Turk Gew 88 Opportunity

[Dalebert]

Have opportunity to purchase this Turk Gew 88 from a friend.

Steyr 1890
Other than barrel matching receiver, gun is a mix-master.
Bolt is self matching Turk
Metal other than bolt is sort of a rough blue. Almost like Parkerizing.
Bore is bright with good rifling
Side of sight base in marked "7,92"
Stock appears to have been shellaced. Was this ever done by Turks as part of rebuild.
Front site has been replaced. Are these readily available?
Overall a decent gun for being 126 years old.

Curious on what members think a fair value for this is?

Information

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[mtoms]

Paid $125 for mine 3 years ago at a yard sale. Was still full of cosmoline. Excellent bore. Seller didn't know caliber or anything about it. Was shocked how good the bore looked once I cleaned it. Only issue was the headspace was way out with the replacement Czech bolt-but pretty simple to set the barrel back and re-chamber with the sights on the barrel shroud.

[Aragorn243]

They aren't going for $125 anymore. Probably closer to $300

[Dalebert]

Took the sleeve off the barrel today. Sleeve has barely hand tight. So removed it to inspect inside and barrel. No corrosion insider or out. Lots of cosmoline. Didn't seem any reason to remove the cosmoline. Barrel is marked with last two of serial number on receiver and sleeve. So presumably the original barrel?

Slugged barrel and measures about .312/.319 My first attempt at slugging, but again would seem to point to original barrel as I understand the Gew 88s.

I measured the bullets of the various 8mm ammo I have. The factory Remington CoreLokts measured .319 Are these undersized and reduced power so they are safe to shoot in the .318 Gew 88s?

[Eaglelord17]

I am not going to comment if any particular ammo is safe, I would personally recommend reloading if it is a .319 bore. Just something interesting to note, the rear sight has been reground again back to standard numerals. When the Germans sent the Gewehrs 88s to the Ottomans they ground the sights and renumbered it in Arabic numerals, which later on the Turks sometimes ground down again and restamped them with standard numerals.

[Calif-Steve]

All US made 8mm commercial is good to go. Avoid milsurp and all European. Happy hunting.

[Dalebert]

Shot the rifle today with a few Remington rounds I had. This was from 50 yards. I'll take the blame for the vertical dispersion. Happy with the old gun.

[Dalebert]

When I shot my Gew 88 Saturday I had a misfire with a Remington round. Primer struck twice, but no ignition. Pulled the bullet Sunday. Bullen measured .322 at its base.

When I had measured the loaded round at it widest point it was .319 Since my bore measures .319, I think I am with Eaglelord on this. To be on the safe side I will will only fire reloads through this particular rifle. Nice to see it shot the oversize rounds well, but I don't want to risk damage to the rifle or owner.

[Eaglelord17]

Having read about how they were produced doesn't give me too much confidence to be pushing the envelope. They never even proofed the rifles, there 'proofing' test was taking a random rifle on the production line, firing a couple standard power rounds through it and then sending it off. They also had issues with rifles blowing up early on. Some argue if they have survived this long they should be fine, however I personally am not willing to risk my life over some factory ammo.

[mtoms]

I use .321 Speer 32 Winchester bullets and 42 gr of imr 4064 in mine