Turkish 88/05/35

[Eaglelord17]

Hi all,

Felt I would share with you all a underappreciated milsurp which there isn't really much discussion or information on. It is a Turkish 88/05/35. These were a conversion of Commission 88/05 Rifles to be more like a standard Turkish M38 rifle. To me this conversion was likely a large waste of resources, but it is interesting how far the Turks would go to keep rifles going. Many reused and recycled parts on these guns, and some somewhat ingenious solutions to problems.




Note the rack number 18 on the stock as well as the stock disk which is essentially useless on these rifles

New markings on the receiver, the original markings were scrubbed (I believe this was originally a Danzig receiver based on what little remains

Originally would have said Gew 88 on it, now a serial number

Barrel band off some other rifle, note the hole in it which there is no accommodation for on the Turkish stock retaining band



Front action screw, it was originally longer until cut down by the Turks, note the retaining screw added which to me is a dumb feature (as 70 years later it doesn't rotate anymore)



Inletting of the stock around the receiver


Top view of the stock

Side view of the stock, note they would have had to do custom inletting to make the 88/05/35 stocks as M38 stocks would have had double stacked magazines


Reused stock reinforcing nut as it has the Imperial German acceptance stamp on it


New Turkish barrel


Side view of the new thread cover/handguard retainer/cleaning rod retainer/magazine retainer. They would have manufactured this part to cover the external threads which the barrel jacket screwed into and hold the new handguard on. They reused the magazine attachment point from the original barrel jacket, and drilled and tapped it sideways to allow the cleaning rod to thread into it. To accommodate this they cut down the length of the front action screw.


Showing the crude manufacturing marks as well as the clear line in the receiver where the barrel jacket would have previously screwed in.

Overall it is a neat rifle, if crude. But just because it was crude doesn't mean it didn't work. A other interesting note is the rifle is now longer than it originally was, which is a accomplishment.

As a side note does anyone know what bayonet should fit on it? I have tried my Commission 88 bayonet, and a cutdown German 98/05 bayonet, but both didn't fit.

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