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Steyr M95

• moderate
• Shop tier 2
• medium confidence
• Rifle
• surplus
• milsurp
• corrosive ammo
• historic
• straight pull
• en bloc clip
• service rifle

field strip ~3 min · reassembly ~4 min · detail strip ~35 min

Specifications

Model-specific safety

• These rifles are decades old and most have been arsenal rebuilt with mixed parts. Have headspace checked by a gunsmith before firing any rifle of unknown history.
• Surplus ammunition of this era is frequently corrosively primed. Clean with a water-based solvent the same day you shoot.
• Newly imported rifles are often packed in cosmoline throughout, including the bolt and firing pin channel. Clean it out before firing — a firing pin held forward by congealed grease causes slam fires.
• The M95 is a STRAIGHT-PULL action. The bolt pulls straight back and pushes straight forward with no bolt lift.
• It uses an EN-BLOC CLIP magazine like the M1 Garand: the clip is part of the feed system, is loaded into the magazine as a unit, and falls out the bottom when empty. The rifle will not feed reliably without a clip. Loose rounds are single-loaded only.
• To unload, press the clip release in the front of the trigger guard and let the clip drop, then cycle the bolt to clear the chamber. Both steps are needed.
• Many M95s were rebarrelled or rechambered from 8x50mmR to 8x56mmR between the wars, marked with an "S" on the barrel. Firing the wrong cartridge in either is dangerous. Confirm the chambering before loading anything.
• Original M95 ammunition is scarce and modern commercial loads vary. Recoil in the short Stutzen carbine with full-power loads is considerable.

Under spring tension

• Mainspring inside the bolt
• Magazine follower spring

Easily lost parts

Bolt components · Firing pin · Extractor · Floorplate components

Tools

Shop difficulty

Shop tier 2 Tier 2 — moderate among rifles and carbines, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. Few parts, but the straight-pull bolt fights back. The bolt head snaps round under spring force as the bolt comes out, the head assembly holds a strong spring (flying-parts hazard), and the firing pin has to be indexed to the head on reassembly. Wear makes the head detent badly, which makes all of this harder.

Parts: 33 numbered parts (PARTIAL: action only. Gun Digest exploded drawing 'Steyr Model 1895 Straight-Pull Rifle', 33 keys: bolt (extractor, bolt head, firing pin and spring, spring retainer, bolt body, safety and screw, cock), from The Gun Digest Book of Exploded Gun Drawings (975 isometric views) — Steyr 'Model 1895 Straight-Pull Rifle' — Gun Digest Books / Krause Publications (scan on archive.org), p. book p. 893 (PDF page 894) archive.org [4].

Bench time: about 40 min to strip, 60 min to rebuild (estimate). Stock and bands, clip-latch/trigger group, straight-pull bolt detail strip (head, spring, cocking piece).

Small parts: 3 pins, 4 springs, 0 detents or plungers (counted by name in the same legend (line items, action only). Pins: ejector pin, sear pin, follower pivot pin (firing pin not counted). Springs: firing pin spring, sear spring, clip latch spring, maga)

What comes off for coating

• Stock: barrel bands, handguard, trigger guard and magazine (clip latch), buttplate
• Bolt: bolt head assembly and spring, cocking piece (unscrew), firing pin, extractor, retainer — soft-faced hammer
• Receiver: trigger and sear, bolt release, rear sight

Special tools

• soft-faced hammer — Snapping a stuck bolt head
• padded vise — Alternative bolt-head method

Known pain points

• As the bolt leaves the receiver, the bolt head snaps back and rotates 90 degrees under spring pressure. A head that will not snap needs tapping, or a vise trick. (disassembly)
  Source: Steyr Mannlicher M95 Bolt Disassembly/Assembly — thinlineweapons.com (text revised by Manowar) thinlineweapons.com [2] — “It should eventually slide out and expect the bolt head to snap backwards while rotating 90 deg. Keep fingers away.”
• The bolt-head assembly holds a strong spring that flies apart when its retainer is unscrewed. (both)
  Source: Steyr Mannlicher M95 Bolt Disassembly/Assembly — thinlineweapons.com (text revised by Manowar) thinlineweapons.com [2] — “WARNING - FLYING PARTS HAZARD! The spring inside this assembly is under a lot of tension. Hang on tight! Unscrew the retainer.”
• Two indexing steps on reassembly: the firing pin's flat must face the bolt-head notch, and the retainer's grooves must line up with the head shaft. (reassembly)
  Source: Steyr Mannlicher M95 Bolt Disassembly/Assembly — thinlineweapons.com (text revised by Manowar) thinlineweapons.com [2] — “Orient the flat side of the firing pin so it is facing the same direction as the notch in the bolt head.”
• On worn rifles the bolt head will not detent in the unlocked position, which makes both disassembly and reassembly very hard. (both)
  Source: Steyr M95 carbine (restoration project write-up) — Griffin & Howe griffinhowe.com [3] — “The worn extractor and bolt head cause the bolt head to not detent properly in the unlocked position, making function, disassembly and reassembly very difficult.”

Fit or check on rebuild

• Bolt-head retainer grooves aligned — The retainer is backed off until its grooves line up.
  Source: Steyr Mannlicher M95 Bolt Disassembly/Assembly — thinlineweapons.com (text revised by Manowar) thinlineweapons.com [2] — “Just unscrew it until the grooves line up.”
• Headspace / chambering (8x50R vs 8x56R) — Converted rifles vary.
• Re-zero sights or scope — Sights and optics come off for coating, and point of impact must be re-confirmed. This is a standard check, so no source.

This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.

Procedures

Torque specifications

No sourced torque values from the manufacturer are recorded for this firearm. Where a fastener has a specified torque — action screws, scope bases, muzzle devices, barrel nuts — get it from the manufacturer or a gunsmith rather than estimating it.

Function check

• Verify the rifle is unloaded — chamber and magazine — before each check.
• Cycle the bolt and confirm it cocks and closes fully into battery.
• With the action cocked, engage the safety and press the trigger. The striker must not release.
• Disengage the safety without touching the trigger. The striker must not release.
• Press the trigger and confirm the striker releases with a firm snap.
• Load dummy rounds and confirm they feed and eject cleanly.
• If you have any doubt about the rifle’s history, have headspace gauged by a gunsmith before firing live ammunition.
• Confirm the bolt locks positively at the end of its forward stroke.
• Load an empty en-bloc clip and confirm it latches and that the clip release drops it cleanly.

Maintenance

Lubrication points

• Bolt lugs and raceways
• Cocking cam surfaces
• Extractor
• Trigger and sear contact

Cleaning notes

Surplus ammunition of this era is frequently corrosively primed. After shooting it, flush the bore, bolt face, and gas system with hot soapy water or a water-based solvent the same day, dry completely, then oil. Keep the firing pin channel clean and dry — a pin held forward by congealed cosmoline causes slam fires.

Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 300 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.

Wear parts to inspect

Firing pin and its protrusion · Extractor · Bolt lugs · Crown (inspect for cleaning rod wear) · Magazine follower and spring

Common issues

Also covers

The procedures above are reported to apply to: M95 long rifle and M95/30 Stutzen carbine · Bulgarian and Hungarian reissued M95s. Verify against the manual for your specific model.

Similar manual of arms

• Schmidt-Rubin K31
• M1 Garand

Sourcing