gew 88 info

[spicybeefjerky]

my father managed to find a GEW 88 mauser with all matching serial numbers including the stock manufactured in Danzig 1891.....the cal is 8mm? or something else i am not positive...the asking price is 450 bucks...good deal?

[FutureMarine]

cal is 8mm. yes i think its a good deal. I have a gordgeous laminated stock GEW. 98

[Big Dog]

DO NOT use full-power surplus 8mm ammo in the Gew.88! It uses the original .318 bore, not the later .323 "S" bore that the Model 98 Mausers use. U.S. hunting ammo may be okay, as it is loaded down and sized to work with the older guns without blowing them up. But, do some more research on this.
The price may be okay among collectors, but it's high for a shooter.
AGAIN - these Model 88's are unsafe with surplus 8mm ammo!!

Edit to add:
One more minor point - the Gewehr Model 88 Commission Rifle is NOT in any way a Mauser. Paul Mauser had no hand in designing or building them. The commission simply used Mauser's magazine design.

I've seen some very pretty sporter/hunting rifles made on this action, but they are so rare in good shape today, I'd hate to see one converted.

[Beer Forever]

Your avitar is making me hungry.

[spicybeefjerky]

thanks for the info all around..and sks..you may have noticed that the bag was empty...i got a little hungry just looking at it too : )

[Beer Forever]

I noticed.

[SPOCAHP ANAR]

Paid 50$ for a Turkish rework from the 30's. As said before you should not use surplus ammo due to the high pressures associated. And as said they are Commission rifles not Mausers.

[mzmadmike]

Okay, I'm trying to copy/paste here and it won't let me paste...is there a problem with the site?

[mzmadmike]

Correcting an ongoing misconception (Which will never be cleared up), the bore measurement of the Gew 88 DOES NOT MATTER.

The barrels had a mfr tolerance that allowed .318 to pass for theoretical .323 ammo. They're all the same in that regard. You can measure one at .323, load it up, and still put dangerous amounts of stress on it.

What the "S" Stamp indicates is that the CHAMBER throat was relieved for thicker cartridge brass and expansion under pressure for the later cartridges. The rifling is also deeper to grip jacketed bullets better.

If it's marked "S," then after checking it over for obvious erosion or defects, carefully load one standard 8mm, and test fire without holding it to your face. If it extracts easily, you have a perfectly functional weapon. If not, try commercial 8mm, which is downloaded in the US for fear of a lawsuit over the "inevitable" bursting of the barrel which will rip a hole in the space time continuum as we know it.

Oddly, I've never seen a photo or a first hand report of said explosion. It's one of those things that "everyone knows" that actually isn't so. If the receiver or barrel fail, they have always done so (as far as I've been able to trace) with warning--getting loose and sloppy and obviously trouble.

Most of the surviving rifles were used in WWI and WWII. There was no "high pressure ammo" or "low pressure ammo," meted out to troops depending on whether they had a 88, 93, 98, a rearsenal or what. There was whatever was issued, allee samee. As long as they're in good shape and were chamber reamed for the new cartridge, they're fine.

I've been shooting milsurp 8mm out of 4 Gew 88s, one original and three sporters, for about 20 years. I can refer you to a guy with 6. Load 'em up and fire away.

[Cannonball]

You seem to know your stuff, mzmadmike.
I have an old Mauser 98 1940 that I picked up in Seattle in 1958.
A relative sporterized it for me by trimming the stairsteps out of the barrel and knocking off the rear sight barrel band and smoothing out the rear edge of the reciever. He also installed a Redfield reciever rear sight and a Sourdough front sight. This gave me a sight picture not unlike the M1 I had used through the Korean War.
He suggested I convert to 8mm-06 but the whole barrel looked a bit thin to me.
I aquired a custom stock made by a famious Chicago stock maker, in french walnut with a most unusual cheek reast.
It never grouped very well. Most were out around 3 or 4 inches. Sierra 175 grainers shot the best for a long time. I was able to get close to 2 inches with those. When Nosler came out with 200 grainers I was able to get a 1 inch group at last.
I have taken 1 Alaskan Mountain goat, 1 Alaskan black-tail, 6 antelope and I don't know how many mulies, with that gracefull 8mm.
But just recently, I have had two reloaded cases split lengthwise, not new cases but...
I hate to see a smoky reciever. Further, cases have stuck in the full length die when I had the die backed way off to only size the neck.
I don't see any bulge in the barrel around the chamber.
I have not molded the chamber to see what it looks like, but a gunsmith told me its time to rebarrel.
I am fond of that gun. It has beautiful sporter lines and weighs less than 7 lbs. It has nice balance, and most people pick it out over many others.
I hate to alter the balance with a different barrel. I'm further not sure where to find the best Mauser barrel.
What do you think?

[Vintovki]

Originally Posted by Big Dog

DO NOT use full-power surplus 8mm ammo in the Gew.88! It uses the original .318 bore, not the later .323 "S" bore that the Model 98 Mausers use. U.S. hunting ammo may be okay, as it is loaded down and sized to work with the older guns without blowing them up. But, do some more research on this.
The price may be okay among collectors, but it's high for a shooter.
AGAIN - these Model 88's are unsafe with surplus 8mm ammo!!
Edit to add:
One more minor point - the Gewehr Model 88 Commission Rifle is NOT in any way a Mauser. Paul Mauser had no hand in designing or building them. The commission simply used Mauser's magazine design.
I've seen some very pretty sporter/hunting rifles made on this action, but they are so rare in good shape today, I'd hate to see one converted.

Big Dog,
I'm sure it is an oversight but the Commission Rifle did not use a Mauser designed feeding device; it used a Mannlicher design which used a single stack clip that would fall out when the magazine was emptied, similar to the Mannlicher-Carcano....

[mzmadmike]

If more than one NEW case is splitting lengthwise and won't fit in the die, the chamber is starting to go--it's either eroded or stretching. STOP SHOOTING IT.

Multiple reloads eventually give way but usually around the base not along the length.

http://shawbarrels.com has barrels that will thread right in. Reasonable price and quite accurate.

Sorry to hear it's wearing out but it does happen. The 98s saw a LOT of action.

The Commission was the Mauser bolt, Mannlicher mag and Lebel barrel. As they stole from more than 2, it was "research" not "infringement.";-)

[GEWDOIT]

You are getting me brave enough to use this ammo I bought 3 years ago and then read on all these web sites to only use US ammo in it.

[mzmadmike]

Just went shooting again, with both the original and the rebuilt and modified one (it was parts when I got it) and a friend's which is still packet fed. No issues at all with Bulgarian surplus.