Thread: 9.5x57 Mannlicher Schonauer

Anybody reload for one of these? Its a Mannlicher model 1910 take down in 9.5x57 Mannlicher Schonauer, or in English, a .375 Nitro Express.

To me the 9.5x57 looks like an 8mm Mauser case blown out to seat a .375 bullet, with only a little shoulder.

Can't find any actual reloading data anywhere, but building on what the previous owner had done I have fired and chronographed the following loads:

235 grain Speer with 42 grains 2207 = 1996 fps (looking for 2300 - 2400 fps)
235 Grain Speer with 52 grains 2208 = 2000 fps ( "" )
270 Hornady SP with 50 grains 2208 = 1965 fps (looking for 2150 fps)


All very mild, rounded primers, backed out a bit. Very low pressure looking. Mild recoil.

Anyone use any other powders/ bullets? So far the Speer 235 grains feed perfectly in the spool magazine, but the Hornady spitzerswill jam it up.

I was just going to keep putting powder in until I get the velocity I want or it looks like I am getting some real pressure signs. Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by JohnDuxbury

Anybody reload for one of these? Its a Mannlicher model 1910 take down in 9.5x57 Mannlicher Schonauer, or in English, a .375 Nitro Express.

To me the 9.5x57 looks like an 8mm Mauser case blown out to seat a .375 bullet, with only a little shoulder.

Can't find any actual reloading data anywhere, but building on what the previous owner had done I have fired and chronographed the following loads:

235 grain Speer with 42 grains 2207 = 1996 fps (looking for 2300 - 2400 fps)
235 Grain Speer with 52 grains 2208 = 2000 fps ( "" )
270 Hornady SP with 50 grains 2208 = 1965 fps (looking for 2150 fps)


All very mild, rounded primers, backed out a bit. Very low pressure looking. Mild recoil.

Anyone use any other powders/ bullets? So far the Speer 235 grains feed perfectly in the spool magazine, but the Hornady spitzerswill jam it up.

I was just going to keep putting powder in until I get the velocity I want or it looks like I am getting some real pressure signs. Any thoughts?

Greetings @JohnDuxbury,
You lucky devil. The 9.5x57 has fascinated me for ages but I have never even seen one. Frank Barnes listed 44 grains of IMR3031 for 2,150 fps in an old COTW. He also listed 47 grains of the same powder for 2,330 fps with the 235 grain and 43 grains for 2,070 fps with the the 270 grain in the very similar 9.3x57 Mauser. I will see what else I can find and post later.
Regards Grandpamac.

All I can help with, im afraid.

Greetings,
I have news. I have turned up some data on the 375 Express on Load data dot com. This is based in the 444 Marlin case which is basically a straight sided 8x57 case with a rim. The data largely supports the Barnes Data for the 9.5 and 9.3x57 rounds with 47 grains of IMR3031 producing2,300 fps with the 235 grain Speer and 43 grains of the same powder producing 2,087 fps with the 270 grain Hornady RN. Looks like IMR3031 is in the Goldilocks zone for the cartridge. The nearest powders from ADI are likely BM2 and BM8208.
GPM.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...cher-load-data

Forums.NitroExpress.com

Thanks guys, I am trying to source some IMR3031 down here...

I would use the same data as for 9.3X57 ,looks like the case capacity is about the same.

748 looks close to N-203B so that might be a good place to start.I used to use 203B in my 9.3×53 which has the same case capacity at 9.3X57.

Win 748 I can get.

Originally Posted by JohnDuxbury

Win 748 I can get.

Here is the section of the burn rate chart that is relevant.

Thanks. I picked up some Benchmark:

I shot some loads in the 9.5 this morning:
I tested the chrony with some .22 match ammo which is very reliable velocity wise, and was within a handful of feet of stated velocity.

With Speer 235 grain bullets and 47 grains of BM2 I got 2056fps
49 grains for 2177fps
52 grains for 2304 fps

The rifle has a long throat, and as I have experienced with many 7x57’s with long throats it takes more powder to get higher pressure, from 3 – 4 grains more powder to get the same velocity as others.

Accuracy looks good, have to register a new rear sight to get the POI where I want it though, and do the checkering job.

We’d love to see pictures of the beast

OK - 9.5x57 Mannlicher Schoenauer model 1910 take-down rifle, in a custom stock. (Known in the UK as the .375 Rimless Nitro Express.)

Essentially this is an 8x57 case blown out to hold a .375 bullet of 270 grains at around 2200 fps. It recoils about like a .30/06 with 180 grain bullets.
The cartridge is sort of known as an ""African cartridge" but it's not really: it is a version of the earlier .375 flanged Nitro express 2.5 inch, which was a straight wall cartridge with the same ballistics chambered in double rifles and was a favourite for hunting red stags and boar in the UK and Europe at the turn of the 19th century. The 9.5x57 MS was an attempt to adopt the same cartridge performance into a repeating magazine rifle: the Mannlicher and the Mauser which were the new darlings of the sporting world. (The 9.3x62 was born the same way - an update of the older 9.3x74 to fit into a Mauser action.)
Of course English and German people took it to the colonies and shot African lions and things and to India to shoot sambar and tigers, as one does, but the Austrians intended it for shooting red stags in the Austro-Hungarian empire.
So that is what it is again, I will use it for stags in the roar.

The stock is custom, and all credit to Nakihunter who is a member on here and the figure in the walnut looks better in real life than in these photos. The rifle retailed from CB Vaughan in London and has the 100 year old case. It seems that it spent it's life in Ceylon on a tea plantation before coming to NZ.

I have now fitted a replacement rear sight and the stock is ready to be checkered once I source some more tools, which are hard to get nowadays. The pattern will be a standard Mannlicher Schoenauer pattern from the period, and done in flat top checkering, because it seems right and because that's how I roll.

Beautiful... absolutely beautiful. Much better for you than dirty wee twoforfree. I'm still in shock over that one lol.

Makes the current plastic rifles look quite plain doesn't it.
Grandpamac.

Good to see you are enjoying the rifle.

How is the rear sight fitting your cheek position and sight picture?

I couldn't go lower and was planning to solder a piece of brass on the foresight to lower the impact point. For me it used to shoot very high.

I have plenty of checkering tools but never learned to checker!

I'll email you photos.

BTW - seeing your photos just pulled on my heart strings. I spent several hundred hours over 7 years to do that stock.