Earlier in 2015 someone listed an old Steyr Mannlicher action for sale in the classified section. The action appeared to be in great shape so I picked it up. On a whim, I checked EBay and found a turned blank for a Dutch Mannlicher Hemburg. I picked it up. Then I sent the action, the turned stock and several magazine to John Farner (Toomany Tools) and asked him to build me a homage rifle to the old Gibbs .256 Mannlichers.

The .256 Mannlicher cartridge (6.5x53R) has been around for more than a century. It became one of the early classic African safari cartridges along the lines of the .275 Rigby and the .375 H&H. It was widely used by many turn of the century African hunters. Boddington wrote:

“Philip Percival loved the .256 , and so did the great lion hunter Leslie Tarlton. Bell used it some, and Powell-Cotton, John Millais and Blayney Percival swore by it. It was the favorite rifle of the great hunter/soldier Major C.H. Stigand.”

Selous was another hunter that made use of the .256 Mannlicher cartridge. The cartridge had a reputation for being light, quiet and for having incredible penetration. Pondoro Taylor tells the story of a fellow that in doing elephant control work shot three elephant with one shot. That’s penetration. Some of us also like the look of the cartridge when loaded with 160 grain round nose bullets.

The challenge I gave John was to build the rifle as close in style and dimensions as the .256 Mannlichers built by Gibbs in England. They were long and lean sporting long barrels and short forends. They retained the clip fed magazine that had the unique feature that after the last round is fired the clip drops out of the bottom of the magazine.

So here are some pictures, first of some of the old Gibbs rifles that we were trying to replicate and finally the rifle John put together.

Cool stuff Mike. I like it! Hats off to Mr. Farner for a job well done.

How far were you when you shot that group?

Fifty yards with fifty plus year old eyes.

. . . that is ten shots by the way.

Lovely job on a fine rifle.

TT

quote:

Fifty yards with fifty plus year old eyes.

. . . that is ten shots by the way.

Daaaaammmmmnnnnn... bartender, I will have what he is having.

Real nice, I built a similar Greek Mannlicher.

Beautiful rifle. I just picked up one by an unknown British gunmaker. No makers name but definitely British. What load are you using? I'm doing load development for mine right now.

I have only shot the ten rounds on the target. The load was 37 grains of IMR4350, a WLR primer and a 160 grain Hornady RN bullet. I am using .303 British brass that has been trimmed and formed. I did not have my chronograph so I do not have a velocity. I would guess around 2100 fps. Some pictures of your rifle would be great to see.

Love that 160 Hornady round nose. That was my go-to bullet for my 6.5x55. Very European looking with the heavy-for-caliber bullet sticking out half the length of a loaded cartridge.

Wonder why Hornady discontinued those . . . if I could lay my hands on three or four more boxes I would probably have a life time supply.

Two rifles that always intrigued me, a 19093 MS in 6.5 and the Brno m21 or m22, in 7x57 or 6.5x57..

Im presently building a 7x57 on a G-33-40 small ring action and it will have all the bling. a Mod. 22 Brno bottom metal sans the double sets,and will extend the tang and bottom up over the comb, and have a modified custom trigger, I also whated the larger trigger bow that is ment for double set triggers, but is perfect for a gloved hand if needed. barrel band front sight, 3 leaf rear on an Island and banded, sighted for 100, 200, and 300 yards, so not for looks. and a soldered on barrel swivel, but maybe a barrel band swivel. Talley QD scope mounts and a 2x7x28 Leupold, with an auxillary 3X Leupold option sighted in and ready to mount.

The wood is an almost such a dark brown its more like black, with lots of very dark marble cake and very unusual, and I have had it for ions..I am building this one for myself, something I have never quite got accomplished, so its time. The stock will be very English, short forend, long in the grip with Talley or a Prince of whales grip, egg cheek piece with a small shadow line, Probably a Neidner type butt, but maybe a leather covered pad..Gave lots of thought to the caliber as I wanted a light recoiling rifle, that was featherweight, but capable of killing anything up to and including elephant in a pinch..What else could it be but a 7x57, it won slightly over the .308 for its better SD and penetration perhaps. plus nostalgia and historical fame.

Mike,

Here's a picture of mine as requested. One of my friends sold it to me recently. I recently got a promotion and he has a large gun collection he's reducing. He assured me he's going to do his best to get every nickle of my promotion raise. This and a Model 64 Winchester were the first in his quest to make his threat come true.

Mart

This was one of the most fun projects I've done. Should serve very well in the field as its light in weight, shoulders nicely, very light recoil and very accurate. The clip-feed mechanism works wonderfully, a testament to the brilliant engineers who designed it over 120 years ago.

Thanks, Duane.

What a beautiful and classic rifle. Good choice.
Another African hunter who used and recommended the .256 was Sir Alfred Pease. He used it a lot on lions, many of them charging. It apparently worked since Sir Alfred lived a long and exciting life in B.E.A.
By the way, as I have mentioned on another area of AR, the 160 grain Hornady's will give you all the penetration you will ever need.
A couple of years back I decided to test this alleged penetration.
As a control, I fired a 180 grain 8mm Nosler Ballistic Tip, 2360 fps, at 25 yards or so into some hackberry stumps I was using as a bullet backstop.
There were actually 4 12" diameter stumps, then a 10" diameter dead hackberry tree, and behind that (I was unaware of it at the time) a 7" diameter live hackberry and then the forest behind our house.
The 8mm 180 grainer penetrated about 3" and turned inside out before stopping.
I then fired a 160 grain Hornady 6.5 at an estimated 2160 fps. It penetrated all 58" of dead hackberry, then through the center of the 7" live hackberry, and went sailing off into the forest. Total penetration was @65" of hackberry, which is a dense wood. The hole was straight through and through and was about quarter sized.
I was quite impressed and it suddenly became clear why the little 6.5 was so well thought of by folks whose lives often depended on empirical
results rather than ad copy.
Good luck with your beautiful rifle, You have chosen wisely and tastefully.
Happy New Year to all!

Interesting project and a nice looking rifle.I like the rear sight notch.

Mart, thanks for sharing the pictures. There is definitely a family resemblance between all these rifles that is for sure. Trim and svelte firearms.

Mike, Beautiful rifle. The handling will be similar to a fine shot gun with that long barrel and generous drop in the stock. You got alotta class. Brian