My grandmother was from Steyr and both her father and her brother were gunsmiths. That may have something to do with the fact that I have owned a dozen or more various Mannlicher-Schönauer rifles over the years...hunted with several of them...however, I only kept two. One with a Lyman #36 folding peep sight I gave to my son and the other is mine: a minty Model 1903 6.5x54 carbine with factory special order wood. (In the M-S ad above it is referred to as, "specially selected pretty wood". Most regular M-S wood was remarkably bland for the period). I also have a safe full of various other European fullstock rifles, all with great wood. None of this in any way affects my admiration for the Steyr -Mannlicher Model M Professional. As well as being a handsome and accurate rifle, it has great balance for off-hand shooting...as does the little M-S 6.5 carbine in its own way.