Hello,
Friend of mine has an action only and told me it is of Dutch military origin and he owes me for some work I did for him and offered to let me have the action. Not familiar with the Dutch or their military firearms, but it might make a nice sporter. Any info out there on one of these actions?? Thanks

a project with one is mentioned in this recent thread-

HERE

I don't have any personal experience with a conversion (mine is a factory sporter), but let me throw this at you. The one thing that has always' been so appealing about Mannlicher-Schoenauer sporting rifles is their superb fit and finish. In all reality the split ring action is a poor design, the firing pin assembly is heavy enough to throw the rifle off aim when the trigger is pulled if you aren't careful. What made these so wonderful is the craftsmanship that went into them. Here is a great thread on the subject. It explains a lot of what makes them so nice. It is worth reading. M-S Thread Read what JBelk, Burgess (system98) and KurtC had to say about them. Pretty smart fellow's.


If you have never handled one I would suggest you do. Something to keep in mind when taking on a Milsurp Mannlicher project is these are war rifles. The tolerances are going to be a lot looser and a lot of what makes these Mannlicher-Schoenauer sporting rifles so neat just isn't going to be there. I know that makes me sound like a M-S snob. I'm not trying to be, I just want you to know because by the time you spend what it's going to take to convert one (assuming you're like me and have to pay somebody) you could probably buy a nice 1952-1960 sporter ready to go.

Terry

Hello TC1,
Thanks for the very straight forward and thoughtful answer. Several years ago had similar situation where client owed me some funds and offered a like new MS in 30-06 with nearly 50% engraving and I turned it down. Well, money long spent and no rifle either!!

Driver, none of these pictures or posts are referring to the Dutch Mannlicher. It is another beast. It uses a fixed magazine that hangs approx 4 inches down below the stock line and uses clips to hold the cartidges in the magazine, without them, it is a single shot. It is a very slick action that was the forerunner of the 03 mannlichers and was used by many of the big name English makers at the turn of the century to make sporters, mostly in the original 6.5x53r, but some were done in .375 2-1/2 and .303. Corbin Shell and I are both working on projects with these and North Wood gunstocks is working with us on duplicating my original pistol grip sporter stock and Corbins original straight grip sporter stock. These actions were made and marked by Steyr/Austria and The Hembrug arsenal in Holland. If you decide to build it and need some help, send a pm. Lee.

Here's THE one I like:

Dutch

quote:

Driver, none of these pictures or posts are referring to the Dutch Mannlicher.

mine does.

quote:

Here's THE one I like:

you're gonna start a run on them now posting a pic like that.