Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Steyr-Mannlicher Model M Professional Questions

Has anyone had any experience with this model? Mine usualy puts them into 1/2" groups or smaller, but get the occasional 3/4 -1 incher. Not sure if this is a bedding problem, the ammo, or a lack of concentration on my part. Would bedding help this model with the rear recoil lug? Is there any special tricks one should know about when bedding this one? There isn't much material under recoil lug, so my fear is removal of any to apply bedding may weaken it.
<br>After this gun was purchased in 1985, a gunsmith informed me that due to the rear locking lugs, it would develop excessive head space after about 500 rounds.
<br>As a result of his comment, I only shoot a few to check scope settings, before taking it on a hunt. It only goes on prairie hunts for trophy antelope and mule deer, when drawn. With a bipod and the double set triggers, it has made some truly exceptional shots on game. I would like to do more load development for it, but am leary about creating a headspace problem. Setting the barrel back to correct would likely damage the teflon finish. Has anyone experienced this headspace problem with this model, and if so after how many rounds?

No Steyr owners out there ?
<br>After more thought on this, if practical pressures are used, I doubt the headspace problem to be any different on this rifle compared to conventional actions. The smiths theory was the action would grow in lenght.
<br>I think the lugs would be set back before this happened, but either way is a result of loads too hot.
<br>Will try some epoxy in the barrel channel, but got serious doubts to it adhering to this stock material.
<br>This rifle fits well and functions sooo smooth , it performs well. In spite of one smiths opinion, that's why she's still in the lineup. After a better load is found, I'll just drive her till the wheels fall off, and deal with it then.
<br>Looks like I answered my own questions. It's just been too easy getting good info here, so one has a tendency too let others do their thinking for them .

Cannon. I have know folk who thought that the only time they had "intellegent" conversation......was when they talked to themselves. I know that is not the case with you. :-) Good to see you posting my friend. How was your season? GB

I just got a carbine (walnut, muzzle length stock) in my shop for stock refinishing. Couldn't resist taking it to the range to "test" it. This little rifle shoots very well indeed for a full stock. Two three shot groups with moderate (270 Win) handloads averaged .557. I consider that excellent for a full stocked rifle: in fact more than acceptable for any hunting rifle. No attempt to find "the" load. Just threw some safe loads together. The factory target which came with the rifle showed a group of about .2". I told the owner that I bet it was shot on a test bed and not in its stock. I'm not so sure about that now. This little gem doesn't appear to have been shot much and there are no indications of headspace developing. That is a possibility with any rear locker but I think the problem may have been overstated provided you aren't trying to hot rod it.
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<br>Should you get any setback leading to headspace signs don't sweat it. Get yourself an oversized tapered expander button for your dies. Probably one that goes to 338 or 35 would do the trick if it's 30 cal. Expand your cases then run them into your regular die adjusting the die to leave a false shoulder that will hold the cartridge tight to the bolt face when chambered. You should get firm resistance when you close the bolt on a case. Fire form these cases and when you reload them be sure you don't set the advanced shoulder back when they are resized. Beyond that keep your reloads reasonable.
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<br>As far as glass in the plastic stock: if you dont think glass will adhere to the smooth surface you have to chew it up enough so the glass forms a good mechanical lock on it. I've bedded a number of factory synthetics and Ram Lines this way and have had no problems with the glass coming loose.
<br>stocker
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Geogia Boy
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<br>They say theres two signs of knowing when your getting old; one is talking to yourself, the other is ....ah...I forget.
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<br>My season was OK. Only two I got though were split tails. One was a first time ever bow experience on a cow moose, as you probably read here. I was holding out with my buck tag for the biggest whitetail buck in my history. It was on my property, and I watched him almost daily (nightly) as his horns developed
<br>Hadn't quite come up with a game plan, to take him with a bow, when some cheesy lowlife, poached him at night with a rifle. My wife heard a shot one night, and I still can't believe she never woke me.
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<br>How did you fare ?

