1888 Commission

[jugulater]

Today while making my normal weekly trip to my favorite local Pawn Shops i decided to make an extra stop at a shop i had never visited before, and discovered they had a rather large selection of nice guns on display, after looking through the LeverGuns and ShotGuns i made my way over to the last rack of guns in the back of the shop, which consisted mainly of Bubba'd Mausers and a couple of sporterized Carcanos and mixed in with the more common guns was this decent example of a Commission 1888 Rifle made by steyr in 1890.

i dont know a lot about the Gew 88s and i dont see them too often, i was hoping you guys could give me some definitive answers. the gun has been converted to take stripper clips and has a "S" marked reciever and has a Turk rear sight with turkish markings on the Bolt. it has two sets of unit markings, one set has been X'ed out but is still legible. im just confused about the names for the conversions done to these guns, and im just not exactly sure what to call it, i've seen the terms 88/05, 88/14/, and 88/38 used to describe some of the conversions.

i would also love to hear what Boolits and loads you guys have found to work well in these guns so i can get an idea of where to start with this old war horse.

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[Dutchman]

Excellent book on the subject:

https://www.amazon.com/Collectors-German-Commission-Rifles-Carbines/dp/1931464308/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473896569&sr=8-1&keywords=german+gew (https://www.amazon.com/Collectors-German-Commission-Rifles-Carbines/dp/1931464308/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473896569&sr=8-1&keywords=german+gew)

Dutch

[Der Gebirgsjager]

So--you bought it! Good for you! You will enjoy this rifle. I don't know if you have already researched your description, but it would appear that you have an 88/05 rifle, altered from the 88 by addition of the sheet metal cover on the bottom of the magazine housing, a cartridge retainer through a slot milled in the left wall of the receiver, and charger clip guides allowing the magazine to be charged with 98 style stripper clips rather than the original Mannlicher clips. The "S" on the receiver ring signifies that the rifle's chamber was altered to use the .323 diameter spritzer bullet from the original .318 round nose. The crescent half-moon markings do represent prior Turkish ownership. The thing you need to look into is as to whether or not the rifle was re-barreled by the Turks. If so, it is perfectly safe for use with standard velocity 8x57mm ammo. If not, then you should determine exactly which version of the previous barrels you have before using any jacketed or factory ammo. I recommend that you slug the bore and make a determination on the land and groove measurements and load accordingly. I have several of these rifles and have successfully used .321 dia. bullets cast from an RCBS mold designed for the .32 Win. Special, and also some .322 cast from Hunter's Supply. IMR 3031 and 4895 are good powders, as is the "standard load" of Red Dot.

[jugulater]

i had researched the gun and i had run into some conflicting information on the conversions, im happy to have that cleared up!

i was Hoping to slug the barrel tonight, but i seem to have misplaced my Lead RBs! i had already read up on the fact that the 88's used a smaller diameter bullet and generally arent considered safe with later military ammo that used the larger bullet.

i didnt know that the turks would rebarrel a 88 and leave it with the shroud, that's very nice to know.

i was hoping to use the same 326407 NOE mould that i use for feeding my 1903 Turk, but if the gun still has the german barrel on it ill have to rethink my plans.

Edit: I found my RBs and slugged it, it felt even all the way through and the slug came out at ~.320 so it looks like ill be needing a mould for something in the .321-.322 range.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

i didnt know that the turks would rebarrel a 88 and leave it with the shroud, that's very nice to know.

Some yes, some no. You'll find them both ways. If you remove the shroud and the barrel is unblued and has a crescent on the bottom near the receiver it is a new Turk replacement and the most desirable to have. A word of caution, the shroud threads often rust into the external barrel threads and it's easy to damage them in removal, so the slug is the safer indicator of what you've got.

i was hoping to use the same 326407 NOE mould that i use for feeding my 1903 Turk, but if the gun still has the german barrel on it ill have to rethink my plans.

That will probably work if you're bore slugs as a .323, but I'd be reluctant to use it in something smaller. Because of the different models and service life in other countries than Germany you have to consider these rifles as individuals and load for them as such. One gentleman on another board insists that the groove diameter was always .323 with the land diameter being .318 on the early rifles. If he's correct, then .326 would be a bit large I would think for those rifles. But it might be fine for one of the later barrels. I'd be interested in hearing what the results of your barrel slug are.

I couldn't tell from your photos, but unless the last two numbers of the rifle's serial number are repeated on the barrel band the unit markings may not mean much for that individual rifle's history, as the Turks are great parts mixers. If the numbers do match, then the markings that are XXXXed out was the unit to which it was originally issued, and the one remaining was the last German unit to which it was issued. Somewhere there is a list of what these markings mean, but I do not have a copy.

Another good book, available on e-bay, "A Collector's Guide to the German Gew. 88 "Commission" Rifle" by Paul S. Scarlata.

[jugulater]

both barrel bands match the serial number on the receiver. ill have to get the books and do some reading.

i know a good bit about the turks and their tendency to assemble guns from parts, my 1903 Turk is mostly mismatched and the barrel runs a bit fat, which is why i got the 326407.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Well, once again, congratulations on a good find. Be careful--one has a way of turning into more.

[Earlwb]

Nice find. Congratulations. They are pretty good rifles. Basically the defective ones were all weeded out before WWI, so only the good ones are left.

[jaegerstutzen]

My current 88 slugs out at ..321.5. Have yet to shoot it. Had a pair of South American ones that had been rebarreled with Czech barrels slugging at .318. Never shot those either.

[jugulater]

i polished out a push-through sizing die I wasn't using to ~.321 and sized down my .325 boolits, and tomorrow ill be taking it to the range to see how it shoots.

i cleaned all the junk out of the gun's barrel and slugged it three times just to be sure, i even went to see a friend who is a gunsmith and had him measure the slug with tools much more accurate than mine and the results were that my barrel is .3195 from groove to groove, which seems to be a bit smaller than what everyone else is saying.

my gun is probably just on the small end of the scale.