Gewehr 88 comes home....

[1-M-42]

Thanks for all the comments guys. Everyone on here pretty much knows I'm a Swiss rifle guy and I readily admit I know next to nothing on German weapons, even though I own an RC K98 and a Yugo 24/47. Its been fun reading about the Gew 88, still think its funny that even back 30 years ago my brother thought it was a "Mauser", much like today still....

[Grendl]

Beautiful tiger stripping on that stock!

[gun toting monkeyboy]

That is an 88/05. It has the pre-WWI stripper clip guides. Nice rifle. Be gentle with it. While it is marked and modified so that it looks like it should have a .323" bore, slug it to be sure. US-made ammo is anemic. But it is loaded with exactly these rifles in mind. It generally shoots on par with .30-40 in terms of power, and uses a .321" bullet in deference to all the old guns with .318" bores. It would be safe in this gun even if you don't slug the bore. Assuming that yours has actually been converted, and has the larger bore, I still would avoid anything other than hand loads and US manufactured 8x57mm. The action isn't the strongest, it is 122 years old, and you have no idea how much the Turks abused it with 8x57S ammo before they sold it off. Remember, salvaging these guns was a cost-saving measure. They didn't care it they lost a few soldiers (or fingers and eyes) to guns rupturing. The soldiers were considered to be expendable. You probably prefer having depth perception and being able to count to ten without having to take your shoes off. With decent, mild handloads, these Commission rifles are a joy to shoot all day. And can take game just as well as a .30-40 Krag. If you try to get .30-06 level performance out of them, you will end up with a broken gun, and possibly a new nickname, like "Lefty" or "Stumpy".

-Mb

[jeff762]

this site might have some of the info you want.

http://www.turkmauser.com/

[1-M-42]

Thanks Monkeyboy and Jeff, much appreciated

[smle-man]

Remington factory 8x57 is/was loaded with a .321 diameter bullet to cut the difference between the .318 and .323 bores. If Remington still uses .321 diameter bullets that may be your factory load choice for your 88.

[Josh Smith]

Josh, the barrel, under the liner, was nearly unblemished, still in the white. I've already coated it with a liberal dose of Lubriplate.
Thanks for the load advice but could you explain what a short driving band bullet is? I'm not familiar with that term or description.
How does that load perform at 500 meters? If I can get an adequate load I want to try this thing on the silhouette range

Hello,

I have never fired that load at more than 100 meters. Here in Northern Indiana, I rarely get the chance to shoot that far. When the snow lets up I want to shoot the Mosin and Gew88 a bit further, so we'll see what develops. Don't go over 40kpsi or so with any load, though. That's what the rifle was designed around.

The driving band is just the part of the bullet that contacts the rifling and bore. The shorter the driving band, the less friction and therefore less pressure.

The original 7.92x57 had a land measurement of 0.318 and a bullet size to match. The "S" conversion opened the throat so as not to spike pressures and blow the action, but kept the 0.318 lands. Later Gew88 rifles did measure 0.321 and 0.323, but you'll want to slug your bore. Your Gew88 is slightly earlier than mine, and mine does measure 0.318.

This means they are squeeze-bores. The bullets (safely) swage to the barrel's size, but pick up a bit of speed when doing so.

The thing that pops the actions on these is folks firing 196 grain surplus loads at 50kpsi to 55kpsi in an action designed at 45kpsi.

There were three iterations of the 7.92x57: The original 7.92x57 firing a 212grn round nose bullet at around 2000fps, the 7.92x57js firing a 150 grain pointed bullet at 2800fps or so, and the 7.92x57jss 196 grain pointed bullet at 2800fps.

The first is safe in all these rifles, though not very precise in "S" Gew88 and Gew98 rifles, and the only round that can be fired in non-"s" Gew88 rifles and carbines.

The 7.92x57js, with its 150 grain bullet at 2800fps, is mild enough for the "s"-conversion Gew88 rifles as well as all Gew98 rifles.

The 196 grain jss round should only be used in Mauser 98 and later actions.

All modern surplus is 196 grain except for the Romanian stuff. Romania's surplus is safe for the Gew88 "s". No other I'm aware of is safe; some say commercial U.S. 8mm is safe, but I've not tried it so I'll not swear to it.

I just handload to be sure of what I'm getting.

Regards,

Josh

[smle-man]

I load 150 gr bullets to an estimated 2500 FPS which is pretty mild for the rifle and it is a 10 ring shooter at 100 yds and smacks the steel plate at 400 yds with regularity. The only limitation are my eyes!

I paid $150 for it from GB about 3 years ago. There were three together and I could have gotten all three for the same price. Wish I had!

[Springfield45]

Get this book.

It will tell you everything you could want to know about Gew. 1888 rifles.

This forum has many other bits of information including the barrel band markings to find out witch Units your 88 belonged to.

http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforums.yuku.com/forums/92/GEW-1888-Commission-Rifles#.UsO6UCq8DbQ

[6mmintl]

Now we need to have A "PRE-1900" (cast bullet?/small bore/big bore) rifle class at sac valley mil-surp match.

[emcon5]

All modern surplus is 196 grain except for the Romanian stuff.

There is also Czech surplus 178 GR, from the late 1940s.

[Josh Smith]

I load 150 gr bullets to an estimated 2500 FPS which is pretty mild for the rifle and it is a 10 ring shooter at 100 yds and smacks the steel plate at 400 yds with regularity. The only limitation are my eyes!

I paid $150 for it from GB about 3 years ago. There were three together and I could have gotten all three for the same price. Wish I had!

Turked 1888/05/35?

Regards,

Josh

[Enfield47]

I'm not very familiar with the Gew88, did some of them have the roller coaster sights, or is that another gun?

[gun toting monkeyboy]

I'm not very familiar with the Gew88, did some of them have the roller coaster sights, or is that another gun?

That was mostly the Gew 98. Though the early 1916 Spanish Mausers also had them.

[smle-man]

Turked 1888/05/35?

Regards,

Josh

Yep, this one was done in 1941.