The Ultimate Custom Classic
.256 Mannlicher Sporter

The Legendary Mannlicher

While the Mauser Model 1898 rifle is the reigning king of all big game firearms, if there were any contender for the title it would be the Mannlicher. Although he made a truly original straight pull action in 1884 that was quite successful, Ferdinand Mannlicher's most famous military and sporting rifles evolved from the German Model 1888 Commission Rifle (itself a derivative of the Dreyse and Chassepot designs), conspicuous for its split rear bridge and Spandau Arsenal modified Mauser bolt action with a Mannlicher designed magazine using en bloc clips. Since the Commission had borrowed his magazine system, Mannlicher returned the favor and adopted the Mauser-derived bolt action. Beginning in the Model 1893 (6.5 x 53R mm), the Mannlicher bolt action system was refined in the 1895 (6.5 x 53R mm), the 1900 and 1903 (6.5 x 54 mm), 1905 (9 x 56 mm), 1908 (8 x 56 mm), 1910 (9.5 x 56 mm), 1924 (High Velocity and Sequoia long actions), 1930, 1950 (GK), 1952 (GK Improved), 1956 (MC), 1958 (magnum action) and 1961 (MCA) models. All of these save the earliest, the 1893 and 1895 models, belong in the Mannlicher-Schoenauer category, having the novel spool magazine designed by Otto Schoenauer.

The older designs are adapted from the 1893 Romanian and 1895 Dutch military rifles, both of which were chambered for the 6.5 x 53R mm cartridge, a rimmed ancestor of the more recognized 6.5 x 54 mm Mannlicher-Schoenauer rimless cartridge that appeared in the 1900 model. Though it is almost forgotten today, at least half of the glory and exploits owned by the .256 Mannlicher, as it was known to the British, is attributable to the earlier rimmed (and ballistically identical) cartridge and rifle. In fact, it is often very difficult to tell which weapon is being depicted, unless a date can be applied to eliminate the later design.

Most of the better English gunmakers proudly produced sporter versions of the Mannlicher and it was extremely popular. George Gibbs was probably the first to introduce it. Driving a heavy and well made 160 grain bullet at a precipitous 2350 to 2450 fps in a standard length barrel, it offered very impressive performance for the day, comparable to a 220 grain loading in the later .30 caliber Ball, Model 1906 cartridge - in fact, it was the success of this load, as much as the redoubtable 7 x 57 mm Mauser, that influenced American ordnance designers to develop the Model 1903 and 1906 cartridges.

Prominent users of the .256 Mannlicher rifle were Sir Edmund Loder, Sir Alfred Pease, John G. Millais, Maj. R. L. Kennion, P. H. G. Powell-Cotton, Maj. C. H. Stigand and Blayney Percival, all of whom evidently regarded the .256 Mannlicher as their favorite arm. Denis D. Lyell, Charles Sheldon, Hesketh K. H. Prichard, Capt. H. A. Wilson and the adventurer and big game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton (remembered mainly as the lover of Danish author Isak Dinesen, who wrote Out of Africa), also used the .256 Mannlicher or the Mannlicher-Schoenauer version. Pease and others used the little cartridge to slay lions, rhinos and elephants with dispatch (mainly owing to their unusual steadiness and shooting abilities). Those who used it praised the Mannlicher's reliability, smoothness of function, effectiveness and handiness in the field - a legendary legacy that endures.

Finding the Rifle

While Dutch carbines turn up from time to time on the online auctions, full length Dutch Mannlicher rifles are quite rare, and the only Romanian pattern Mannlicher carbine or rifle that I have ever seen is in the Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. So I was extraordinarily fortunate to obtain an 1895 Model Dutch Mannlicher rifle in good condition (very little spotting or pitting). This rifle was produced at the Hembrug Arsenal under license from Steyr Werke AG for the Netherlands military in 1918. It had since been sporterized in a most unsatisfactory manner by unskilled hands, but somewhere along the way it had acquired the now almost impossible to obtain Lyman Model 36 swing away aperture sight. For the price that I paid the Lyman sight alone would have been worth it.

One of the peculiarities of this rifle design is that it must be operated with a spring steel clip magazine, containing five cartridges. This is inserted through the top of the action until it locks. A follower with a strong spring presses on the cartridges and keeps them tight against the lips of the clip. When the last cartridge is chambered, the clip drops free. Its a neat design. The clip can be inserted either way, unlike other clip designs, such as the 1895 straight pull Austrian and Hungarian Mannlichers. The drawback is that if you lose all of your clips the rifle becomes a single shot. However, these are not hard to come by and generally are not expensive since the rifles are so scarce. I managed to get five with no difficulty.

