![]() The M72 was a completely new and modern design that sought to answer the criticisms of the older rifle. Often I would zero the 3-12x56mm with the 93grain soft point RWS bullets and the 4x36mm with a heavier bullet such as the Nosler 140grain Partition or the RWS KS. I actually used the 4x36mm as much more than just a back-up. Weight of the rifle with the 3-12x56mm was 10.1lb and about half a pound lighter with the 4x36mm. The picture at the top of this post is of my M72 with the 3-12x56mm Nickel Supra attached. I settled on an 8x56mm Kahles rifle-scope on the rifle for the first few years but then had a matching set of rings made by EAW and fitted a 3-12x56mm Nickel Supra with a 4x36mm Nickel Supra as a back-up rifle-scope. ![]() ![]() You can find a post I’ve done on EAW mounts here. The rifle came with EAW quick detachable pivot mounts. Sling swivels were of the push button type and I fitted a plain leather Military Sling as that is the type of sling I have long preferred. The M72 could be had with either oil or lacquer stock finish. The stock on my rifle was a plain oil finish as per my preference and what I’d ordered. So I assumed my only chance of getting a real Mannlicher-Schönauer would be to find a second hand one. They had a plastic magazine, plastic trigger guard and were just about as plain ugly as you could make a rifle. I’d seen the new model Steyr-Mannlicher a few years earlier when I was in a gun shop in Jakarta in 1975. Mind you, at that stage I didn’t even know if one could still buy a Mannlicher-Schönauer like the ones I’d seen in Bland’s shop in London. But there came a moment when I thought “I haven’t bought my Mannlicher-Schönauer yet.” and I decided that, if I didn’t get one before our first child was born then just maybe the responsibilities of children and a mortgage might put paid to any chances I might have had of getting one. This was fantastic news and we were both blissfully happy. I got involved in the shooting sports seriously, then I got married, and a couple of years after my lovely wife and I tied the knot she told me she was expecting. The family moved away from Britain to Australia and that Bland’s catalog came with me and stayed with me for another decade or so. ![]()
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