Today at a gunshow I bought a very nicely sporterized (to my mind, anyway), M95 Dutch Mannlicher, Hembrug 1916. I definitely overpaid for it some but it was light, handy, awesome and weird and I just had to have it. You know the type. It's chambered for standard 6.5 Dutch with a 17.5" bbl, I think a cutdown rifle barrel, nicely crowned with a ramped front sight. The only markings I've been able to turn up are the arsenal and serial numbers. There's some numbers on the bottom of the receiver ring and a word stamped on the underside of the barrel that I can't make out. It has a Mannlicher-style full length walnut checkered pistol-gripped stock with a steel nose cap and checkered buttplate. The pistol grip has an extremely tight steep curve to it. The bolt has been turned down and checkered underneath and a peep sight added to the cocking piece. It had a leather sling that was very similar to a US 1907 but not identical. I removed it because it was badly in need of some mink oil and replaced it with a canvas one I have. All of this is pretty standard on sporterized rifles. The strange part is in the magazine. The en-bloc clip system has been removed and an internal box magazine has been fitted. It has a new handmade trigger guard that is flush with the stock and has turned the rifle into a 3 (2+1) shot repeater. It's obviously a one-off gunsmith experiment but works reasonably well as long as you don't work the action overly quickly and are careful when loading. Not a problem with my crippling left handedness.

Have any of you folks ever seen a conversion like that done? Any idea where it might have come from?

Thanks for any info. I'll try to get some pictures up here in a day or two when I get back home.

Here is a link to some pictures of the rifle in question:

[img]https://postimg.org/gallery/2nrp7h2fe/[/img]

Hopefully that works.
Any idea what it might be? Cigarette rifle maybe?

After reading the OP, I was curious about the 6.5 Dutch cartridge. Goggled it up and found an article by Bob Shell about the M95 rifle. His pictured rifle looks somewhat like yours but unaltered. He list reloading data for it.

Whoever altered your rifle spent a lot of time on it. I like it.

Sir: I have a set dies for that if you are interested in them. As I know you're not likely to find factory ammo...

I have encountered only one 6.5MM Dutch rifle over the years. It had been customized and was a good looking rifle, but the seller wanted a large amount of money for it, dont remember how much it was but I passed on it.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I've been out a few days.

I think someone wanted a Mannlicher-Schoenauer but didn't want to pay for one, although I can't imagine this custom job ended up being much cheaper in the long run.

Webster: yea it was definitely a labor of love for some gunsmith at one time. His attention to detail was pretty nice, checkering the underside of the bolt, squaring off and checkering the safety, fabricating a cocking piece aperture, in addition to the magazine conversion are really nice touches. It shoots good too.

Grasshopper: PM sent on the dies. My gunsmith, 60+ years in the business, actually has load data for this cartridge with 100 to 160 grain loads. He knew exactly what I was talking about but said it had been over 40 years since he'd been asked to load any. But yea, outside of some ancient military surplus, it's unlikely that Federal or Hornady will start loading the old Dutch any time soon.

Nathan,

My curiosity got the best of me, too about your 6.5 Dutch carbine. I found this article online about reloading and shooting the 6.5 Dutch; 6.5 Dutch LINK,

and the good folks at Rocky Mountain Reloading have some new, first class .303 British brass for a good price; RMR 303 British Brass LINK

The link for the brass shows primed brass, but what I saw there at their shop back in early July was unprimed. May be worth a call to see if any is still hanging around.

Good luck with your project and please, keep us posted!

Ed

Beware of the old FN Dutch 6.5 ammo, it is click...................................BANG!. If you can find some Greek surplus .303 British it would probably be the cheapest as well as being very good quality brass.

I can ee why you bought it. Not only an unusual, useful cartridge, but someone did some very good quality gunsmithing on your rifle. Enjoy.

"It's chambered for standard 6.5 Dutch with a 17.5" bbl, I think a cutdown rifle barrel"

https://s20.posti



It's not drilled and tapped.

It may be interesting to a collector of "original" rifles. Not to a hunter/shooter.

APD, I've been reading up on just about everything I can find since I picked this thing up. I'd heard about it in passing but had basically no knowledge about it. Ian and Forgotten Weapons is usually a pretty good bet for good information on weird and obsolete stuff.

Ismith, I'll definitely look out for that ammo. I was thinking about picking up some of the Dutch surplus that Liberty Tree has but it would probably be about the same.

Savage, I would've thought the opposite. It bears basically no resemblance to what it originally was so I figured it would be more of a shooter-grade piece. That's what it is for me, anyway. In the rocky hollows of the part of the Missouri Ozarks that I hunt in, doing their best to grow young white oaks and loblolly pines, that rifle will do just fine with it's very nice aperture sight. And it will be very nice to carry such a light rifle over those ridges and through all those hollows.

Well, I'd hoped to have this thing sorted out and ready to use for deer season this year, but unfortunately I've had to put this little rifle on hold today. I never did get the magazine system sorted out enough to be quite reliable. It worked 100%, about 95% of the time. So i ordered a replacement factory magazine assembly from Springfield Sporters. (Great place by the way. Had the part 3 days after ordering, nearly new with slight edge finish wear and packed with ancient grease. $22 when numrich wanted $60.) The aftermarket triggerguard is smaller so the new-original needed to be inletted. While filing, the stock parted company from the vice, hit the shop floor, and shattered at the pistol grip. It was oil soaked and rotten inside. I'm surprised it didn't snap when I was shooting it. It's too bad, even though the grip was a little tight for my tastes, it was a beautifully figured stick. So, into the closet it goes until my finances allow purchasing a new stock blank.

bummer about the stock. Maybe you can modify the old stock to the way you like it, then use as a pattern.

A cryin' shame but you'll be better in the long run for it. Much better than shattering it while out hunting.