Stocker
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<br>I also bedded a few plastic stocks, and had none come loose, even in some very cold temperatures. I do lots of drilling and under cutting, and utilize a few small stainless screws, to form a mechanical lock
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<br>My only concern with this one, is the tab just under the recoil lug is only about 1/4" thick. The action bolt runs through the centre, leaving very little material
<br>I suppose one could bed the small tang area, and the back portion of action(rear recoil lug)
<br>without disturbing the portion under lug. If the action screws were tightened into bedding material, until lug just bottomed out, this may give the support needed, without effecting the strenght of this tab. What do you think ?
<br>I was just told, a replacement stock is worth $900.00 dollars
<br>( in metric money) Mcmillan doesn't make these, nor anyone else that I'm aware of, so don't want to muff up.

Cannon.
<br>I had a great year.
<br>This year I saw more deer and shot at more deer than I ever have before. It was truly phenominal. I learned alot too. I really tried to match wind and sun location with my stand placements. I saw deer everytime I went, that was a first for me. I observed a lot to. I hunted several windy days and was able see how differently several bucks and does respond to my sent. It was a great learning experiance. This is the second year I have hunted exclusivly out of my climber. Its portability and the advantage of hunting high, especally on windy days, was a big factor in my success. I had three occausions this year alone where I had deer pass within arms lenght of my tree will I enjoyed the veiw from above. I saw several spikes, a nice 4 pt., a good 6 pt., and a shooter 10 pt. that gave me a lesson in shifting wind and big bucks 101. No antlers this year, had to let them walk, but I feel I'm a better hunter as a result of what I tried and what I saw. Dont want to ramble, so I'll just say I'm greatful for another good year enjoying Gods creation and our precious freedom. GB

Canon: We may get a little confused here on nomenclature and the fact I am looking at a walnut stock and you at a synthetic and they may not be identical---but--- my take on the bedding is that the little tangy bit at the very top rear is to establish the depth the action sits into the stock. The vertical face just in front of it is the recoil support. I doubt if its all that critical if the tab you refer to makes contact with the action at all but I dont think it would hurt a bit providing its taking less pressure than the mortise for the tang. Perhaps its preferable if it has clearance in case there is any compression of the top end of the bedding or the bottom. Both guard screw holes in the wood stock have steel liners (metal tubes). On this stock there is no metal to metal contact between the sides of the screws and the linerswhen you drop the screws in. That makes sense to me just as you want clearance of the screws on a stock that has no liners or on a Mauser that has the tube. Recoil effects have set the recoil support shoulder back a bit on this rifle and the result has been a tiny bit of wood chipping in the top area behind the front guard screw hole. I am going to play with different thicknesses of shim stock on the recoil shoulder to see if I can eleviate any movement yet still have screw clearance in the tubes (really, they act as a protection against stock compression, did they put them in the synthetic?). On the bottom rear I note that the rear of the trigger guard and its mortise sit back a bit from the "tab". So, most of the screw tension is taken up by that extended mortise.
<br>This is an interesting rifle and I'm sure they had a reason for designing it like that (probably to do with efficiency of construction) but I don't know that if I was the "really big cheese" in that company that I would have approved the design. That being said my mind is going overtime trying to figure how to get this fine hunting rifle away from the guy that owns it!!! The original wood finish was pretty drab by the way. Grain unfilled, colour washed out to a barn siding grey/brown. Stripping it and re-finishing with Pro-Custom has revealed considerable fiddleback grain and mineral streaking. It's gorgeous. I don't know if there's much else to suggest. It might be different than the one I'm working on in some respects. Good luck, stocker.

