mannlicher schoenauer 1903 serial numbers

The light, fast-pointing, shotgun-like handling of these light MS rifles with German silver front sight and big ‘V’ back sight were effective for close quarter encounters and much cheaper than double rifles. Notwithstanding John Taylor’s dismissal of its prowess in the field, the 9.5x57 became quite popular for inclusion in a battery headed for Africa or India. It is often encountered in rifles made and sold by Steyr, not just those sold by Westley Richards. Most people know the cartridge as as the 9.5mm Mannlicher Schoenauer or the 9.5x57. The Westley Richards nomenclature did not survive into modernity. One disparity is the tendency for Westley Richards loads to specify 43 grains of Cordite, while continental ones appear to favour 45 grains. These figures are not always those quoted different catalogues vary slightly in claimed performance but they are a good guide. The pressure generated in the chamber was 17 tons per square inch. In its original guise, these bottle-neck cartridges were loaded with 45 grains of Cordite, a 270 grain bullet, a muzzle velocity of 2,250 fps and muzzle energy of 3,030 ft/lbs. We must, however, remember that Taylor’s principal concern was elephant hunting and the ‘.375 Rimless Westley Richards’ as he called it, suffered because ‘penetration was none too good’. I cannot recommend it, and have nothing more to say about it”. John Taylor was not fulsome in his praise for the round, saying ‘it was popular with amateurs and occasional hunters. Westley Richards was certainly the first British manufacturer to promote the new, bigger version of the original 1903 Austrian classic.

This was a remarkably powerful and effective cartridge for time but the potential to build the beautifully engineered and smooth-acting MS bolt and rotary magazine into rifles chambered for more powerful cartridges was immediately attractive. The Mannlicher Schoenauer had originally found favour in Britain as a rimmed 6.5x53 and later as the famous 6.5x54 Mannlicher Schoenauer. Preceding this, Holland & Holland had made rifles in London on bought-in actions, from Oestereichischer Waffenfabrik-Gessellschaft, Steyr, in their own chambering of. Finding and confirming a British-made rifle chambered for this cartridge which precedes 1910 would cement this theory but until then, we have to consider it possible that it originated with Steyr in Austria.

It may have been created in 1908 by Westley Richards and made by Eley. 375 Rimless Nitro Express and rifles proof tested in this country were stamped ‘.375 Ex’. In England, we called it the Westley Richards. However, this punchier version of Austria's finest bolt-rifle gained popularity in Africa with British colonists before the second World War.

The origins of the cartridge are somewhat contested.

Mannlicher schoenauer 1903 serial numbers