A Swiss Unicorn, a IG 1889/96!

[Eaglelord17]

Hi all,

Just felt I would share my most recent acquisition. It is a Swiss IG 1889/96, 3rd rarest of the Swiss main issued firearms (second rarest being the KG 1900, and first rarest being the K1905). For those that don't know in 1896 the Swiss adopted this rifle as a long term replacement for the 1889 rifles. Basically the main difference being they changed how the bolt locked into the receiver by moving the locking lugs up towards the front of the collar instead of the rear. This bolt system would remain the Swiss standard until they adopted the K31. The reason these are so rare is because approximately out of the 133,000 rifles made only about 1k were not converted to the later 96/11 standard.

So this rifle was never military issued which is why it would have escaped conversion. That being said, it is odd in that its serial number I haven't been able to track down. The rifle has a 'E' suffix to it, which was mainly reserved for their training rifles, but the documented training rifles were only into the low 40s for there serial numbers. I did find a serial number range in the 'E' suffix for G1911s in the 500 range as presentation rifles, so possibly my rifle might have been made as a presentation rifle for someone. Just a guess as I can't find exact documentation so if anyone has a idea I would appreciate it. The other nice thing about this rifle though is it is all matching.

Now for the rifle

Information

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[Aragorn243]

Should have found this two years ago. Guisan could have explained it. I suspect my source material is the same as yours so I got nothing.

[Eaglelord17]

I know, I immediately thought of Guisan, but unfortunately he is passed on. I know he likely would have had a answer, or if he didn't he would be the guy to have figured it out.

[Pierre]

The serial listing in D.R.d.S. is incomplete. They list "Extra-Gewehre" for the 1911's in the E.5XX range. By extrapolation, we might propose that somewhat lower "E." numbers (like E.403) were used similarly for "Extra" 89/96's.

This from an associate.