The Geweer M. 95, also known to collectors as the Dutch Mannlicher, was the

service rifle A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a rifle a military issues to regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is typically a versatile and rugged battle rifle, assault rifle, or carbine suitable for use in nearly all environments. Mos ...

of the armed forces of the Netherlands between 1895 and 1940 which replaced the obsolete Beaumont-Vitali M1871/88. At first it was produced by Steyr for the Dutch, but after 1904, production took place under license at Hembrug Zaandam in the Netherlands. Although often regarded as being based on the earlier Mannlicher 1893 Model, the rifle is in fact a modification of the Mannlicher rifle by August Schriever and the Dutch rifle commission.Nederlandse Vuurwapens: Landmacht en Luchtvaartafdeling, drs G. de Vries & drs B.J. Martens, p.40-56 The Dutch issued about 470,000 M.95s. Both Dutch and

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

rifles fired the same rimmed cartridge often referred to as "Romanian" 6.5x53.5mmR or "Dutch 6.5" 6.5×53 mmR. In military service, Dutch M.95 rifles ( 6.5×53 mmR) cartridges are loaded primarily through the use of an ''

en-bloc clip A clip is a device that is used to store multiple rounds of ammunition together as a unit for insertion into the magazine or cylinder of a firearm. This speeds up the process by loading the firearm with several rounds at once, rather than one at a ...

'', similar in concept to the clip used later by the US Army's

M1 Garand The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S Army during World War ...

. With the

Ferdinand Mannlicher Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher (January 30, 1848 – January 20, 1904) was an Austrian engineer and small arms designer. Along with James Paris Lee, Mannlicher was particularly noted for inventing the en-bloc clip charger-loading magazine system ...

designed trigger guard / magazine housing assembly, when the bolt is open and fully retracted to the rear the full en-bloc clip is loaded into the magazine from the top through the open receiver. The empty clip will fall out through a hole in the base of the magazine housing when out of cartridges. This enabled quick reloading of the rifles during combat. When the bolt is in the fully open and retracted position, full clips can be vigorously ejected upwards from the magazine housing by means of a spring loaded latch at the rear of the magazine. This is operated by a recessed button in the front of the trigger guard portion of the assembly. The clips were essentially disposable as ammunition would be issued already loaded into clips from the factory. This same cartridge in the early Imperial (English) nomenclature called the .256 Mannlicher also saw limited success as a sporting round, including use by the elephant hunter W. D. M. Bell.

History

In the 1880s, two important developments took place that disrupted the current armament paradigm: the adoption of repeating (i.e. magazine) rifles, and the invention of smokeless gunpowder. On 23 February 1886, the Dutch Minister of War appointed a "commission for the purpose of evaluating the rifle question", which was tasked with gathering information on the new system of repeating rifles. As the matter of finding a new rifle was regarded a long term goal, the immediate adoption of a magazine rifle was also considered. By 1888, the

M1871 Beaumont The 1871 Beaumont and its variants were the service rifle of the Armed forces of the Netherlands between 1871 and 1895, and by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army into the 1900s. It was one of the first military arms adopted by a European po ...

rifle was modified with a 4-round

Vitali Vitali, Vitalii, Vitaly, Vitaliy and may refer to: People Given name * Vitaly Borker (born 1975 or 1976), Ukrainian American Internet fraudster and cyberbully * Vitaly Churkin (1952–2017), Russian politician * Vitaly Ginzburg (1916–2009), Russ ...

magazine, to serve as an interim solution. With regards to adopting a new rifle, the commission utilised two principles: The rifle had to have been adopted or at least been considered for adoption by other nations, and the commission would focus on the barrel, bolt, and cartridge of the system. A further question was the inclusion of a magazine cut-off device, allowing the weapon to be used as a

single-shot Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded manually after every shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, then multi-barreled designs appeared, and eventually many cent ...

