Mannlicher-Schönauer Model 72

About the Mannlicher-Schönauer Model 72

The Mannlicher-Schönauer Model 72 is an Austrian bolt-action sporting rifle produced by Steyr, the final development of the classic Mannlicher-Schönauer hunting rifle line. It retains the celebrated Schönauer rotary spool magazine feeding a modernized bolt action, and was offered chambered in popular hunting cartridges including .30-06 Springfield, .270 Winchester and .243 Winchester. Prized by hunters for its smooth cycling and refined walnut-stocked build, it was made in both half-stock and full-length Mannlicher-stock carbine forms.

The Schönauer rotary magazine, designed by Otto Schönauer at the turn of the 20th century, was so smooth and reliable that hunters kept demanding it for decades — the Model 72 carried that rotating spool feed all the way into the 1970s and beyond, long after box magazines had become the industry norm.

Mannlicher-Schönauer Model 72 specifications

The Model 72 modernized the earlier post-war MS-1950/1956/1961 sporting rifles while keeping the signature Schönauer rotary magazine. Many were built with a double-set trigger and the traditional butter-knife bolt handle.