Gew 88's anyone?

Claven2

Claven2

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I had a beautiful (virtually unissued) Steyr made Gew88/05 a number of years ago that for some reason I sold and regretted it. (bottom rifle in below picture):

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This week, I've sort of corrected that mistake and picked up this rather nice Loewe Berlin Gew88/05 made in 1891.

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This one's a pretty nice example, matching except for the czech-made bolt (matching to itself) that would have been added to this rifle in Turkey. Stock is lightly sanded in turkish service, but not very much and the stock cartouches are all still visible. Hasn;t been through a turk reblue, which is nice, and all the other parts still match, even the action screws.

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I am missing a cleaning rod, but have one on the way so that's sorted, along with a sling.

I know there must be a number of Gew88 owners or enthusiasts on here, given how many of these came into Canada back in the early 1990s. Let's see what other people have stashed away?

Would love to see some nice original pattern 88's, maybe even an 88/14?
 
I've had three 88/05's but ended up selling all three. They were not as nearly as good of condition as yours pictured here. I should have kept them, they have a quite long and interesting history.
 
The_Gun_Boy said:
I've had three 88/05's but ended up selling all three. They were not as nearly as good of condition as yours pictured here. I should have kept them, they have a quite long and interesting history.
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In the early years of ww1, as many 88’s were in service as g98’s. They are an iconic ww1 rifle and still a bargain compared to a nice gew 98.
 
Nice clean example you have there. One of my first milsurp purchases back in the stone age was an 88 from International Firearms, the first of a flood of purchases from them lol.
I still have this rifle although many of my other purchases I foolishly sold off. I handload for this rifle primarily with .321 dia 170 gr bullets and cast as well in the same weight range. It is a very nice shooting rifle. I might post a pic or two but be warned that a naive 18 year old lightly sanded the stock for some reason.
I also had a 88/05/35 in absolutely gorgeous condition that I deeply regret selling off a number of years ago.
 
Ive had this rifle for many years and it is still one of my favourite milsurps. A lot of fun to shoot and over the years I have put a lot of rounds through this old gal. Started out using surplus German and Yugoslavian military ammo before I switched over to more moderate handloads, a lot easier on the rifle and myself.
Almost sold this rifle a couple times and I'm actually very happy I didn't.20250302_145259.jpg20250302_150332.jpg20250302_145614.jpg20250302_150720.jpg20250302_145821.jpg20250302_151516.jpg
 
Here is my two Gewehr 88s. One is a 88/05 made in 1891 by Loewe that went to Turkey and the other is a export 1888 made by Steyr in 1894 and went to Ecuador. I got the export model when a batch came in about 8 or so years ago, they were all in pretty rough shape. If I remember correctly that was when a bunch of 1888 Mannlichers also came in, likely from the same source. The export model is interesting in that it has none of the later updates made by the Germans (original cocking piece, non-'S' modified, etc.) and it has a modified sling swivel. The sling swivel is often mistaken for a Austro-Hungarian M13, however the Equadorians used a different size of sling (not nearly as wide) and as such have smaller loops attached on.

The story on the Steyr made rifles is interesting. Basically Steyr took the Germans to court because they infringed on their patents for the Mannlicher clip and the court ruled in their favour. As a result Steyr became the only manufacturer allowed to make these rifles for export and gained the licence and prints to manufacture the rifle. Steyr also continued to develop the design and make improvements. The 1893 Mannlicher as adopted by Romania, 1895 Mannlichers as adopted by the Dutch, 1896 Mannlicher as adopted by Portugal, the 1904 export model rifles and the famous Mannlicher-Schoenauer rifles (militarily used by Greece but also extremely popular sporting rifles). Possibly missing a few variants in there but you get the point.

The 88/05 is also tons of fun to shoot with nice .321 dia winchester .32 special bullets, it is a very smooth action.

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88/05 on top with Turkish converted bayonet, 88 on bottom
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A view of the sideways mounted bayonet
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Receiver markings
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Early cocking piece without the gas redirecting flange and the later much more common cocking piece with the gas redirecting flange. The Gewehr 88 wasn't the only rifle to do this modification, The Lebel rifle also had a similar modification done to the bolt.
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Regimental marking on the 88/05 rifle
 
Claven2 said:
Nice examples. Does the ecuadorian 88 have a .318 barrel or .321? Fired it yet?
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I haven’t shot it yet. The repro clips I have require some fitting to function when loaded with ammo (ears are too large and press against the sides).

I also haven’t slugged it. Bore should be .321 as far as I am aware the only .318 barrels were czech made replacements but if I do decide to shoot it I will check. That rifle clearly has gotten a lot of use. It is rough feeling in comparison to my 88/05.

For those unaware there is 3 bore sizes you can find on a Gewehr 88. .318 (czech replacement barrels), .3215 (original diameter), and .323 (Turkish 88/05/35 barrels). It is always good to double check by slugging it, these rifles aren’t exactly built to the highest safety margins as the designers didn’t understand the pressures involved with smokeless powder fully.
 
