The forend was shortened on the new design which exposed more of the barrel above the handguard. Key design differences greeted the Model 1895 over its predecessors including a single-piece trigger-guard and magazine case which were separated by a gap in earlier Mannlicher marks.
The Model 1895 utilized a thinner-neck 8x50R cartridge firing from an integral magazine fed from a 5-round clip. The Model 1895 continued the straight-pull bolt-action design of the original Model 1886 series. It was this cavalry carbine that originated the new Mannlicher Model 1895 service rifle for the Austro-Hungarian Army. Model 1888 rifles produced for the newer cartridge types became the Model 1888/90 Cavalry Carbine. A semi-smokeless cartridge was introduced in 1890 and this was followed by the finalized smokeless cartridge of 1893. The Austro-Hungarians then took to revising the Model 1886 into the 8mm Model 1888 - though it took several years for Austrian engineers to perfect an indigenous smokeless powder cartridge. However, the French Lebel 8mm service rifle formally brought about use of a smokeless powder cartridge and this quickly made all smoke-based cartridge rifles obsolete. This created the 11mm Mannlicher Model 1885 which was finalized as the Model 1886 after trials. In the mid-1880s, the Austro-Hungarian Army sought to modernized their infantry regiments with a new service rifle.