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1888 Commision Rifle
I have a Steyr 1890 rifle sent home in WW2. The barrel was packed with grease until February of this year. I tapped lead down the barrel end and it measured around .312 to .314. The chamber end is .434. I easily un-screwed the barrel shroud and it is marked 7.7mm. This gun has the "S" stamped on it, but also has late model K98 ramp sites according to a person on another forum. I cannot chamber a 8mm Remington Mauser round, it hits on the shoulder. I managed to get a AK47 spent round about an inch into the chamber and applied a little pressure with the bolt and it left a partial ring around the case at the inch mark. The Mauser round measures .467 at the rim and .427 before the shoulder. I am thinking broken case, but do not see any brass. I will try and upload pictures but am at a loss as to if it is a 8mm or a re-barreled something else. Any help would be appreciated.
Lyle
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06-03-2013 11:33 PM
# ADS
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Post a picture or two. You have Kar98 rear sights or Gew98 rear sights?
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Old chambers are worn, by any amount from zero (i.e. mint) to so much as to be noticeably sloppy. But I have never yet seen one that had become tighter.
Calif-Steve rightly points out that pictures are required.
At present, I can see 4 possibilities:
1) Substantial corrosion or baked-on crud.
2) A broken-off case.
3) It is indeed a rechambered heaven-knows-what.
4) Someone inserted a chamber sleeve in order to be able to use some other 8mm cartridge, like the 8x33 short cartridge for the WW2 "Sturmgewehr". And this cartridge does indeed have a shoulder that starts 23.5mm in from the base. Which would explain the ring mark you observed at about 1" in from the base.
No point in further speculation from this distance - make a good photo from the chamber end!
Just for fun, I am guessing it is 4).
Last edited by Patrick Chadwick; 06-04-2013 at 05:29 AM.
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Thank You to Patrick Chadwick For This Useful Post:
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Actually, have a chamber cast done, it is the only way you will get any accurate idea of what you have. Photographs posted on the internet will tell you (or us) nothing - it's a hands on job.
Do all of this after having a qualified, experienced gunsmith look at it.
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The Following 2 Members Say Thank You to gew8805 For This Useful Post:
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Is the rifle in military trim, or is it a sporter. When I see 7.7 on a gun, I think .303 or 7.7 Japanese. Assuming the riflecame home from Europe, I woud guess at a post-war British sporting conversion to .303 British. If pacific theatre, it could be a gun that went to China and was rebarelled by the Japanese.
Pictures may help.
Союз нерушимый республик свободных Сплотила навеки Великая Русь. Да здравствует созданный волей народов Единый, могучий Советский Союз!
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Hope these uploaded.....Lyle
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GEW 88 on one side of the gun, clearly stamped. The 1st pic is from a bore scope inside the chamber as far as I could get the tool. The second is the ramp up site. The "S" with the CE below it?? The block that someone carved out. The barrel under the heat shroud. The chamber end you can still see some of the 60+ year old grease that was in there. And the stock where it has been cut. I can get more if needed.
Lyle
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I added 3 more photos, close up of the sites and a couple more done with the bore scope from the chamber end. You can see the rifling in the barrel.
Lyle
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Single-shot Gew88 with Gew98 rear sights. This was a early 1900 target rifle? Very likely, but is that a new barrel or merely re-chambered?.
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As far as caliber, have a gunsmith do a chamber cast to see exactly what you have, anything else is just speculation. It may be a wildcat so you will never know, I doubt it is British so probably not a standard .303.
Very interesting. As Calif-Steve says, the rifle has had a Gew 98 Lange Vizier rear sight added to replace the original Gew88 rear sight. And it has had the magazine blocked to disallow the use of the magazine meaning it is single shot only.
I vote for a post military, one off, target rifle. And definitely done in Europe.
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