Unfortunately I had to order it from overseas without having the chance to physically examine one first. It was a Mannlicher-Schönauer M72 I finished up buying. for those who didn’t want their expensive European rifle to have tacky plastic parts.
![stock for a steyr mannlicher luxus full stock for a steyr mannlicher luxus full](https://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/maynardsfineart/77/588377/H0759-L95222610.jpg)
Steyr had foreseen that there would be people who would react that way so they simultaneously introduced a second model, the Mannlicher-Schönauer M72, which was marketed as the rifle “for those who shun the use of modern materials” i.e.
![stock for a steyr mannlicher luxus full stock for a steyr mannlicher luxus full](https://bilder.landwirt.com/0120/d424011d2bc109ae924d16b077e952f2.jpg)
They decided to make extensive use of a “modern material”, i.e. Then Winchester tried to “fix it” by making it more like a Remington and in the process lost customers and damaged their reputation until they went back to the “pre 64” design which made the practical rifle shooters who loved the original controlled feed action happy customers again. As an old friend from Texas has often remarked to me “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Winchester’s Model 70 was not a broken design up until 1964. The seventies were not a great time for firearms quality generally, not if you appreciated the established designs and could see no good reason to change them. Nonetheless Steyr was determined to force a change and to move into making rifles that were cheaper and easier to produce, but to still try to hold on to their reputation for quality. When Steyr of Austria decided to end production of the classic Mannlicher-Schönauer rifles in 1972 they needed to answer the “now what” question and come up with a rifle that would keep the loyal customer base who really appreciated the Mannlicher-Schönauer rifles and were not necessarily ready for a change.