rifle, much like the Beaumont-Vitali M71/88 just adopted. In 1890, the chief of the General Staff and the Inspector of the Infantry allowed the commission to ignore the magazine cut-off function, allowing the rifle to be a "pure" repeater. Nine rifles using a clip system of loading were trialled: the Austrian Mannlicher 1886, the Italian Vinci rifle, a so-called Bergman rifle, a Belgian Mosin–Nagant rifle, an improved Belgian Pieper rifle, the

Krag–Jørgensen The Krag–Jørgensen is a repeating bolt-action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late 19th century. It was adopted as a standard arm by Norway, Denmark, and the United States. About 300 we ...

rifle, a Swiss Frey rifle made by the Neuhausen factory, the German

Gewehr 1888 The Gewehr 88 (commonly called the Model 1888 commission rifle) was a late 19th-century German bolt-action rifle, adopted in 1888. The invention of smokeless powder in the late 19th century immediately rendered all of the large-bore black powd ...

rifle, and an improved Mannlicher rifle from the August Schriever factory in Belgium. The latter had his own firearms factory, in addition to being an agent of the Oesterrreichishe Waffenfabriks Gesellschaft Steyr. Some rifles were immediately disqualified: The Vinci rifle was provided with too little ammunition for testing; the German rifle was provided without any ammunition at all. It was recommended to create a rifle from the best elements of those rifles provided, with the August Schriever Mannlicher rifle being the preferred base rifle. At the final moment however, the Nagant firm submitted a new and improved rifle, using a Mauser style stripper clip. It was thus decided to trial both rifles, and by the end of November 1890, both manufacturers were asked to provide the necessary rifles for a large scale trial. Both manufacturers agreed to provide the rifles, at the price of 155 Dutch guilders. Following further small scale trials, the commission decided to focus on three rifles: the German 1888, the August Schriever modified Mannlicher, and the Nagant rifle. As ammunition for the German 1888 was finally acquired in December 1890, the weapon was subjected to trials, and subsequently removed from consideration: it was possible to cause a double-feed with the German 1888 rifle, resulting in the tip of the rear cartridge's bullet hitting the chambered cartridge's primer, with catastrophic results. Although the commission initially focused on a calibre of 7.5 to 8 millimetres, a Schriever rifle with an Italian barrel chambered for 6.5 mm was also trialled. As the commission concluded no downsides to the 6.5mm cartridge in comparison to a trialled 7.65mm cartridge, 6.5mm was given preference due to its lower weight. As the Mannlicher style of loading was preferred, the matter was almost settled, with the Schriever modified Mannlicher being the preferred candidate. In March 1892, a draft contract for 100 rifles was submitted to the Minister of War for his approval.Following small changes to the stock and barrel bands, the sight and other small parts, and the weapon was officially designated the Geweer M.95 on 4 December 1895. The rifle was the standard weapon of the

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. Th ...

(KNIL) until the Japanese invasion. M.95 rifles were later used by both sides during the Indonesian National Revolution. After the conclusion of the war, the remaining rifles were handed over by the KNIL to the new

Indonesian Armed Forces , founded = as the ('People's Security Forces') , current_form = , disbanded = , branches = , headquarters = Cilangkap, Jakarta , website = , commander-in-chief = Joko Widodo , ...

. In the 1950s, Indonesian Armed Forces rechambered their M.95 rifles and carbines into

.303 British The .303 British (designated as the 303 British by the C.I.P. and SAAMI) or 7.7×56mmR, is a calibre rimmed rifle cartridge. The .303 inch bore diameter is measured between rifling lands as is the common practice in Europe which follows th ...

, and

muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted ...

were added to the carbine variant. The M. 95 remained in Dutch colonial service at least to 1955, where it was in use by the police force of Suriname.

Variants

Nine variants were produced, these were largely carbines differing only in sling swivels. These included : * Dutch pre-World War II carbine (left view)

Dutch pre-World War II carbine (left view)

Dutch pre-World War II carbine (right view)

Karabijn No.1 Oud Model ("old model")(introduced in 1896) designed for the cavalry and the Marechaussee. It later became the official carbine of the

KNIL The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The ...

