Gew 88

[Capt Mil Coll]

Beautiful rifles. Love the pics you gentlemen posted. I have seen some with rust under the barrel shroud. Something to consider when purchasing an 1888 Commission rifle.

Information

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[jmoore]

Beautiful rifles.

They do have a certain appeal, but have never been able to quite decide why. They've always been more attention getting than Gew 98s in these parts, even if they don't have near the same level of respect.

At bit late, but here's the photo done during the caliper test a few posts back (Post #19):

[baz2112]

Firstly I would like to apologize for my lack of a response so far, crazy week. All the post have been very helpful. My neighbor's rifle is actually a very nice turkish gew88/05 it seems to take a 8x57 mauser round but is going to get it checked to be sure. I have more pics if amy body wants to see them I will post them.
Really wanted to thank everyone for the information you all shared with us.

[jmoore]

Because I just don't know when to let go, here's another brand of calipers that were recently aquired, partially due to the "small hole error" potential. It seems Starrett has a better handle on the situation than Fowler. Only a few "tenths" off, which I reckon is irrelevant for this sort of tool.:

[Claven2]

Yeah, Starett and Mittutoyo both make much better kit than Fowler/NSK for this sort of thing The best solution is a lead slug you can measure on the outer diameter. Takes the guess work out of it.

[gew8805]

The lead slug is the only way to get an accurate bore measurement. You can not measure a bore directly with calipers and expect accurate results - end of story.

[Calif-Steve]

I have been putting together my Gew88. South American import with a near mint Czech barrel. I can barely get a Turk 8mm cartridge into the chamber. The .323 bullet is slightly oversize. I found .318 bullets at Midway and have loaded up 10 rounds. They fit very tightly in the chamber and now I am at a loss. I may have to find a 8mm chamber reamer and try to get the neck to .323 size. These Gew88's are a lot of fun, to say the least.

[Claven2]

Steve: Honestly, I would pick up a turk beater and have your smith swap the barrel back to a German one. Problem solved.

Those CZ barrels were made for a specific ecuadorian loading of the 8x57 that is not worth monkeying about with. Gunbroker has lots of turks with nice tubes but other issues that would make them a great donor to restore and early pattern rifle like yours.

[Midmichigun]

Gents,
As to the barrels and shooting them? I was looking at getting barrels made (small ring mauser pattern I believe) but the cost is high... in relation to the $40.00 on average that I paid for them.

I was also looking at Chinese barrels for their version of the Gew88. But couldn't get any solid information... except, "your gonna die"... type comments. I think Numrich was listing the Barrels for these Gew's a few years ago.

And people do spend money on these fine old rifles... as evidenced by the Folks who were making bolt heads for them...

Eventually I might post my shroud making operation (not sure where to put it), but don't want to jump this thread toooo far!

[Calif-Steve]

There is a market for bolt heads. Finding mint Gew88 barrels is a real effort. Really nice barrels are about but they frequently are Czech barrels. I will try to rent a 8mm reamer and go from there. Shooting .318 bullets isn't a problem. One of my buddies shoots his Gew88 all of the time. it shoots far to the left and seems to be that way. They are fun.