Interesting old Steyr - 1885

[1066]

I was shooting at Bisley on Saturday and saw an interesting old rifle that was completely new to me. It was a single shot and had an odd falling block mechanism. It was marked Steyr 1885. (Tatty and unshootable unfortunately)

A bit of research showed it was invented by a Portuguese army officer in 1880's and Steyr were commissioned to make 40,000 for the Portuguese Army. After a few teething troubles the order was cancelled and Portugal was billed by Steyr for 18,000 but none were actually delivered.

It's now believed that only 8,100 were actually made and these were all sold to the Boers in SA. The prototypes were in 11mm but the production run were 8mm.

Remember, this period was right at the start of the magazine fed rifle/nitro powder ere. I think Portugal realised it was buying a rifle that would be obsolete before it was delivered.

http://angloboerwarmuseum.com/Boer20b_tech_guedes.html

[FredB]

Not really tare: we have one in our club. The same guy has the Steyr repeater which was supplied to complete the contract.
Fred

[AL8]

seen one in our club, at one of our historical talk show and tell