Old rifle found in archives

[Jackpatrickhartness]

Hello everyone, I have found a old rifle wrapped up in a flag in a leather bag.
All the information I could find on it was "captured hardware" that is it, no ammunition type/size or whom it was captured from. The only information I can see on it is the following;

Mannlincher-Schonder 1930 System
Y:1903/14

The Y:1903/14 had a shield above it on top of the receiver.

Any help on its history, calibre ( it looks like a 6.5mm )

I will take pictures of it soon after I clean all the grease off it.

[Vegard T]

We need pictures to be able to identify it(At least i do).

[Jackpatrickhartness]

Ok I will take some pictures within 24 Hours as I have to be at work to do it plus I also need to remove the rest of the grease that was used to preserve it.

[Richie B]

I think it is a Greek rifle:

"The Mannlicher-Schönauer M1903 though fulfilled the specifications of the Greek Army and the first major contract was signed by the Greek Government in 1903. This contract was part of a major modernisation plan; until then the Greeks were using single-shot, black powder rifles (Gras rifle).

The M-S rifle was the main small arm for the Greek military for some of the most active years of its modern history. Greece was almost continuously in state of war between the years 1904-1922 and 1940-1948. The version history of this rifle is rather confusing. It appears that the Greeks received four main contracts. The original Steyr-made Y1903 ('Y' stands for model in Greek), started being supplied in 1904–1905 to a total of about 130,000 long rifles and carbines. This was the main weapon during the victorious Balkan Wars.

The Greeks seemed satisfied with the rifle's performance and their armoury was increased with a new batch of 50,000 rifles from Steyr in 1914, with the model Y1903/14, presenting minor improvements, most obviously the addition of a full handguard. These rifles were used for the first time in WW1."

Mannlicher-Schönauer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

More:

The Arms Room: Mannlicher-Schoenauer M1903/14: Revolutionary rotary.

Regards

Richie

[Jackpatrickhartness]

I think it is a Greek rifle:

"The Mannlicher-Schönauer M1903 though fulfilled the specifications of the Greek Army and the first major contract was signed by the Greek Government in 1903. This contract was part of a major modernisation plan; until then the Greeks were using single-shot, black powder rifles (Gras rifle).

The M-S rifle was the main small arm for the Greek military for some of the most active years of its modern history. Greece was almost continuously in state of war between the years 1904-1922 and 1940-1948. The version history of this rifle is rather confusing. It appears that the Greeks received four main contracts. The original Steyr-made Y1903 ('Y' stands for model in Greek), started being supplied in 1904–1905 to a total of about 130,000 long rifles and carbines. This was the main weapon during the victorious Balkan Wars.

The Greeks seemed satisfied with the rifle's performance and their armoury was increased with a new batch of 50,000 rifles from Steyr in 1914, with the model Y1903/14, presenting minor improvements, most obviously the addition of a full handguard. These rifles were used for the first time in WW1."

Mannlicher-Schönauer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

More:

The Arms Room: Mannlicher-Schoenauer M1903/14: Revolutionary rotary.

Regards

Richie

Wow great information!
I will pick up some 6.5x54 shells to see if they fit.
The rifle in the picture ( Mannlicher-Schönauer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) is a little different looking but I will still be posting pictures of all the stamps

It looks like these;
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7...nbreda2046.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7...arymag2050.jpg

It is also looks like a short rifle compared to some others

[m3bobby]

Its a Italian made / assembled gun. The Breda mark in your pic is a Italian arms manufacture, famous for their machine guns.

Quote from Wiki link above.

Following the Asia Minor Catastrophe, the Greeks were in urgent need of serviceable weapons and tried to get M-S rifles from every possible source in order to replace war losses (almost 50% were captured by the Turks). Starting in 1927, Greece received about 105,000 "Breda" marked Y1903/14/27 rifles. This Italian factory might have used Austrian captured parts and machinery, or more likely, might have just mediated on behalf of the Steyr factory, due to treaty restrictions with the Austrian weapons manufacturer. These rifles saw extensive use against the Italians and Germans in World War II and many passed to the resistance fighters and combatants of the Greek Civil War that followed. The last official contract was in 1930, when they received 25,000 more Y1903/14/30 rifles, this time directly from the Steyr factory.

Heres a auction with one

Rifles For Sale - Breda 1903 ... 6.5X54 - Auction: 9308225 (Ended 08/31/2009, 21:04:47 PST)

[luger42]

can you saw us foto from the flag ?

[COLT 1911A1]

Y stands for ΥΠΟΔΕΙΓΜΑ (Hypodeigma) - Md (Model). I have a photo of my grandfather-now deceased-entering a five round clip in his Mannlicher-Schoenauer M1903/14 in 1936-37 Army manouvres. He later fought in Albania fencing off Italians where he was wounded by a mortar round and finally surviving the war and German occupation. I have a couple of this era mementos from my grandfather that i try to photo/scan and present.