Ecuador 88 Commission Rifle Carbine Conversion

[Aragorn243]

I have four separate sources that list the sale of the rifles from Germany to Ecuador between 1898 and 1904. The exact date is in question, the time frame or the seller is not. These sources include the importer who purchased them and got his information from Ecuador. These same sources also indicate that Ecuador returned rifles to the Czech's to be rebarrelled when they became worn out. The new barrels were kept in the same original caliber as the initial sale rifles. What is also not clear is whether the carbines were part of the original sale or a secondary sale. Granted not a lot of information out there but there is at least some documentation for this and oddly enough, some of what Bob believes fits in, the involvement of the Czech's for one. What he believes was a sale was instead a refurbishment.

But really, I didn't start this thread to turn into another one of the senseless 88 Commission rifle arguments. I wanted to show a little known example and my efforts to stabilize and restore it.

In that note, I cleaned and washed the stock. Most of it is solid with the exception of the front 6 inches. Seems OK but shows indications of some dry rot on the interior. Does not extend to the exterior of the wood. A lot of the dents worked themselves out without me doing anything other than running hot water in the shower on it. Still plenty left. A few things showed up, a pair of crowns on the underside behind the trigger guard. Faint but there. There is a A J carved into the butt and an A carved into the middle of the stock. I noticed the A's but not the J prior.