What exactly do I have here? Rook rifle?

These proof marks were in use between 1891 and 1939. They are confusing, to say the least. According to my tables. the 129.43 figure refers to the gauge of the gun, IOW, the number of lead balls that weigh one pound. This corresponds to a bore of 8.38mm. The 0.5 GRM is the actual weight of the charge of NGP m/71 powder. The letters stand for Neues Gewehr Pulver m/71 - an early form of smokeless powder designed for the m/71 service rifle. The comparatively low charge - 7.71618gr - is indicative of what we would all today a 'rook rifle'. The 6gr Bl is the weight of the lead bullet - 92.6gr. DR Patente = Deutsches Reichs Patente.

It appears to be pretty lightly constructed as a basic model. Would I be right in thinking that the forward 'trigger' is the opening catch for the action?
 
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tacfoley said:
These proof marks were in use between 1891 and 1939. They are confusing, to say the least. According to my tables. the 129.43 figure refers to the gauge of the gun, IOW, the number of lead balls that weigh one pound. This corresponds to a bore of 8.38mm. The 0.5 GRM is the actual weight of the charge of NGP m/71 powder. The letters stand for Neues Gewehr Pulver m/71 - an early form of smokeless powder designed for the m/71 service rifle. The comparatively low charge - 7.71618gr - is indicative of what we would all today a 'rook rifle'. The 6gr Bl is the weight of the lead bullet - 92.6gr. DR Patante = Deusches Reichs Patente.

It appears to be pretty lightly constructed as a basic model. Would I be right in thinking that the forward 'trigger' is the opening catch for the action?
Click to expand...

Thanks--I assumed those numbers had to do with bullet weights and charge.

The lever forward of the trigger guard opens the tip-up action. It's finicky. There's an extractor that seems to work OK. But the triggers don't do anything; they're sprung, but won't actually trigger the firing mechanism, so I'd guess parts are missing internally.

I'd really like to turn this rifle into something shootable. I think the older fella who had it, probably got it super cheap as it was broken; on the right sideplate, there's a pin that's half-driven in. My guess is it came in disassembled and he tried to fix it, but as he was hamfisted and half-blind, he couldn't (he ruined my 10 gauge double years ago, I'm not bitter a bit :) ). He also had a lot of decent home gunsmithing machinery. My guess is that he intended to re-line the barrel to .22 lr, but ran out of steam.
 
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