(''Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger'',

) in 1911 (1925 for the non-European units in Java). *Karabijn No.2 for the ''Koninklijke Marechaussee'' (Royal Military Constabulary Corps) with a knife bayonet. *Karabijn No.3 pioneer and artillery

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighte ...

model *Karabijn No.4, a shortened M.95 (designed in 1909) created for the Dutch

bicycle troops Bicycle infantry are infantry soldiers who maneuver on (or, more often, between) battlefields using military bicycles. The term dates from the late 19th century, when the "safety bicycle" became popular in Europe, the United States, and Austra ...

that had a wooden fairing on the left side of the magazine. *M.95 ''Loopgraafgeweer'' ("trench gun"), a Periscope rifle version of the M.95, designed in 1916 for

trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. Trench warfare became ar ...

. Around 1930, new models (''Nieuw Model'') of the No.1, No.2, No.3 and No.4 were introduced. In 1936 a shorter No.5 carbine model was introduced. It was a Geweer M95 cut down to carbine size. The first 9,500 were issued to field artillery and anti-aircraft artillery. A total 35,500 were rebuilt in all.

Beutewaffen designations

After Germany

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

the Netherlands, its captured weapons (''beutewaffen'') were catalogued for German use. ''G'' stands for Gewehr ("Rifle"), ''Gr. G'' stands for Graben-Gewehr ("Trench Rifle"), ''K'' stands for Karabiner ("Carbine"), and ''(h)'' stands for ''holländisch'' ("Dutch"). *G 211 (h) = ''Geweer M1895'' (Mannlicher M1895 Infantry Rifle) *Gr. G 212 (h) = ''Loopgraafgeweer M1895'' (Mannlicher M1895 trench rifle) *K 411 (h) = ''Karabijn No.1 Nieuw Model'' (carbine No.1 New Model, cavalry) *K 412 (h) = ''Karabijn No.1 Oud Model'' (carbine No. 1 Old Model, cavalry) *K 413 (h) = ''Karabijn No.3 Oud Model & Nieuw Model'' (carbine No. 3 Old Model and New Model, artillery & pioneers) *K 414 (h) = ''Karabijn No.4 Oud Model & Nieuw Model'' (carbine No. 4 Old Model and New Model, bicyclists) The No.2 carbine was not classified because few, if any, were captured. The No.5 carbine was classified as a ''Geweer M95''.

Ammunition

Due to very close dimensional relationships,

boxer-primed Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rim ...

cartridge cases can be made by resizing and trimming

.30-40 Krag The .30-40 Krag (also known as .30 U.S. and .30 Army) was a cartridge developed in the early 1890s to provide the U.S. armed forces with a smokeless powder cartridge suited for use with modern small-bore repeating rifles to be selected in the 1 ...

(.30-40 US)https://bobp.cip-bobp.org/uploads/tdcc/tab-ii/30-40-krag-en.pdf brass, and

Fire forming The term fire forming in firearms refers to the process of thermomechanically reshaping a metallic cartridge case to optimally fit a new chamber by firing it within that chamber.Glenn Newick, "The Ultimate in Rifle Accuracy", Stroger Publishing C ...

the resulting altered brass cases in the 6.5x53R chamber. Alteration of the original rifle chamber by re-chambering the barrel with a 6.5x57Rhttps://bobp.cip-bobp.org/uploads/tdcc/tab-ii/tabiical-en-page15.pdf (see: 6.5×57mm Mauser) chamber reamer has also been done, but the overall length of the original 6.5x53mmR Dutch cartridge has to be maintained by seating the projectile more deeply in order to fit the original magazine.

Gallery

File:DutchTrenchgun.jpg, The M.95 periscope rifle File:Opengewerkte tekening magazijn beaumontgeweer.jpg, Scheme of operation File:Dutch Mannlicher M1895 carbine.jpg, A No.3 Old Model Carbine, from the Swedish Army Museum. File:Dutch Mannlicher M1895 bayonet.jpg, Bayonet and scabbard issued with the rifle File:Onderwijs op de Politieschool in Suriname, Bestanddeelnr 252-2377.jpg, A class at the Suriname Police School in 1955, practice field-stripping

References