I have purchased 2 Steyr Rifles the past 3 weeks. A pro hunter SS in 7WSM and a forester in 7mm-08. These were part of the clearance from CDNN. I have heard these stories about the triggers etc etc etc. All I know is these 2 have some of the best triggers I have come across in a very long time. Nothing has to be done to either rifle except put on mounts and scopes and they are good to go. I purchased the rifles on recommendation of a member of my gun club who uses them exclusively. What kept me from buying them at the time was they were priced significantly higher and no dealer near me stocked them. From from CDNN they were better priced so I took a gamble on them and it paid off. I wish CDNN had a 25-06 Forester in stock and I would have bought that as well. They may have some Euro trash styling but I can balance it out with Remingtons that I own.Just nice to know that workers at least somewhere have pride in what they do and don't just throw junk out the door at inflated prices

Welcome to the Steyr fan club! My Steyr Forester 30-06 is the most consistantly accurate factory gun I have. The wood stocked Forester is more pleasing to the eye (IMO) than the synthetic Pro-Hunters, but they all shoot! The bolts when new are a little stiff but they loosen up after a while. The detachable mags are the best and have plenty of room. The bolt lock that locks the bolt handle is an excellent way to go.

Get some light weight Talleys and you have a couple of real performers.

I would love to get my hands on a Steyr Forester 260 with the 23.5" barrel!

Couldn't agree more! Back from SA for 3 weeks now. Took 9 animals from 125 to 407 Yards with a SBS Prohunter SS in 300Win Mag. Gun Shoots .6"@100yds and 1.2'@300yds using Fed 200gr Nosler Partitions. My 260's are equally accurate (forrester and Prohunter mountain) I also picked up a 30-06 Camo Stainless that I have not fired yet but I bet it shoots too.

quote:

I would love to get my hands on a Steyr Forester 260 with the 23.5" barrel!

if you'd settle for the sbs synthetic i can help you out.
I own or have owned...
5 Steyr tactical LW 20's
3 Steyr tactical HB 20's
2 Steyr tactical HB 26"
1 steyr tactical HB 300 WM
1 223 scout
1 308 sctout tactical
6 Mountain 308's
2 mountain 7mm-8
1 SBS 308 SS compact (iron sights)
1 SBS 308 compact
1 mountain 260 rem
1 prohunter 30-06 camo
1 prohunter 270 camo
1 30-06 forester
1 7mm-08 forester
1 7mm-08 forester mountain
3 SSG 69's
1 Steyr classic euro carbine 308
2 1961 MCA
1 1908 8mm dufflebag bring back
1 SSG Match walnut
5 SBS 376 Steyrs
i think thats it...
right now i am waiting for shipment of a 6.5x55.
as soon as the new 450 marlin hits the shore i'll have one of those as well.
Steyr has the safest and the strongest action on the market.
they have the best triggers of any production gun out there and they are as accurate as any gun twice as expensive.
the recievers is proof tested to over 120,000 PSI.
the trigger is adjustable for weight, creep and overtravel and can be reduced to 1.2 pounds without AD when on fire and dropped on the butt. (IF DONE PROPERLY!)
the BBl's are cold hammer forged polygonl rifled, free floated to the reciver.
i have pulled sub 1/2" groups from a 20" 308 from a lahti rifle rest with factory ammo.
the average MV of GM308M from the 20" steyr is 2550 FPS. thats only a 100 FPS loss with a 6" shorter BBL than the test BBL.
the magazine is a 2 position drop box type.
the LOP is adjustable via spacers.
bases are identical to common browning A-bolt.
the only BAD things i have forung in 10 years of shooting these is this...
Due to the sweep of the bolt handles, if you use anything less than a medium height ring the bolt handle will strike the eyepeice of the scope. the obj will clear fine. hell even a 40mm in low rings clears the bbl.
if you use a medium ring and a european scope with a large eyepiece (zeiss conquest, ect) the handle will slightly rub the eyepiece.
I suppose this is due to the low light hunting done in europe and the wide use of VERY large obj bells. they probably use high rings anyway.
an example is this. I mounted a 3-12x56 scope in warne medium maxima rings on a HBAR yesterday. the obj still cleared the HB BBL, with butler creek flip ups on. the bolt handle was less than 2MM from hitting the eyepiece.
56MM with flip up and i had about 4mm clearance under the obj.
the other conn is the very small ejection port. while i have neve had a round failt to eject single loading a round is a bear.
other than that i'd take a steyr rifle over any rifle twice the cost.
My favorite is the model called the HBC. probably the rarest of all the SBS rifles w/ the only exeption being the 3 450 marlins brought over for the '06 SHOT and never released to the public.
The HBC is a black 20" Heavy BBL with a large bolt round knob. mine is a tack driver.
Steyrs have no cold bore shot variation. the dont shift from heat or fouling any that i can tell from shooting at 200 yards. perhaps at longer distances you tell.

