eagle] 38" <---- That's the acceptance mark.

ALSO- If yours has a "NEW BARREL" (As in new from the 1930's) It will be marked with a 'circle T' (like the one in the pic) - Which means it was made from 'improved' steel. IF it was rechambered from an older barrel- it would not have this mark.

-Palimino

 

Can you say what year the circle-T mark was inaugurated?

M

 

Most Tiegstahl (circle T) barrels were new barrels, but I don't think all new barrels were Tiegstahl barrels. I'll have to check my pics and files to confirm this.

Nice looking piece by the way.

 

I would assume it started when Austrians began rebarreling them (with new barrels) beginning in 1930? or maybe it was 1932? Somewhere around there... Definately by 1934 though.

-Palimino

 

Re-barreling happened earlier. Re-chambering to M.30 happened from 1930 on.