This feature makes identification of the Models 1893 and 1895 fairly simple. Look for a bolt and receiver like a Model 1888 Commission rifle (split rear receiver bridge) and a rigid magazine well extending below the receiver and conjoined with the trigger guard assembly. If those features are present, then you have an 1893 or 1895 Mannlicher. If you have the Model 88 bolt / receiver with a spool magazine, then that is a Mannlicher-Schoenauer. If you have an extended clip magazine and a straight pull bolt, then that is one of the several patterns of straight pull Mannlichers (usually Model 1895 - no shortage of confusion with two distinct Model 1895 Mannlicher designs!). If you have the Model 88 bolt / receiver and a conventional enclosed box magazine, then it is a Model 88, produced by Mauser, Steyr, Haenel or others.

Building the Rifle

The first thing that had to be done was to replace the stock. Someone, lacking either mechanical aptitude or aesthetic sensibility, modified the original military stock in a most abominable fashion. I wish I had a good photograph. It was truly hideous. Pieces of bird's eye maple had been glued onto the spine of the buttstock, with liberal amounts of putty applied to fill in the gaps where skill failed to join the pieces of wood seamlessly or where gouging had occurred. The curve of the grip and trigger guard no longer matched even crudely. No effort had been made to modify the military forearm, other than to add a black plastic tip. It had a definite 1960s or early 1970s tackiness about it (white line spacers, the whole nine yards).

Possibly worse, the barrel had been sawed off and crowned (I dare not guess how) such that it was not square. Although I never shot the rifle in this condition, I can only assume that a muzzle that was not true did not contribute to good accuracy. Fortunately, at least 24 inches of barrel remained and re-cutting and crowning a barrel is not difficult.

I placed order with Great American Gunstock Co. for a high grade English walnut stock in the Freischutz pattern, which is a very traditional European style with a pancake cheekpiece and considerable drop at the heel. I specified a long pull (over 14 inches), since prior experience with a Mannlicher-Schoenauer showed that to be correct and I knew that most English stalking rifles also had pulls in the 14-1/2 inch range.

My brother is a talented amateur gunsmith and has built several Mausers, in addition to rebuilding other guns including antique shotsguns and a Ruger No. 1 to look more like an orginal English Farquharson. He was chomping at the bit to get his hands on my Mannlicher and I was only too happy to oblige his craftsman's urge.

The first thing that my brother did was convince me not to replace the military bolt handle with a sporter butterknife style. He also bent the bolt over. You see all three types of bolts on vintage .256s, but truly the most commonly encountered is the bent over military bolt. It looks right on this rifle and it lends a definite suggestion of British origins to it (only an Austrian sporter would likely have a butterknife bolt handle, until you get to the later Schoenauers converted by Jeffery and others).

I specified a rear island sight with one standing and a single folding leaf, but the standing leaf must not be so tall that the Lyman aperture sight was obscured, since that was intended to be the primary sight. Our experience with an aperture sight in practical shooting (especially standing) showed that it conferred a marked increase in the effective range of shooting and came on line much more quickly than plain or express sights. Nevertheless, I liked the aesthetic of the express sights and requested the island rear.

The front sight was a New England Custom Guns (NECG) Masterpeice banded ramp sight, the one you see on practically every custom rifle made today. It is very sharp looking and has a variety of bead inserts. I selected the fine silver bead with flip up night sight. The latter is a much larger paddle shaped bead that is hinged to the front of the bead insert. In low light it can be flipped up into place, providing a much coarser but far more visible front sight.

I wanted a barrel band swivel and European style rear swivel (naturally), ebony fore-end tip, Dressels steel grip cap, and steel butt plate (my favorite butt design - though, as my brother reminds me, they tend to prove treacherous when propping up a rifle). He also contributed some aesthetic details of his own: an inletted German silver shield in the butt for engraved initials, ebony crossbolt plugs and rich carving of a very slender and graceful stock with a classically British short forearm. We had a little trouble, owing to a misunderstanding with Great American Gunstocks on the pattern, but in the end my brother was able to make the stock I had wanted from the blank they provided and the wood is gorgeous (the figure near the bottom of the carved stock is one they cut, possibly for pattern making, that did not have high grade wood).

The checkering was performed by Tim Smith-Lyon (Classic Checkering), who does a very fine job. I got a custom panel pattern at 22 lpi that wraps the forearm and the side of the grip in a manner complementary of my brother's stock carving.

This rifle is one of my most highly prized arms. I have never seen a vintage Mannlicher that looked this good.