They are good rifles and usually very accurate but the trigger is nowhere near the best trigger out there and the 4 that I have are not Polygonal rifled.
A lot of people seem to either love or hate the synthetic stocks, I like them fine especially the scouts even if they do look funny.
All in all good rifles..................DJ

I have one in 7mm-08 that is my death ray. It is my go-to whitetail rifle. Sub MOA with 139gr SST with the first load I tested!

The only downside is mags may be hard to get, so try to get a spare when/if you can.

Mine is wood stocked and I have been kicking myself for not picking up a synthetic stock from CDNN for $40 when they had them that cheap.

Who sells magazines (.270 Win) for Steyr Foresters?? Cheap would be nice...

- mike

Check CDNN for spare Steyr magazines.

I have two friends who praise their SBS-96 Pro Hunters to the skies. Both rifles are 9.3x62mm and really put the game down. One man had his SBS on our May hunt in Africa and took everything from Kudu to Steenbuck with it. The fourth in our party was using a pair of Steyr Scouts, a .376 and a .308, no problems for him either. I just bought a Steyr Ultra Light in 7mm-08 from that same CDNN sale, and the little rifle shoots like a dream! Steyr has gotten a number of rifles right, if they only could control their costs!

LLS

Thanks for CDNN tip for magazines. I knew they sell the Steyr rifles, but I had not spotted the mags.

- mike

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Duckear:
The only downside is mags may be hard to get, so try to get a spare when/if you can.

QUOTE]

I have 2 x Steyr Rifles; a Model L with Heavy Barrel and a Prohunter. The only dissapointment I have is parts. I ordered a new mag and a magazine housing/trigger guard moulding for the L. It's been nearly nine months and the hope is the parts will be here (Australia)around the second week in July. But, both rifles are more accurate than I am!

a couple of weeks ago a deputy and i took turns shooting red twine hanging from a target rest with our SBS tacticals.

I have a Steyr SBS 96 Forester in 9.3x62mm and it is all that KSTEPHENS describes. Just a superior rifle. I mounted a Leupold VX-III 2.5-8x36mm scope on it using Talley bases and low Talley rings with no problems.

Also I ordered a couple of extra magazines directly from Steyr USA a couple of months ago and am awaiting them now. Supposed to be a 90 day delivery. We'll see.

I get the sense that there aren't many 9.3 caliber Foresters in the USA. Except for mine, which I lucked out and found for $595 at my local gun shop, I have never seen one for sale anywhere, not even on the internet.

I'm glad I have mine!

they might be very good rifles, but the prohunters stock is just awfull..but hey then i think a lot of the mcmillian stocks arn't that pretty either.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
Also I ordered a couple of extra magazines directly from Steyr USA a couple of months ago and am awaiting them now. Supposed to be a 90 day delivery. We'll see.

Mrlexma, any chance you remember what Steyr charged for the magazines?? CDNN wants $38 per mag. I don't know if that is reasonable??

- mike

the only mags CDNN has in stock is for the 10 round conversion unit for 30-06 cases. the mag comes with the conversion magwell but not the mounting hardware to install it.
mags were $50 or so when they were plentiful. now its a sellers market.
still better than the price of SSG mags.

mho,

Steyr USA charged me the same, thirty eight bucks apiece.

Thanks Guys.

I ordered from the CDNN website today, and at least the order confirmation claims the mag should ship within one business day... We shall what transpires.

- mike

I have a forester in 6.5x55. Came with a synthetic stock (so I guess it is a pro-hunter) but I bought a wood stock from CDNN for 90 bucks a few years back. Had a Kahles ZF scope with a 308 ballistic cam on another rifle. Ordered a 6.5x55 ballistic cam from kahles austria -- took about half a year to get it. It is pure hell with reloader 19 and hornady a max bullets. It makes deer go down in a hurry. Also have model 1956 in 30-06, but it is kicker with a short barrel -- also has a broken set trigger and cannot get any service from steyr on their web page. shot my first deer with a 1956 in 7 mag. i was 14 and the guy let me pick between the 7 mag, the 06 he later gave me and the 340 weatherby. jesus a 340 would have to kick with a 19" barrel.

Just checked my bank statement. On Thursday, June 27th, Steyr USA cashed the check I wrote them on April 20th.

I think that means the magazines have arrived stateside from Austria. I should have them within a week.

Just thought I would report that my two 9.3x62mm magazines arrived in the mail today.

Took a bit over 60 days from order to delivery.