M95 Steyr Ammo Pouches and Nazi Produced Ammo

I mentioned in the last post that the Austrians, Hungarians, Czechs, Yugoslavs, Bulgarians and others used the 1895 Steyr-Manlicher. I have no idea which country used these ammo pouches or when, as I can find no markings besides the scratched-in initials. They popped up on eBay a few weeks ago, and since I was going to post my M-95 this week, I thought they’d look good with it. The ammo pouch at the bottom, with its non-symmetric shape and square harness ring most closely resembles the ammo pouches used by the Austro-Hungarian forces during WWI.

This time the ammunition is the star of the show. Over a decade ago, I bought a significant quantity of Czech and German ammo from the 1930s. This is the German stuff. The boxes are clearly marked with a tiny Nazi eagle (waffenamt) in the lower left corner, and the date of 1938. What’s doubly cool is that the head stamps on the cartridges themselves also bear the tiny Nazi eagle.

In 1938 the Nazis marched into Austria in what would become known as the Anschluss. M95s in the Austrian arsenals would eventually be used by police and internal security in Austria, as well as large numbers being transferred to Bulgaria under German orders between 1938 and 1940. Hungary, also an Axis ally, would continue to use the M95, and some would end up in the hands of the Italians and Germans themselves, as production of their own weapons could not keep up with the war effort.

The ammo has a 207 grain full metal jacketed full metal jacketed boat tail spitzer. Inside the case is 46.5 grains of a flaked powder. Of course its Berdan primed.