My third ever rifle, a contract Gew88 made in 1890 by Loewe, I bought in 1996 for the princely sum of $50. I haven't used it in a long while as the spring which compresses the ammunition retention tab had faded over time so that the rounds popped up as the bolt pushed was pushed forward, failing to chamber. On occasion, the whole magazine was ejected straight up out of the rifle. I finally found a replacement spring after 5 years of intermittent searching.
This particular rifle, for those not in the know is a Gew88/05. With the advent of the spitzer (pointed) bullet in 1904, The Germans began modifying a large portion of the Gew88s as Gew98 production wasn't moving fast enough to rearm the whole army. In the 1905 conversion, the open bottom of the Mannlicher feed system was closed and the Mannlicher clip discarded. Two shoulders were braised onto the receiver and slotted to receive the newly invented stripper clip. To give clearance for the left thumb to load the stripper clip, a curved relief was cut out of the left side of the receiver, which cut off part of the receiver 'Gew88' stamp. Lastly, as mentioned, a slot was cut into the side of the receiver and a spring held ammunition retention tab installed. In addition, as the spitzer bullets had a different trajectory than the older round nosed Patrone88s, the rear sights were scrubbed and re-calibrated for the new round. As the spitzer bullets were longer than the Patrone88s, a notch was cut into the receiver to allow clearance for the point of the spitzer. The "S" mark on the receiver indicated the conversion to .323 by reaming the throat of the receiver from .318.
This particular rifle was sent to Turkey by Germany as material aid in WWI. The only matched part is the bolt. The Turks replaced the barrel, and it is in excellent condition. I don't think this particular rifle received the rear sight calibration, as I had to aim one foot below the target with the new PPU ammo at 100 yards. 15 rounds to sight in - again I moved the front sight the wrong way - and then put the last 5 into the black by the skin of one splitter, passing the accuracy test.
The round in the chamber is a 1930's DWM training round.
T
This particular rifle, for those not in the know is a Gew88/05. With the advent of the spitzer (pointed) bullet in 1904, The Germans began modifying a large portion of the Gew88s as Gew98 production wasn't moving fast enough to rearm the whole army. In the 1905 conversion, the open bottom of the Mannlicher feed system was closed and the Mannlicher clip discarded. Two shoulders were braised onto the receiver and slotted to receive the newly invented stripper clip. To give clearance for the left thumb to load the stripper clip, a curved relief was cut out of the left side of the receiver, which cut off part of the receiver 'Gew88' stamp. Lastly, as mentioned, a slot was cut into the side of the receiver and a spring held ammunition retention tab installed. In addition, as the spitzer bullets had a different trajectory than the older round nosed Patrone88s, the rear sights were scrubbed and re-calibrated for the new round. As the spitzer bullets were longer than the Patrone88s, a notch was cut into the receiver to allow clearance for the point of the spitzer. The "S" mark on the receiver indicated the conversion to .323 by reaming the throat of the receiver from .318.
This particular rifle was sent to Turkey by Germany as material aid in WWI. The only matched part is the bolt. The Turks replaced the barrel, and it is in excellent condition. I don't think this particular rifle received the rear sight calibration, as I had to aim one foot below the target with the new PPU ammo at 100 yards. 15 rounds to sight in - again I moved the front sight the wrong way - and then put the last 5 into the black by the skin of one splitter, passing the accuracy test.
The round in the chamber is a 1930's DWM training round.
T
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