Canon: When I posted you yesterday the stock was wet with a coat of finish so wasn't able to handle it for close examination. Rubbed it down this morning getting ready for another coat and had a closer look at the bedding on that little tab that the rear guard screw passes through. There is action contact (minor imprint)on that tab but only from the centre line of the hole to the back of the mortise. The steel guard screw bushing is also making contact with the bottom of the action. The bushing really controls how tightly it can all be screwed together as it is dead level with the wood surface top and bottom. Hope this helps, stocker.
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Georgia Boy
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<br>Nice post
<br> Being selective, holding out for that special buck, and getting none, can be rewarding.
<br>Plus, they'll be bigger next year.
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<br>Woudn't it be great if we were talking elk? Maybe next season.
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<br>Stalker
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<br>It sounds as if both actions are the same.
<br>This rifle has no pillars or sleeves
<br>The bottom metal/trigger gaurd is plastic too, so I don't think there would be an advantage to having them, in this case. It's softer than the stock material.
<br>I tried the lipstick thing on the action, and to my surprise, the tang area is not making any contact. The small area under lug is the only support, in the rear.
<br> It's not that this rifle has to be bedded, it shoots mighty fine as is. It seems to me the test target that came with this one had all three holes overlapping. I've been bedding a few lately, and this is the only bolt action left, that hasn't been done, and I have three kits left.
<br>Maybe the answer to this problem, is more guns
<br>I'll delve into it more, before the dremel comes out. Hoping to make a gun show tommorow, so
<br>some questions there might find someone who's tried this one.
<br>I can appreciate your wanting the full wood model. They do have a magnetic personality.
<br>In the mid eighties, a local gunshop was unloading a bunch of Sako mannlicher stocked 375 H&H's (20" barrels) for around five hundred bucks each. As much as I wanted one, I thought it would be nothing
<br>more than a loud, slow, heavy kickn' flamethrower. A couple years later, a gunwriter did an arcticle on this rifle and coudn't seem to give it enough praise. Apparently, this model shot and handled superbly, without giving up much velocity. Been looking for one ever since, but haven't even seen one, much less find one for sale. Good luck in your persuasion and thanks for your input.

Finally worked up the courage to bed this one, after doing a little strength test with Brownell's Steelbed. A little bit of compound, 1/2" in diameter, and teardrop shaped, was placed in the barrel channel, with a 1/4" bolt set in the centre. After leaving set overnight, the bolt was pryed sideways, til something gave. The bedding compound broke off about halfway down, leaving all of the diameter adhered to stock. With sidecutters and a sharpened screw driver, I was able to remove the remaining compound, a little at a time, but it took a thin layer of stock material, with each piece that broke off. The Steelbed definitely adheres to synthetic stock material, if degreased, contrary to what I've been told in the past.
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<br>One little tip learned in doing this bedding job, for anyone interested in doing an injection molded stock, is the dremel mill cutter used. Instead of just drilling holes at different angles to form a mechanical lock, I used a mill cutter, with a ball shaped end. The cutter shaft, near ball end is tapered and smaller than the main shaft. This allows a hole to be drilled and then the dremel tool is manipulated around, to form a bell hole in the stock material.
<br>Staight lines can also be cut in stock material, that leaves a hook at the top of cut, similar to an inverted "J". I would think this type of gouging to form a good mechanical lock, even if bedding compound had no adhering qualities. Three different sizes of this cutter came with dremel kit, so regardless of stock thickness, these bell holes or hooked gouges can be utilized. Thanks to Saddlesores advise (another post)on using a syringe to apply the compound, one is assured of getting the holes filled, with little chance of trapping air.
<br>The only difficulty in bedding the Steyr, was in determining how to approach it, and now waiting a week to cure, so the results can be tested.

So stocker I see you are in B.C. also, do you live in the lower mainland? And do you do stocks for others as a business or more for your own use?

Parts: Live in Willy's Puddle. Been here now for nearly 20 years following working in the Peace, Pr. Geo. and Nanaimo. Mostly for my own amusement . Have no desire to try and make money at it. That would be work and I'm happily retired and intend to stay that way. Believe every one should be able to do his own maintenance and minor improvements. Enjoy guiding a guy through his first refinish, rebed etc. . Gives him something to do for life.
<br>besto.

Thanks for the info, was up through your area this last hunting season for moose, ended up going up to just out of Quesnel around moose heights and one of the guys got a limited entry immature bull.