Also, generally, you can fire 154gn service ammo out of any S bore with a .321” tube - the Germans and Turks did it regularly, but not ww2 era 198gn .323” load. For most ppl reloading is the solution. Or use commercial us made ammo. It’s designed to not blow up an 88. I would likely not fire hotter ppu.
 
.321 diameter .32 winchester special bullets work really well in them for reloading, plus are relatively cheap bullets.

That 88/05 is one of my favourite firearms to shoot, just a joy to work that action.
 
Eaglelord17 said:
.321 diameter .32 winchester special bullets work really well in them for reloading, plus are relatively cheap bullets.

That 88/05 is one of my favourite firearms to shoot, just a joy to work that action.
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Pretty neat pair of old warhorses there, Ive never actually had my hands on an unaltered straight 88, nice to see pics of your example. I can attest to the repro clips being a bit quirky to allow for good smooth.feeding. I bought a few from Corwin awhile back for use in an Irish Mannlicher, I got one working ok but it took a fair bit of tinkering and a few curse words to do it.
 
Some beautiful Gew 88s on this thread so far, one of my favourite milsurps. I have an 1889 marked Steyr Gew 88.05 that is a very early Steyr made production for Germany (no suffix letter) and she has her matching unit markings and numbers albeit the bolt is a Czech replacement and the rear sight does not match the rifle. The one item that caught my eye when I got her was the very early " G. Mod 88" stamp on the left receiver wall that was only done for a very short time in 1889 before they switched to "Gew. 88".

I can post some pictures on the weekend for everyone to enjoy.
 
bjmurata said:
Ive had this rifle for many years and it is still one of my favourite milsurps. A lot of fun to shoot and over the years I have put a lot of rounds through this old gal. Started out using surplus German and Yugoslavian military ammo before I switched over to more moderate handloads, a lot easier on the rifle and myself.
Almost sold this rifle a couple times and I'm actually very happy I didn't.View attachment 912962
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I had a look at this unit marking, I believe it is from the 27th (2nd Magdeburg) Infantry "Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, reserve regiment, 16th company, weapon number (Hard to read). This regiment was based in Halberstadt and attached to the IV Army Corps.

Eaglelord17 said:
Here is my two Gewehr 88s. One is a 88/05 made in 1891 by Loewe that went to Turkey and the other is a export 1888 made by Steyr in 1894 and went to Ecuador. I got the export model when a batch came in about 8 or so years ago, they were all in pretty rough shape. If I remember correctly that was when a bunch of 1888 Mannlichers also came in, likely from the same source. The export model is interesting in that it has none of the later updates made by the Germans (original cocking piece, non-'S' modified, etc.) and it has a modified sling swivel. The sling swivel is often mistaken for a Austro-Hungarian M13, however the Equadorians used a different size of sling (not nearly as wide) and as such have smaller loops attached on.

The story on the Steyr made rifles is interesting. Basically Steyr took the Germans to court because they infringed on their patents for the Mannlicher clip and the court ruled in their favour. As a result Steyr became the only manufacturer allowed to make these rifles for export and gained the licence and prints to manufacture the rifle. Steyr also continued to develop the design and make improvements. The 1893 Mannlicher as adopted by Romania, 1895 Mannlichers as adopted by the Dutch, 1896 Mannlicher as adopted by Portugal, the 1904 export model rifles and the famous Mannlicher-Schoenauer rifles (militarily used by Greece but also extremely popular sporting rifles). Possibly missing a few variants in there but you get the point.

The 88/05 is also tons of fun to shoot with nice .321 dia winchester .32 special bullets, it is a very smooth action.

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Regimental marking on the 88/05 rifle
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I believe this particular unit marking is related to the 63rd (4th Upper Silesian) Infantry, 1st company, weapon number 170. They were based in Oppeln and Lublinitz and were attached to the VI Army Corps.
 
Claven2 said:
Also, generally, you can fire 154gn service ammo out of any S bore with a .321” tube - the Germans and Turks did it regularly, but not ww2 era 198gn .323” load. For most ppl reloading is the solution. Or use commercial us made ammo. It’s designed to not blow up an 88. I would likely not fire hotter ppu.
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A young gentleman shooting milsurp ammo out of his 88/05 at our MIlsurp Match at MILCUN, won the iron sight division.
 
R005t3r said:
A young gentleman shooting milsurp ammo out of his 88/05 at our MIlsurp Match at MILCUN, won the iron sight division.
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Speaking of which, there will be milsurp matches again this season at MILCUN. Great ranges, great shooting, great shooters.
 
R005t3r said:
A young gentleman shooting milsurp ammo out of his 88/05 at our MIlsurp Match at MILCUN, won the iron sight division.
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I was at that shoot with my M1 Garand. That gent with the 88/05 did incredibly well!

Truly an excellent marksman.

I'm hoping to make it to another milcun milsurp shoot this year.
 
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