88 GEW questions

[Sutcliffe]

My buddy is trying to find ammo for his 1888 German Commission Rifle. He thought it was a '91 Mauser, but it seems it's not a mauser at all. More like a Mannlicher design. He picked up a few boxes of 8mm mauser(7.92X57)they seem to fit in the chamber and extract.
I know there are two 8mm mausers and this is probably the older, .318 fore diameter and not the modern .323 Therefore, it's probably unsafe to shoot.
Was there ever any attempt to reline the barrels to shoot the modern diameter? I ask because there is a curious 7.92(smaller and different script) marking stamped right next to the original 8MM on the reciever.

In short:
Is it worth trying to find ammo to shoot this rifle or is it just a wall hanger?
Thanks

[bigthaiboy]

The original caliber marking would have read 7.92, as the caliber is referred to in Europe. I'm pretty sure only americans refer to this caliber as 8mm. The 8mm marking may have been added on import to the US?

Only rifles engraved with a large letter S have been chambered for the 8mm Mauser round. "Modern" 8mm Mauser cartridge are loaded hotter than the Commission rifle cartridge.

I'm sure you can easily find more info over at Parallax Bill's Curio & Relic forum, as they have their own 1888 Commision rifle forum : http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearm...on-Rifles.html

[TRAP55]

WW1 Mausers had a .318" 'J' bore (7.9MM), and the later WW2 Mausers had the .323" 'JS' bore. Before he shoots it, he needs to find out which one he has!

[Nodda Duma]

The commission rifle action is not strong enough to handle modern 8mm Mauser loads. ie don't shoot the ammo that he bought. You should have your buddy slug the bore to determine what bore size it takes. It may have been rechambered for .323 sometime in the past. Commission rifles are perfectly shootable, but your buddy will need to learn how to load his own to do so (to basically back off on the powder load). Not difficult to do, and a perfect excuse to get into the hobby of reloading ammo.

I just have a cursory knowledge of them (I have been looking to pick one up for a while and I also reload for a Kar 98k Mauser so I have read up some on the prehistory of the 8mm Mauser cartridge). Check out surplusrifleforum.com and surplusrifle.com You should be able to find out more information on ammunition for the 88 there.

-Jason

[tankerman]

WW1 Mausers had a .318" 'J' bore (7.9MM), and the later WW2 Mausers had the .323" 'JS' bore. Before he shoots it, he needs to find out which one he has!

he is not talking about a Mauser 98. This discussion is about a 1888 Commission Rifle. They are not the same thing.

[tankerman]

Before he turns it into a wall hanger let me know, I may be in terested in taking it off his hands. I load my own.

My buddy is trying to find ammo for his 1888 German Commission Rifle. He thought it was a '91 Mauser, but it seems it's not a mauser at all. More like a Mannlicher design. He picked up a few boxes of 8mm mauser(7.92X57)they seem to fit in the chamber and extract.
I know there are two 8mm mausers and this is probably the older, .318 fore diameter and not the modern .323 Therefore, it's probably unsafe to shoot.
Was there ever any attempt to reline the barrels to shoot the modern diameter? I ask because there is a curious 7.92(smaller and different script) marking stamped right next to the original 8MM on the reciever.

In short:
Is it worth trying to find ammo to shoot this rifle or is it just a wall hanger?
Thanks

[smle-man]

For what its worth the Turks put a gazzilion rounds of their hot 8mm ball through M88 actioned rifles over the years as did the Chinese. Their version of the M1888 was used from the Boxer rebellion to the Korean war. The action isn't as theoretically strong as a 98 mauser but they seem to be plenty strong for what was asked of them over the last 100 years.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

WW1 Mausers had a .318" 'J' bore (7.9MM), and the later WW2 Mausers had the .323" 'JS' bore. Before he shoots it, he needs to find out which one he has!

Germany's WWI Mausers had the .323 bore just like their WWII Mausers did. The change from .318 to .323 happend well before WWI started. You might be confusing the change in bullet weight from WWI to WWII.

[Sutcliffe]

Thanks for the insight

I really appreciate the help.

[TRAP55]

Quote:
Originally Posted by TRAP55 View Post
WW1 Mausers had a .318" 'J' bore (7.9MM), and the later WW2 Mausers had the .323" 'JS' bore. Before he shoots it, he needs to find out which one he has!
Germany's WWI Mausers had the .323 bore just like their WWII Mausers did. The change from .318 to .323 happend well before WWI started. You might be confusing the change in bullet weight from WWI to WWII.

My bad, I was "multitasking" and it should have said "Pre WWI Mausers". Germany adopted the larger .323 JS bore in 1905. The majority of rifles in their arsenal were re-barreled or re-bored to the JS bore, but not all.

The 1888 Commission Rifle, or GEW88, was a Mannlicher design chambered in 8x57 Mauser and was a "J" bore .318. Even some of these have had the caliber change.The Germans even re-chambered other countries rifles to 8x57. Everything from Jap Arisakas, Italian Carcanos, to Russian Mosin Nagants.

My ammo "warning" was due to the fact his Gew88 is most likely still a J bore, and his ammo is most likely JS bore.