Steyr Mod. Olympia

Following WWI Steyr introduced a .22 rifle. It was available in 5 variants:
1. Meisterschaftsbüchse (with micrometer rear sight and heavy contour barrel with dovetail on it)
2. Sportbüchse
3. Wehrsportmodell (stock like on the G.29 rifle!)
4. Schonzeitbüchse (according to what I've been told this is the only variant which features a detachable 5-shot magazine)
5. Olympia (with micrometer rear sight and heavy contour barrel with dovetail on it plus a hook buttplate)

I have attached a picture showing these variants on the original ad by Steyr.

Most of these rifles are unknown to the collectors out there. To me there are very little of them known. Steyr-Mannlicher in their showroom have one each of the Sportbüchse and the Wehrsportmodell. Some years ago the German auction company "Hermann-Historica" also sold a Wehrsportmodell in 2011. I am aware of a Sportbüchse, Meisterschaftsbüchse and Olympia in the hand of a collector, additionally a Schonzeitbüchse plus the barreled action of a Wehrsportmodell - all of them in Austria. And one member here on this forum also owns a Wehrsportmodell.

Having had the chance to take pictures of the Steyr Olympia I had wanted to share the pictures of this piece also with the members here. With so little known on these rifles with most not knowning they exist, plus the handful who are aware only know them from the old ad, I hope there are some interested in seeing the rarest variant of all five.

The particular rifle was additionally equipped with a palm rest for the hand (I hope this is the proper English term? Not a native speaker, sorry) which is adjustable in many manners. It is very nicely made of wood with hand carved checkering, extremely nice compared to the ugly cork rests I know from M1903 Springfields.

These pictures were digitally cropped and cut. For the ones on the forum here I removed the last digit of the serial number. It is worth noting that they seem to do not exceed about 600. And there are no own serial ranges for the models, it seems they made them per order in the version whichever had been ordered.

A very nice detail is the micrometer sight. it is inverted U shaped and additionally cut in an angle to precisely clear the safety of the rifle. Lovely details paid back then! Note the buttplate is adjustable in height too.

Unicorn sighted.

Absolute,

What a beautiful rifle you have posted. WOW! The set triggers and all the extras displayed on this rifle as well as the condition are just fabulous.

A question, would all 5 variations share the same sized receiver?

Thanks for posting this rifle, an Unicorn for sure.

zf498.

Truly beautiful! The condition this has survived in is fantastic. Who said Steyr couldn't make nice rifles? Seriously thanks for sharing this.

I have not had chance to compare them all in hands, but it appears this way. Only the Olympia and the Meisterschaftsbüchse have the heavy contour barrel, still the barrel looks identical on all.

Crazy cool

Has to be one of the finest rifles I’ve seen in a long time. Truly fantastic! Thank you for sharing it! Have you had a chance to shoot it yet? I would think it would really be something on the range.

I only borrowed it for taking these pictures. Therefore I did not shoot it. Even if I had been allowed to, there was very little interest in this from my side.

Bringing up an old thread of mine for becoming owner of the attached price list for the Steyr .22 rifles. Note the pencil written date on the document on top right - 19.12.35. Since this is European Method of date, this means that it dates to 19th December 1935. This makes it obvious as to why all rifles have the .35 serial number - they are all based on a design of 1935.

What is very interesting, as the document clearly states by then the only available models were the Sport-Büchse or the Meisterschaftsbüchse, which both were single shot rifles. The extras ones could order are "Mikrometergucker" (I think diopter sight?) which was available for both versions, for the Sport-Büchse additionally available was the "längsverstellbares Mikrometervisier" (lengh adjustable micrometer sight), and for the Meisterschaftsbüchse the "Mikrometer-Kurvenvisier" (micrometer tangent sight).

A column lower they mention they are working on the Steyr .22 rifle as multi shot, as Schonzeitbüchse, Wehrsportmodell and Olympiamodell (the one from the starting post). The second page mentions technical aspects (they kind of write it as USP's) and how it can be disassembled.

In this post the scans of the two pages the document has. I'll make an own post for the automatic translation that Google provides.

Attached automatic translation, performed by Google:

Very nice rifle,i would believe, the state end proof speaks for 35 year of proofing in Vienna house.

WOW!!!!!

This is a joy to see! Steyr made some of the finest rifles to be had early on. Very reminiscent of Mannlicher-Schoenauer hunting rifle quality. The double set triggers were a hallmark. I have 3 prewar 1903 M-S carbines. They have similar proofing. The only weapon anyone ever produced that would close and lock its own bolt by simply pointing it downward.
Very nice to see with all of the additional translated information. I wonder how it would be to shoot a rifle while holding it with such a ball support. Thank you for taking the time to do all this.