Erma M95 EL24 .22 Conversion

Mike2994

Mike2994

Young Mike
Here is one of my pickups; an Erma EL24 M95 .22 conversion. They only produced 200 of these conversion kits for an organization in Austria along with a few for the commercial market. This conversion shows Austrian proofs on the base of the bolt root (As well as other places I am sure).

After speaking to Bob Simpson regarding this rifle at the SOS he stated that he had never seen one in a rifle before. One of the interesting parts of this rifle is the "U" branded on the stock, which a friend stated was for either Erma related or a training/shop indication. Here are some photos:

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The U looks identical to the depiction of the
Unbrauchbarkeitsstempel which is interesting, perhaps the rifle was deemed unfit for live fire with a high pressure cartridge anymore.
 
Amazing find.!! first ive seen or heard of one of these either.. Truly rare.. That's U shows up on the purpose built Erma cutaways also. Only place I recall seeing these..
 
Good point, and that’s probably where someone’s Erma connection was drawn from. I’ve never heard of one of these either, thanks for sharing it.
 
This is not a firing proof on the bolt but a military acceptance. Since only the military had Stutzenkarabiner in S configuration in the inter war period this fits to the fact this is a military rifle.

If I was to guess the U indicates "Unterricht" ("education"). I'd highly doubt "Unbrauchbar" in this case since Austria did not classify as unserviceable but instead repaired anything that needed repair, and it would get a new date among the HV stamp on the barrel shank which is anyway a repair stamp (means this rifle was reworked/repaired in 1931, quite obviously the S-conversion).

Since it was already mentioned, cutaways were often also stamped U in various places. Compare it with this Erma K98k factory cutaway from Police in Austria: https://www.k98kforum.com/threads/erma-k98k-factory-made-cutaway.23923/
 
I've had a short phone call with a friend of mine. He said all files on the purchase of the Erma .22 feed barrel systems for the M.95 survived in the Austrian War Archive. The total order was for around 1000 units. There are two variants, the second one being Erma Erfurt marked. He said around 95% of the units were for the military, around 5% for Police. As well he told me a handful of them (he said around a dozen) were made for the M.95 RIFLE. Additionally the last delivery didn't took place at all because by then Austria was part of Germany.
 
Absolut said:
I've had a short phone call with a friend of mine. He said all files on the purchase of the Erma .22 feed barrel systems for the M.95 survived in the Austrian War Archive. The total order was for around 1000 units. There are two variants, the second one being Erma Erfurt marked. He said around 95% of the units were for the military, around 5% for Police. As well he told me a handful of them (he said around a dozen) were made for the M.95 RIFLE. Additionally the last delivery didn't took place at all because by then Austria was part of Germany.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the additional information! I didn’t know that they produced two variants of these, along with a rifle version (More for me to try to find!).

I’m assuming that after Austria became part of Germany the conversions were absorbed by the Wehrmacht and other organizations as training rifles.
 
I actually think they were put into storage, among the M.95 rifles. And since there was theoretically such a large number and so little turn up, I guess they ended up in a different country where they were used up, maybe even Bulgaria - who knows. Your rifle I assume maybe was a Police item, someone took it home as a trophy, because the Police would rather keep the M.95 rather than the military which fully switched over to K98k.
 
I wasn’t sure if that’s what it was or some kind of police starburst, but I think you’re right.
 
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