![steyr mannlicher sm12 steyr mannlicher sm12](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/67/0e/43/670e438f595397b29bda3a5a75814875.png)
Also employed at the Steyr works was Otto Schoenauer, another firearms designer who perfected the rotary spool magazine that was later copied by Arthur Savage and incorporated in his Model 99 lever-action rifle. Mannlicher was perhaps the most prolific gun designer in history, but is best known for his “en bloc clip,” and for the Model 1895 straight-pull rifle that was used by many European countries in both World War I and World War II-some three million of them were manufactured.
![steyr mannlicher sm12 steyr mannlicher sm12](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bzl9NzlxVZQ/maxresdefault.jpg)
Co., for which the brilliant firearms designer, Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher, worked until his death in 1904. The roots of the current company go back to 1869 with the formation of the Austrian Arms Mfg. Also Mauser-like is the fact that its locking lugs engage abutments in the receiver ring rather than the barrel, and there is no barrel/caliber interchangeability-a feature that is almost becoming mandatory with European hunters.Īrms making in the Austrian city of Steyr goes back to the 12th century and has continued there right up to present day. Like the Mauser, it does have 180-degree opposed locking lugs at the head of the bolt that require a 90-degree bolt rotation (handle lift). Compared to guns like the Blaser R93 and R8, the Merkel RX Helix and KR1, the Sauer 202, the Krieghoff Semprio, the Anschutz 1727 and the Heym SR-30 to name just a few, the SM 12 is downright pedestrian in its design! But that’s not to say it’s a ’98 Mauser-type action, either. The new Steyr-Mannlicher SM 12 just may be the most conventional bolt-action sporting rifle coming out of Germany or Austria today.