Thanks for the input, I have put a deposit on it. It's a british proofed rifle and has the distributors name and address on the barrel, it's very small print and I was unable to read it unmagnified. Has anyone had luck following the history on these rifles?
Researching the history of a particular MS is a bit like genealogy. You have the 'family records' or you don't. If you don't, perhaps dogged research may provide clues. Retailer's records may or may not be available and if so, may not include serial numbers or customer names.
As you've indicated that the soon to be yours MS (congratulations, by the way) has the retailer's name inscribed in it, you're already half way to discovery or dead end.
Mine was purchased in 1930 or 31 by my grandfather at Colombo, Ceylon. Its history from that point forward is known to me. Before that time, it is not. As it is a cased and British proofed Take Down Model (case label not extant, unfortunately), I suppose it's possible that a British retailer logged its serial number and that such records may (or may not) still exist.
Danggit... now I've another thing about which to obsess.
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The history of the genre, abbreviated and 'in a nutshell', goes a lot like this;
Ritter Ferdinand Von Mannlicher was a prolific Austrian firearms designer who had created several successful military arms during the latter portion of the nineteenth century. He had been a major contributor to the Gewehr 88, or 'commission rifle', a common ancestor to later, competing, Mannlicher and Mauser designs such as the MS and Mauser 98.
While the Gewehr 88 used the 'en bloc clip', or Mannlicher Packet Loading System, and the Mauser 98 a stacked box magazine, a new firearm was introduced at the Paris World's Fair of 1900 which combined a Mannlicher influenced receiver and bolt with a 'stripper' clip fed rotary magazine designed by Steyr engineer Otto Schoenauer and a new, proprietary, 6.5X54 rimless cartridge. It was a finely built, superbly balanced, smooth functioning firearm that would prove its accuracy and durability over the next several decades of military and civilian use.
Built by Oesterr Waffenfabrik Ges. Steyr in prototype military form and as high grade sporting rifles and stutzen (full stocked carbines), the M1900 was very well received and highly rated by those who reviewed it, yet unit cost was high as it was costly to produce. The only major military contract won by the MS was with Greece, who adopted a 1903 revision of the military design.
As production began in 1905 at OWGS on the Y1903 'Greek Contract' MS, fine MS sporting arms also entered production for the civilian market with the M1903, also chambered exclusively for the 6.5X54 MS cartridge, and the M1905 which was exclusively available in a new 9X56 MS proprietary cartridge.
Both were available from the Steyr factory as full stocked stutzen, half stocked rifle, and a dandy take down system very similar to that used by Westley Richards by which the entire barreled action may be rapidly and easily disassembled from the stock without tools. Single or double set triggers were available (and were interchangeable) on civilian models with exception of the take down, which only had the military type two stage trigger.
As 'Greek' contracts renewed in 1914 and beyond, additional civilian models were added to the line, each with their own proprietary MS cartridge. These were the M1908 (8X56) and M1910 (9.5X57, also known as .375 Nitro Express Rimless).
The M1924 introduced a longer receiver to accommodate the 'U.S. Cartridge of 1906' (.30-'06) and from that sprang the 'High Velocity' (as called by Stoeger, then exclusive U.S. retailer) offerings in several chamberings including 7X64, 8X60, 9.3X62, and the elusive 10.75X68.
Greek military contracts continued with the Y1903/14/27 ('Breda') and Y1930.
Production of the aforementioned sporting arms continued, though in small numbers, through the 1938 Anschluss, or Nazi occupation of Austria, and into the second world war (stamped 'Made in Germany').
After WW2, production resumed with the M1950, M1952, and later editions. Gone are the trap door buttstock with break down cleaning rod storage, stripper clip guides, options such as 'pop up' tang sights, removable grip cap (spare front sight bead storage) and the wonderful Take Down Model of pre WW2 days.
The logic of MS model numbers relevant to actual characteristics becomes a bit odd during the 'postwar' period as the MC and MCA models come into play, which indicate style of stock comb and cheek rest rather than mechanical differences or chamberings. The true meaning of 'Model NO' seems to be somewhat of a mystery. In catalogs of the period, MC (Monte Carlo Stock) becomes 'Model of 1961' as MCA (Monte Carlo All Purpose or Monte Carlo Amerikanisch, depending on U.S. or Europe) becomes 'Model of 1962'. A buyer wanting the 'old style' stock one was instructed to order the "Model 1952 GK".
The postwar models were available in a wide array of chamberings, still in stutzen or half stock, and with single or double set triggers. Production continued, in ever decreasing numbers, through 1972.
