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I don't know if anyone here has done this before, but perhaps we could have members share descriptions and images of their Mannlicher Schoenauer cleaning rod sets if original?

I've long noted in auction listings and other images that some have four piece sets and some five.
There are also differences in the ends from one set to the next, brass or steel, wide or narrow, rounded end or female threaded.

Are there trends? Were there early / mid / late versions? Four piece for some lengths, five piece for others? Does anyone know if the rod sets were made 'in house' at Steyr or outsourced?

I'm wondering if we could compile a set of data matching (presumed) original sets to model, length, and style of MS?

I'm thinking we'd want to know these details of firearm and corresponding rod sets:

Model (M1900, M1903...):
Full stocked, half stocked, or takedown ('factory' or British if TD):
Barrel Length:
Proof Date:
Original retailer if known:
Four or Five piece rod set:
Length of each segment:
Width of Rod Body:
Width of female threaded ends on middle rods, brass or steel:
Width of terminal ends, brass or steel?:

It may also be good to include notes such as why you do / do not suspect rods to be original to the MS, as I presume none of us bought them new prior to 1945.

I'll start...,
O.K., guys, here are my rods:

The above pictured rods were, I believe, in my M1910 Take Down Model's buttstock when Grand Dad purchased it second hand in Ceylon, 1931 or very early 1932 (apologies for the half - arsed scan). Top two rods are 'terminal ends', other three are the 'between' sections with slotted, female threaded, brass ends forged to them. The 8mm 'jag' end would certainly not fit an M1900 or M1903 bore, so there must have been different ends used for those.

My rods, assembled, are 87.5 cm (34.44") on a 60 cm (23.62") barreled MS. That leaves a lot of extra length, presumably to facilitate cleaning from the bore end? I use other rods when I clean her anyway, the originals generally resting in their cozy little trap door storage compartment.

Here's the stats:
Model- M1910 'factory' Take Down, Barrel- 60 cm (23.62"), Proof Date- 1922, Retailer- unknown, Four or Five Piece Set- five, Width of Rod Body- 4.9 - 5.0mm Length of Segments- 17.5cm each, Width of Female Threaded Ends- 6mm brass, Width of Terminal Ends...- Grooved brass end 8mm, Slotted End 6mm (steel, machined from rod - not added, no female thread at end).

I believe them to be original as this M1910 TD was purchased by Grand Dad for a 1932 shikar (hunt) and scarcely used afterward. The MS was stored intact in its original fitted case which still has leopard claws in it from the 1932 hunt. My dad borrowed it for use on Santa Cruz Island (pigs) during electronic warfare (sshhhh!) and RADAR guided missile work in 1953, then back to the case.
It is possible, however, that another set could have been swapped for the originals as G'pa bought the 1922 proofed MS 'second hand' 9 or 10 years used.

Okay folks, the gauntlet is thrown...
... show us your rods, if you dare

.

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Citizen of the Cherokee Nation