1888 Commision Rifle

[gew8805]

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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[Patrick Chadwick]

And definitely done in Europe.

On this point, I respectfully disagree. In countries that require proofing of firearms - which for the last century or more means probably every country in Europe with commercial arms production - rechambering invalidates proof and a new proof is mandatory. See Wirnsberger "The Standard Directory of Proof Marks". The land of unproofed wildcat conversions is quite clearly located somewhat further out to the West.

[Patrick Chadwick]

I vote for a post military, one off, target rifle. And definitely done in Europe.

I think you may well be right, after all. But the tatty breech face and chamber profile bother me.