FluffyCheese480 Posted 29 September Share Posted 29 September Hello! I just purchased my first bolt action rifle, and I am very interested in the various markings located on it. Would anyone be able to help me piece together the story behind it? What symbols mean, which parts are original/replaced, further modifications completed to it? I would also like to eventually know what ammunition it would be able to shoot, but I have read that I will need to get the barrel slugged first. I know very little about these guns, but from my limited research I know this; It was produced in amberg in 1893. It went through 2 regiments (markings on the bands) and was then sent off to the ottoman empire (moon on the bolt, Turkish markings on bolt and sight.) Has the Czech symbol on the bolt as well (circled z) although not sure if the barrel is changed or not? The barrel does not have this symbol. Has the s with a dot indicating it was modified to shoot Spitzer rounds. I can provide more pictures if need be. Any more information would be greatly appreciated, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mk VII Posted 1 October Share Posted 1 October Modified for charger loading, like so many '88s, which makes it a G88/05, and the numerals on the sight have been machined away and replaced with Arabic ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navydoc16 Posted 1 October Share Posted 1 October (edited) I believe it is a Turkish Aid gun, the Germans supplying old 88s to the Turkish during WW1 I came across this souvenir which is now in my collection - German 88 bolt with Turkish markings Of note- plaque is marked MY FRST TURK - 1915 “FRST” which is how you phonetically sounds out the word “FIRST”, showing the literacy levels of some of these early troops Kind regards g Edited 1 October by navydoc16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FluffyCheese480 Posted 1 October Author Share Posted 1 October 2 hours ago, Mk VII said: Modified for charger loading, like so many '88s, which makes it a G88/05, and the numerals on the sight have been machined away and replaced with Arabic ones. Thanks for the info! Do you know if the barrel is still a German one? I know it isn't the original because of the very gradual taper, but is it the modified one for the new rounds as well? 1 hour ago, navydoc16 said: I believe it is a Turkish Aid gun, the Germans supplying old 88s to the Turkish during WW1 I came across this souvenir which is now in my collection - German 88 bolt with Turkish markings Of note- plaque is marked MY FRST TURK - 1915 “FRST” which is how you phonetically sounds out the word “FIRST”, showing the literacy levels of some of these early troops Kind regards g Thanks for the reply! That is pretty cool, where did you find that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mk VII Posted 1 October Share Posted 1 October It may be original but many have been replaced over the years. Not desirable to have the old .318 bore. I found the jacket unscrewed readily, which seems alarming as you are dependent on it screwing back into the same place to have the front sight end up perpendicular. Try cast bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FluffyCheese480 Posted 1 October Author Share Posted 1 October 35 minutes ago, Mk VII said: It may be original but many have been replaced over the years. Not desirable to have the old .318 bore. I found the jacket unscrewed readily, which seems alarming as you are dependent on it screwing back into the same place to have the front sight end up perpendicular. Try cast bullets. I'll check them out, thanks, I appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyBsk Posted 2 October Share Posted 2 October (edited) Looks like have a Gew88/05 visible on riveted ramps on receiver for a Mauser clip, so mostly used with 8x57JS cartridge,originally the rifle served by 21Reserve Inf.Regiment then striked out, when the serials are matching on rings and rennumbered to 73.Res.Inf.Regt, in late war 1917/8 it was sent to Turkey as ally help from Germany, the sight were removed old german distances and add new one in arabic eastern nummerals, the bolt is postwar made in Czechoslovak Armory Brno for Turkey, the number is 70901 on bolt handle, the other parts are unfortunally missmatch. Same as the other parts of rifle are probably missmatches. Edited 2 October by AndyBsk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FluffyCheese480 Posted 2 October Author Share Posted 2 October 7 hours ago, AndyBsk said: Looks like have a Gew88/05 visible on riveted ramps on receiver for a Mauser clip, so mostly used with 8x57JS cartridge,originally the rifle served by 21Reserve Inf.Regiment then striked out, when the serials are matching on rings and rennumbered to 73.Res.Inf.Regt, in late war 1917/8 it was sent to Turkey as ally help from Germany, the sight were removed old german distances and add new one in arabic eastern nummerals, the bolt is postwar made in Czechoslovak Armory Brno for Turkey, the number is 70901 on bolt handle, the other parts are unfortunally missmatch. Same as the other parts of rifle are probably missmatches. Thanks for the info, this is exactly I was looking for! I have also read that the Star imprint is bulgarian, meaning that is somehow ended up over there as well, or they made some modifications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyBsk Posted 2 October Share Posted 2 October I dont known where You found the star marking, but when this gun would be bulgarian it would be not went to Turkey. Question is german sent to Bulgaria the G88/05 guns? more real the standards G88 as majority of them were sent to Austro Ugria too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FluffyCheese480 Posted 2 October Author Share Posted 2 October 43 minutes ago, AndyBsk said: I dont known where You found the star marking, but when this gun would be bulgarian it would be not went to Turkey. Question is german sent to Bulgaria the G88/05 guns? more real the standards G88 as majority of them were sent to Austro Ugria too. It is on the 6th picture, here is a more zoomed in version. To be honest I am not sure, I just read from the Wikipedia page for the gewehr 88 that the "Bulgarian star" is a known symbol appreaing on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyBsk Posted 2 October Share Posted 2 October I dont believe that is bulgarian and not from period prior 1945. Could be refurbishment stamp as the gun went per multiple refurbishments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FluffyCheese480 Posted 2 October Author Share Posted 2 October 1 hour ago, AndyBsk said: I dont believe that is bulgarian and not from period prior 1945. Could be refurbishment stamp as the gun went per multiple refurbishments. I see, thanks for the information! I'll try and look a bit more to see if I can find anything else about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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