Does Anyone Else Shoot These?

[Der Gebirgsjager]

They're fun!

Attachment 154200Attachment 154201

The top one is an 1891 Danzig and still uses the Mannlicher clips. But they don't feed with the blunt nosed boolits, so for practical purposes it's a single shot. The bottom one is an 1891 Loewe and has the magazine conversion not requiring an internal clip.

Because of the different bore sizes used during their evolution, and the wear and tear of 125 years they are a challenge to load for. To date I've gotten my best results using the above load in an 1890 Amberg (not shown), a consistent 4" at 100 yds. The mold is an RCBS designed for the .32 Win. Spec., about 190 gr.

[Frank46]

I bought one of these a few years back in pretty nice shape except someone cut the stock just in front of the mid barrel band spring. Was given a section of forend to splice so as to replace the missing wood. Don't remember the maker or year but has the modifications using mauser clips 88-05?. Funny thing is that when your rifle (lowe 1891) they were getting setup for the 1891 argentine mauser. Frank

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Yes, you're right! And the '91 was a much superior firearm, but the Germans and the Turks used these here and there all through WW I. I guess they felt that the 1898 Mauser was better yet, but just couldn't make them fast enough to replace all of the '88s. It really isn't such a bad rifle though, and compares favorably with the Lebels and Berthiers the French used. These turn some heads at the range.

[jonk]

Absolutely! Both with jacketed and cast. Superbly accurate guns.

I have two 88s, both still taking the enbloc, an an 88/05/14/35 Turk job where a .323 barrel was screwed on and the barrel jacket done away with.

I have several medals from Perry from shooting these.

[frnkeore]

I collected these fine rifles for a few years, my pride is a KAR that was sporterized in 300 Savage with DST.

I also have 1890, 91, 93 Spandua's 1891 Loewe and a 1891 Danzig. Two of the Spandau's are barreled actions. Along with those, have two 1938 Turks, one in a mint stock and the other one in a very nice sporter stock.

Frank

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Nice going, jonk--I knew that they were accurate, but not that accurate!

Frank--that's a beautiful sporter. There were many really nice custom 88 sporters made over the years. They seem to cry out for the butter knife bolt handle. Interesting that you have some projects in the works. I'm presently building up an 88/05 with a Turk barrel, but it will have the barrel jacket. In fact, about all I'm lacking is a stock. I saw one on e-bay about a month ago, but it looked pretty chewed up and I didn't bid. I think I've found a fellow on the internet that cuts out new ones, which is nice as the opportunity for some nice wood grain is there.

[frnkeore]

I found this stock maker, about 5 years ago:

http://lswinds.webs.com/pricelist.htm

Frank

[ndnchf]

I've got an 1891 Spandau version in very nice shape. I made it into a WWI reading lamp in my gun room. But no harm was done to the rifle. It can be returned to service at any time.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Frank--that's the same guy I was looking at! Found him on a Google!

[Frank46]

I have to confess to not doing anything much with my '88. Bought a bunch of barreled actions minus the good parts and took the best receiver and stoned and sanded out all the pits and greased it. Somewhere I have a swedish 8mm bbl that probably came off one of the sporters that were made on the 1894/1896 actions. One of these days will have to fit it to the receiver. That plus a big bag of '88 parts that I have around here someplace. Frank

[Tedly]

Shoot my Gew 88 and Kar 88 with jacketed only , neither one likes boolits...they are accurate weapons

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Thanks for the replies, although I would have thought that there would be more since so many were sold as surplus some years back. I got interested in them rather late, sort of after the ship had sailed; as when they were cheap and plentiful on the market, going for about $35 each in V.G.-Ex. if I remember correctly, I was interested in things like Lee Enfields and Springfields thinking them to be better rifles. Boy---you live and learn. I bought Paul Scarlata's book "TheGerman GEW 88 "Commission" Rifle" and read about their interesting history, all of the development problems and design changes, and how they were widely used in WW I, although already obsolete, and then used and reworked again by the Turks. I had also read how the U.S. ammo companies downloaded the 8x57mm and loaded it with an undersized .321 diameter bullet in anticipation that the round would be used in the Gew 88 rifles. I had (still have) a '98 rifle and was never pleased with the accuracy of the commercial factory ammo, but always wondered how it would perform in the Gew 88. But when I acquired a couple of them I chickened out on shooting the factory stuff due to the age of the rifles and decided to cast for them. I started out with bullets from a .32 Win. Spec. mold sized to .321 and they worked well in the Amberg rifle, not quite as well in the Danzig. Now I'm moving up to .322, but have no results to report yet. I know that the Germans and Turks loaded full power .323 8x57JS ammo and happily fired away, but apparently kept no detailed blow up records like the U.S. did of the 1903 rifles, so I feel the whole thing is best approached with caution. The 88/05 rifle that I'm currently building from parts is using a barrel that was made by the Turks for their rebuild program, and which I am assured was made for the full power 8x57JS round. What have your experiences been?