oday for Gus’ Gear I have a report on a display I set up at the Utah Gun Collector’s Association gun show in Ogden, Utah. This is a collector’s show that show cases history. Sadly I did not get around the show to get photos of the other displays, and I have no excuse as I was one of the judges and could have easily take photos of the other great displays. I am not the sharpest bulb in the shed, and I am going to claim that the chemo fog was to blame.
The display was a look at some of the weapons produced by Steyr for use by Austrian, Hungarian and Bavarian forces during the Great War, as well as two named Austrian uniforms from the great war.
9mm 1912 Steyr Hahn Bavarian contract pistol were featured in the display.
Starting from the top, the first rifle is an 1886 11.15x58Rmm Steyr repeater that was adopted to replace its single shot predecessor. It was still a black powder rifle and in 1886 the French were the first to adopt a smokeless powder rifle for their military and everyone scrambled to play catch up.
The second rifle is Austria’s first attempt to catch up to France’s Lebel 1886 rifle, the 1888 Steyr rifle was chambered for an 8x52Rmm cartridge that was still black powder, but the smaller caliber was chosen to compete with the French 8x50Rmm cartridge.
The third rifle is an 1888/90 Steyr that was re-barreled with a stronger chamber to accept the 1890 8x50Rmm smokeless cartridge. The bolt lock was not considered strong enough for the more powerful cartridge and the need for a better receiver was required. In 1890 a carbine was developed with a bolt head that rotated to lock in the breech, the earlier rifles used a dropping wedge to lock the breech.
The fourth rifle is an 8x50Rmm 1888/95 Steyr that was produced during the war with new barrels and 1895 sights due to shortages of standard rifles. This rifle still used the dropping wedge lock, and was issued to rear guard troops.
The fifth rifle is a German Commission 1888 rifle in the standard German 8×57 caliber. This was produce at Steyr and these were adopted as the M13 rifle. While Germany converted their 1888 rifles to use stripper clips, the Austrian stayed with the Mannlicher en-block clips for their rifles. These were mostly issued to K.u.K. Kriegsmarine and rear guard troops.
The sixth rifle is an 8x50Rmm 1895 with the newer bolt that locked with a rotating head. This was the standard combat rifle for the Austro-Hungarian forces through the Great War.
The last is an 8x50Rmm Steyr carbine, used by mounted and mountain troops. This has an NCO’s bayonet with the attached NCO’s bayonet knot.
The evolution of the Steyr cartridges was shown as well as the 1888 and 1895 cartridge pouches. The photo in the foreground showed the locking wedge of the 1886 and 1888 rifles.
