The German company Erma (Erfurter Maschinenfabrik) developed a .22 rimfire kit for the Mauser 98 for the German Army in the 1920s. It was used for training, both to allow for more effective fundamental practice without the noise and recoil of full size cartridges but also to reduce ammunition cost of training and to allow the use of much smaller indoor training ranges that would not be safe to use with full-size ammunition. An Austrian military delegation saw these kits (designated the EL-24 by Erma) in use in 1925, and Austria expressed an interest in having a version made for their Steyr M95 carbines.

Testing began in 1926, and the kit was found quite acceptable. Between 1928 and 1937 a total of 905 were delivered to the Austrian Army, and were used for regular training. Austrian police forces experimented with a model for the full-length M95 rifle as well, but those were never acquired beyond testing samples.