Dutch/Indonesian Carbine

3641 Views 14 Replies 8 Participants Last post by dix2111, Mar 19, 2012

talking warrior

Discussion Starter · Mar 9, 2012

I picked up this rifle a number of years ago, and thought it was bubba'ed because of the cut-back fore-end. From studying this forum it seems possible it is a KNIL cavalry carbine and the lack of a nose-cap is original. The receiver wall is marked STEYR 1901 and the barrel shank number is 5466 D, and there are what appear to be small "Crown over B" stamps on the top ring and barrel. There are small gas ports on both sides of the receiver ring. The rifle itself appears matching, while the bolt matches itself, 1339. The plate reads: 5-A. II Bg. over 175 and is cut into the edge of the un-readable circular stock stamp.

A photo on the board shows a similar rifle (though in much better shape) identified as a "Karabin M.95 Cavalry KNIL". Would this be correct, and what does KNIL stand for?

Unfortunately the rifle is pretty worn and beat up with deep pitting under the wood. It's marked "ODIN ALEX VA" in small letters on the right receiver ring just above the wood.

I've got $50 in 2001 money invested in it. Any idea what it might be worth today?

Thanks in advance -

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talking warrior

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 10, 2012

Thanks for the information.

I misread the captions of the photos by Nick in this post:

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?55709-Steyr-Carbine-looking-for-info

His example of a Gendarmerie carbine most resembles mine, with the narrow sling swivels. Do the Gendarmerie carbines have the wood on the magazine, because I don't think mine ever had the wood covering on the left magazine housing. It has a solid buttplate. There is no serial on the surface of the stock; might there be one inside?

I may have put some folks off by asking about value, but I'm really just curious. I bought it knowing it was something of a beater because I did not have an example of a Mannlicher turn-bolt in the collection, and have no clue whether it is a $50 or $500 rifle, now that I have a better idea what it is.
Thanks again.

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talking warrior

Discussion Starter · #12 · Mar 11, 2012

Thanks for all the interesting information. Like I said, I thought this was a standard Dutch carbine that had been chopped up, only to find that it is in original trim with a very interesting history. The photo from DutchM95 is great; one does not usually see a period shot of a somewhat obscure rifle. Believe it or not, I picked up about 50 rnds of 6.5 Dutch on clips in a batch of mixed ammo at an auction about 10 years ago. I need to dig it out so I can find out what it is. Unfortunately, the pitting below the wood on this rifle is bad enough I would be afraid to shoot it. When I got the rifle and stripped it down, I found that someone had tried to fill the pitting in with "Bondo" or something similar and it took me forever to remove it and get the rust stabilized.

Thanks again for the discussion. I'll move it out of the corner with the junk and onto a rack with the other carbines.

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