Originally Posted by
sharps4590
I'll start with Texas. He's right. If you make the comparison there's a lot more Mannlicher about the 1888 than Mauser. The two actions share some traits but the split, rear receiver bridge is pure Mannlicher as is the bolt handle in front of the rear receiver bridge.
I get wordy so I'll apologize for that up front. Germany and the Germanic speaking countries, to include the Austro-Hungarian empire, Poland, what's now the Czech Republic, Slovakia....really, most of northern Europe, has a history of hunting at least 400-500 years longer than North America has been discovered by Europeans. As society evolved the larger game became the game of the nobility and the rich. Small game has always been left for the commoners. Peasantry in the Germanic speaking countries was definitely NOT like peasantry in England. Most "peasants"...and that is not a fair description but will have to do,....owned a few to several acres, usually some livestock and owed the landholder something like 2-4 days of work and the rest was there's to tend there property....and make a living. Many worked, save and built there way into significant landholders themselves. They also hunted the small game.
Any rifle made in central Europe could have gone to Africa. Most didn't. Express sights are as common as dirt and claw mount bases aren't far behind. Back then, 1700 to before WWII, there was huge "reviers", hunting land owned by the state or a landholder, often nobility. Germany has managed game since before the US was a nation. There was an immense amount of shooting going on. As firearms developed rapidly in the late 1800's scope bases were added, for obvious reasons, and express sights became common. Hunting methods were not like they are here nor was game management. Cull animals were killed on the spot. Unless it was breeding season, almost everything was fair game....European hunting methods would require volumes. Anyway, as they did their drives and hunter were in their "high seat", (forgot the German word), close up or distant shots could be offered in short order. It was beneficial to have near immediate access to a scope or, express sights. Neither denote African use nor an intention for the rifle to go to Africa. At the end of the day the kill numbers would be frightening to American hunters and, there was MUCH ceremony that evening to give thanks, offer respect to the game, recognize new hunters, recognize hunters who shot the biggest...which ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT carry the same connotation as it does here. The biggest reh deer, stag, boar...whatever...was recognized but it probably didn't make the local paper and make the taker out to be some kind of celebrity. From what I've read predators were shot upon sight. That alone could make for a lot of shooting.
The kill numbers of all kinds of game by the Austro/Hungarian emperor, Franz Joseph Hapsburg and Kaiser Wilhelm Hohenzollern is staggering, multiple thousands.
German makers had a big piece of the African gun trade, nearly all in bolt rifles. Certainly 8 X 57's went to Africa but it was hardly the cartridge of choice. At that time German and England were in sort of an "arms race" in Africa, trying to develop and introduce proprietary cartridges suitable for African game. Generally, England won the double rifle race....and did pretty well in the repeating rifle race. The 9 X 57 was popular and the 9.3 X 74R in singles and doubles did well. The 10.75 X 68, (I think that's the right length), was a fine cartridge but, the bullets sucked....lol! There is several cartridges that went to Africa but most have faded into history. Anyway, rifles like yours, and I suspect nearly all mine, stayed in Europe. That is not to say some didn't make a trip to Africa but, those would be very rare and to prove it nearly impossible. Heck, with a lot of them it's impossible to learn who made them, let alone who owned them and where they hunted...lol! One must remember that most German rifles like yours and mine came to this country as war souvenirs. They were picked up off the streets of German cities, saved from the treads of tanks and bonfires......not in Nairobi or Cape Town.
For a long time I believed as you mentioned, that these were very special, expensive and perhaps bespoke firearms. Well, for the typical German sporter of the era, like yours and most of mine...that ain't so. The typical engraving...borders, maybe some oak leaf and a simple game scene or two was expected to be completed in a day. I want to remember I read from a German translation rifles like yours and most of mine were completed in a week or so. More embellishments obviously took longer as did bespoke firearms.
The German gun trade, and the British, was so different from ours at that time we fail to understand how it worked, unless we pursue it. The apprenticeship program was 4-8 years long and after the apprentice completed his apprenticeship he was expected to travel the country for two years, working for other makers and increase his knowledge and experience. They had to build a rifle from scratch and present it to a "board" for examination. If they passed they were awarded their.....oh shoot. That might have been to receive their Master Gunsmith rating. It's been long enough I'm getting things confused. Anyway, it was a rigorous program and anyone who completed it knew what he was doing.
Those makers were in business to make money and then as now, time was money. With guns made "for the trade", they didn't have hours upon hours to lavish on a firearm. They needed to get them out the door same as today, HOWEVER. Standards were very high, very rigid and they HAD to pass government proof. Something that's never had to be been in the US. If, say....Immanuel Meffert had a contract with Eduard Kettner for X kind of rifles at Y price...if they went over budget, the maker had to eat it. Some firms in existence today have been in business since the 1700's. They don't do that losing money. They also had their basic patterns for bolt rifles, stalking rifles, drillings, doubles, etc. You do the same thing long enough you get pretty quick at it...especially with their work ethic.
No, they weren't cheap back then but they must have been affordable, given the quantity out there, not taking into account the probable millions destroyed by the Allies at the end of the war. As an example, The US makers supposedly made about 60,000 Schuetzen style rifles...that's kind of a specialty rifle. Britain made some ridiculously low number...Schuetzen never really caught on there. From SURVIVING RECORDS, Germany made over 600,000....of a specialty rifle in a day when there was still a lot of handwork. This was going on at the same time the makers were turning out millions of sporting rifles. Germanic speaking nations were hunters and shooters. At the first National Schuetzen match in....I'm pretty certain the 1870's...there was over 8,000 contestants. That's nearly 1/2 the population of my town and at a time when travel was by horse and rail.
Sooo...no sir, it's unlikely your rifle went to Africa..or most other German made rifles, mine included, went to Africa. I have three German doubles, one from the 1870's in 11.15 X 60R and, two others, one in 8 X 65R Brenneke, re-chambered from a pre-WWI, Vierordt double and the other a Gebruder Merkel, O/U in 8 X 60R Magnum. It is from the 1930's. I have no reason to suspect any went to Africa. The Vierordt and Merkel have bases and I have the rings and scopes. But....it's fun to wonder and play "what if." I do it too.