Original unmodified Bolt MM Gew88, 1894 Steyr.

majspud

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Picked this up on the cheap off GunBroker. Honest Bolt MM, unmodified 1894 Steyr Gew88. Serial 3819e is matched on all parts. Posed with the cleaning rod of my 1890 Loewe. I have a reproduction sling and cleaning rod for it once I strip and clean it. It is covered with a light sticky coat of cosmoline inside and out. Bolt matches itself, 1025n, except the bolt head (10).

Bolt was bashed through the packaging as it was shipped still in the action, but there seems to be no damage. Time for a detail strip and cleaning. I'll post finished pics when I'm done.

Only one cartouche on the keel of the stock. The right side of the butt stock has been wiped clean and sports a few nails. No unit marks on either band. Bore is bright and very good; some debris, but that will clean up easily.

This now completes my trifecta of Gew88s: Gew88, Gew88/05, and Gew88/15.

I'm back ordered at XXX for 40 rounds of Patrone88, 250gr lead RN .318.

T
 
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Won't know until I get some ammo.

From GB it has a Czech replacement barrel and likely came of Equador. Czech Lion and Circle Z.

T
 
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Cleaned up pics: original cleaning rod, reproduction sling. Cleaned the stock with soap and water, and then denatured alcohol to strip off the cosmoline. Three coats of straight Tung Oil. Very dry stock as there was almost nothing to wipe off after 15 minutes. Rifle had not been apart in a very long time. The screws and such gave way fairly easily, but left crumbling outlines of dried cosmoline that had to be cleaned off individually. I used Kroil and a gentle Scotch-Brite pad to remove rust and a solid line of dried cosmoline all along the rifle at the wood line. Stripped and cleaned the bolt; one of the more difficult amongst my Mil-Surps. A single pass of a bore snake with CLP yielded a nearly pristine bore. I had to hand fit the cleaning rod by sawing off 3/4 of the threads and using a file, taper the end into a rough point to grab the threads inside the lug.

T
 
Cool....
What does it take for a cartridge. 8mm mauser or 8mm manlicher?
 
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Info from the K98k forum. 1894/5 Steyr production was entirely commercial - none went to the German Army.

From the 1894/95 STEYR production,
14,732 were sent to their general commercial agent, August Schriever in Liege
2,000 were sent to Brazil and Peru
31,900 were sent to China

From unknown manufacturers 17,000 rifles were shipped to New York in 1911. Most (if not all) of these rifles were shipped back to Hamburg and Rotterdam to finally end up in China.
More than 15,000 rifles from the state of Wuerttemberg were sold to China in 1912/13.

An unknown number of G/K88 was sold to Nicaragua, Ecuador, Liberia, Persia and Abyssinia.

T
 
Two boxes of ammo came today. Look good, fed into the clip, fit into the magazine well perfectly (the P05 does not)...

...and when I tried to chamber a round the bolt would not close.[angry2]

Great. I assume the shoulder/set back is not quite correct. The bolt handle is in almost exactly the same position when I tried my 8mm field gauge in it.

Now What?

T
 

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Two boxes of ammo came today. Look good, fed into the clip, fit into the magazine well perfectly (the P05 does not)...

...and when I tried to chamber a round the bolt would not close.[angry2]

Great. I assume the shoulder/set back is not quite correct. The bolt handle is in almost exactly the same position when I tried my 8mm field gauge in it.

Now What?

T

That sucks.... how does the field gauge compare to the case?
This is also where a go gauge comes in handy.
Now is the case hitting or is the bullet hitting the lands.
Also the bullet could be over sized and the neck might be to "thick"
Do you have any fired brass?
I would mark the bullet and case with a sharpie or lip stick and carefully chamber and see where it's contacting.
My hunch is the bullet is hitting the lands?.

Do you have a caliper to measure the bullet/neck dia.

Also you should be testing headspace with the ejector and extractor removed.
I have a no go gauge if you want to try it?
 
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I was poking around and I know this is not super technical way of doing it but it's all I got.
The 8mm .323 version has a max neck size .349" so roughly .020" over bullet size. Using this as a guide you would say that if your necks dia are more than say .338" they might not fit...

Looking around I see the only modification they did for the conversion was ream out the neck and throat.

I can see why they warn of using modern 8x57js in the .318 bore.
No need to test 100 year old chamber integrity.
 
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The extractor is part of the bolt head; not sure would work that way.

T

The extractor and ejector should be removable...I thought.

I'm wondering if the ejector is stuck forward or perhaps the extractor isn't popping over the cartridge rim.
 
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The extractor and ejector should be removable...I thought.

I'm wondering if the ejector is stuck forward or perhaps the extractor isn't popping over the cartridge rim.

The cartridge slips up into the extractor as it is chambered. I put a round into the bolt face and tried to chamber it, no go. When fed from the clip the extractor never engages, I assume as the round is sticking too far out of the chamber. I have to tap the round out by dropping a small 10" Italian cleaning rod down the barrel.

T

- - - Updated - - -

Did you get all the cosmoline out the chamber?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Nothing that I can see.

T
 
After a digging cleaning, I can get a round to chamber with a lot of effort if I attach it to the bolt head and held in place with the extractor. It will still not close/chamber from the clip.

T
 
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Sounds to me like either their is some crud in the chamber or the rounds are to thick in the neck area or bullet is hitting lands.
I'm a bit favoring poor ammo as I have had bad luck with your source.

Is there any chance the firing pin is protruding while trying to cycle?
 
I can't tell. No marks on the primer. My test round showed no marks on the case or bullet to tell me where it was hitting. I've got the chamber as clean as I can get it. Depending what my source says about the problem, I'll take it to my LGS who reloads for me and see whatnhe can do.

T
 
Im banking on the ammo? Or headspace.
Until you get a go gauge and at least take a caliper to the ammo there's not much more to do.

If you drop a round into the chamber will it go all the way in?
 
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Im banking on the ammo? Or headspace.
Until you get a go gauge and at least take a caliper to the ammo there's not much more to do.
 
A bullet will go in just over half way past the crown. It feels like the case goes into the chamber up to the top of the rim gap, leaving room for the extractor. But I can't really tell.

T
 
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