Muzzle Blasts, Pt. III

The last rifle I posted was a difficult one to figure out, and one reason is that folks don't see many of them in this day and age compared to other milsurp firearms. I don't have really concrete numbers, but I'd wager there were no more than a few thousand 6.5x53R Mannlicher Model 1895 Dutch Cavalry Carbines imported into these United States over the last century or so. I haven't even seen more than a couple of the full-length M95 rifles during my travels, and find myself fortunate to own a similar M95 Artillery Carbine as a mate to the Cavalry Carbine pictured below. Of note, this is NOT the same carbine as the Model 1895 Steyr-Mannlicher rifle in 8x50R, which was a straight-pull design. The Dutch Mannlicher was a rimmed 6.5mm turnbolt creation which also saw service in Romania.

The cavalry carbines are unique in that the box magazine and stock have asymmetrical wood on the left (horse) side of the gun, with the exposed box magazine on the right side conspicuously sans wood protection. I suppose that was a modification for the sake of the horse and scabbard, but few sources explain the rationale now. Mine has a date of 1896 on the receiver, and sees non-combat service on range day, since I scored both carbines, dozens of en-bloc Mannlicher clips, and several hundred rounds of reloadable brass when I bought the guns about 15 years ago. Reloading for the 6.5x53R round is straightforward, and the gun likes 155gr roundnose projectiles in front of a powder charge very similar to the later 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Shonauer, which it predates by all of a year or so...

For this next chapter of Name That Muzzle, I give you this out-of-focus teaser (still learning to use the Nikon DSLR, sorry):