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Winning Bid US $263 First bid $200 Quantity 1 # of bids 4 Time left Auction has ended   Started 2025-02-11 00:00:00 Ended 2025-02-28 22:59:51

Spandau, Model: Gew 1888, Cal: 7.92x57mm J (8mm Mauser J), MFG: 1895, S/N: 7953, bolt action rifle, 29 3/8'' barrel. The straight wrist walnut stock is good. Has numerus small nicks, dings, chips, & scratches. The bottom of the wrist & the belly of the stock are marked with a small, faded crown proof. The right cheek of stock is marked with three faded cartouches, & the hand etched letters ''MP''. Small gouge in the wood on left side of the stock, by the recoil lug. The forend has seem to shrunk with the front barrel band not fully enclosing the end piece. The metal has mostly worn gray with spattering's of rust brown patina. The barrel jacket has a few small dents. The left side of the receiver is marked with the S/N, ''GEW.88'', ''n.m.''. The top of the receiver band is marked ''S'' with a punch mark above it, German crown, ''SPANDAU'', ''1895''. Right side of the receiver band is marked with three imperial German proofs. The left side of the barrel jacket is marked with the S/N, with a punch mark under it. Left side of the front barrel band is marked ''53'', ''2.G.R.8.61.''. Rear barrel band is marked ''53'', & a proof. The barrel bands, trigger guard/magazine, & rear sight & barrel jacket are S/N matching. Bolt marked ''2238'', all bolt has one mis matched part. The bore is very good. Its bright with very light roughness. The barrel jacket carries a barleycorn front sight with a flip up ladder, V-notch rear sight. Ladder marked 5 to 18, with a 20.5 notch on the top support. The stock carries a bare steel buttplate, has small spots of rust. Rifle has both sling loops. Rifle is missing cleaning rod. Antique, no FFL Req.



HISTORY: The Gew 1888 was Germany first smokeless powder rifle. It was a rushed response to the French inventing smokeless powder & using it in their new Lebel 1886 rifle. Instead of having a rifle designed by one person or company like their last two rifles, this one was designed by the German Gewehr prfungs kommission (GPK- rifle testing commission). That's where it got its nickname of Commission rifle. The GPK would start by trying to adapt the then new GEW 71/84 to use a new small bore smokeless cartridge. Thinks kept progressing & soon they started to make changes of their own & adding work from many different people. The bolt was the 71/84 bolt revised by Louis Schlegelmich, he made the bolt have a separate bolt face & front locking lugs. They took the clip & feeding design from Mannlicher, updated to feed either clip end. The barrel jacket design came from Armand Mieg, it mostly free-floated the barrel & protected it from dings. They copied the rifling from the lebel rifle. The new cartridge was a modified Swiss style rimless design with a jacketed bullet, based on Eduard Rubin ideas. Designs would start in December of 1887, & it would be adopted in November 1888, a really fast turn around. MARKINGS: The ''S'' above the chamber indicates its been reamed out for the 8mm Spitzer Cartridge, done around 1905. the punch mark above the ''S'' indicates it has improved barrel reinforcement where it screws into the receiver. The punch mark under the S/N on the jacket, indicates the wide part of the jacker the ''cup'' was soldered to the jacket with brass instead of lead, making it stronger. The ''n.m.'' marking under ''Gew.88'' means the barrel was made with ''new metal'', stronger steel with higher carbon content. The unit marking on the front barrel band means 2nd regiment of grenadiers, company 8, Rifle No.61.

SAFETY NOTE: the Gew 88 was designed for the older ''Geschos88'' .318'' sized bullet (8mm J), the later spitzer & now standard S-patronen, has a .323'' sized bullet (8mm JS). These rifles did have their chamber modified to take the spizer bullet, & were used in wartime with it, but was made as a stop gap, not a main arm. With these rifles being well over 100 years old it is advised if you do want to shoot them, to use 8mm J ammo, or better yet hand downloaded ammo with cast lead bullets. Antique No FFL Req. - Value: 400 to 800

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Price

Spandau, Model: Gew 1888, Cal: 7.92x57mm J (8mm Mauser J), MFG: ... Item # 4381 This auction is over. No new bids can be placed. Price: US $263

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