Mannlicher-Schoenauer Model 1900

About the Mannlicher-Schoenauer Model 1900

The Mannlicher-Schoenauer Model 1900 is a bolt-action rifle designed by Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher and Otto Schoenauer and built by Steyr in Austria. It introduced the pairing of Mannlicher's turning-bolt action with Schoenauer's smooth-feeding rotary spool magazine, chambered for the then-new 6.5x54mm Mannlicher-Schoenauer cartridge. Patented in 1900, the rifle was submitted to contemporary military rifle trials, most notably in Romania, and served as the direct predecessor to the refined Model 1903 that Greece adopted as its standard service rifle. The five-round rotary magazine fed reliably regardless of the rifle's orientation, avoiding the double-feed and nose-dive problems of period box magazines.

The Model 1900's rotary magazine impressed trials boards and civilian shooters alike; the same action went on to become one of the most celebrated sporting rifles of the 20th century, favoured by big-game hunters such as ivory hunter W.D.M. 'Karamojo' Bell.

Mannlicher-Schoenauer Model 1900 specifications

The Model 1900 was primarily a trials and pre-production pattern rather than a widely fielded service rifle; most physical dimensions closely match the production Model 1903 that superseded it. Standalone specifications specific to the 1900 pattern are sparse in reference sources, so several figures are inferred from the closely related 1903 rifle.