Hello all,
I thought this would be of interest to those who either own a Gewehr 88 and are not sure how to go about taking her to the range or for those who are simply interested in the whole Gewehr 88 topic with respect to firing 8mm Mauser. Just for you all, I have taken my three Gewehr 88s out to the range with some hand loaded ammo and I have returned alive and unharmed as well as extremely satisfied at firing rifles that are close to 120 years old.
In this report, I will state up front that I was not focusing on achieving tight groups at range, rather seeing if the rifles would chamber and fire 7.92x57mm Mauser hand loads. The shooting was done at 100 yards, free handing the rifles from a sitting position on the firing line.
The ammo specifications:
Bullet: Hornady Interlock 150 gr Spirepoint .323"
Brass: Remington 8mm Mauser cartridges
Powder: IMR4064, 42 grain charge
Primers: Winchester large rifle primers
Loaded onto nickel plated 8mm Mauser charger clips.
I attempted to get as close as possible to the same bullet type and weight as would have been used with these rifles by Germany and Turkey but with a much lighter powder charge.
Bullets were seated into the cartridges with a case over all length ranging from 2.90-2.95. This variance occured because of the reloading press and the bullets themselves.
Gewehr 88 en-bloc clip versus the Gewehr 98 charger clip
The rifles
All three rifles are Gewehr 88/05s. All three were sent to the Turkey but still retain their German barrels and markings. Bores slugged out to ~.311" on the lands and ~.321" on the grooves.
Generally, many of the parts on these rifles are mis-matched German parts that would have been most likely swapped during their lengthy German and Turkish service. However, all three rifles function without incident.
Erfurt 1890
Danzig 1891
Loewe Berlin, 1891
The range
The range used for the test firing had a firing line with targets laid out at 50 yards and 100 yards respectively. The test firing took place at the 100 yard mark free-handing the rifles without supports.
Loading the rifles was interesting as these rifles were originally designed to take the Mannlicher style en-bloc clip but had been modified to take the Gewehr 98 stripper clip. Charging the magazine proved interesting as the magazine lever springs were still quite tight. Care had to be taken as rounds were stacked on top of each other instead of staggered like in the Gewehr 98. This would prove to have an issue later on.
The rounds chambered without problems though it was a bit stiff on the Erfurt. The Loewe was by far the smoothest of the three as far as charging and chambering rounds with the Danzig in close second.
Firing the rifles was certainly both a scary moment and one of anticipation at what would happen. Would the barrel give out despite my best efforts to load a light charge ? What would the recoil be like ? Will the action hold ? These and some other questions were running through my head as I picked up the Erfurt, charged the magazine, locked the bolt down, and took aim at my paper target 100 yards away down range.
It is hard to remember the first shot as it seems to be a bit of a blur in the back of my mind. What I can remember is a bit more kick than normal compared to my Gewehr 98 but the rifles, including the Erfurt, all shot quite well and, although I was free-handing the rifles, they proved to be quite accurate at 100 yards.
All three rifles fired between 15 and 20 rounds each.
Since the bores were slugged out to .321" on the grooves, I expected there to be some more lead fouling in the bore than compared to my Gewehr 98. This proved true. However, three or four patches with Hoppies cleaning solution and a tight fitting patch took care of it and now the bores are clean again on all the rifles. Inspection for any barrel bulges and/or other damage yielded no results.
Issues
There were a few issues to take note of that I wish to inform you all should you take your Gewehr 88 out to the range for a test firing.
1. "Magazine dump". This is the nickname for the issue that arose when firing my Erfurt for the first time. After firing the first shot and retracting the bolt, the pressure of the lever spring, as noted as being quite tight on all three rifles, pushed up on the rounds that were being moved up to be chambered. The cartridge retaining piece located in the left side of the receiver wall was pushed back to chamber round # 2 but could not hold against the pressure of rounds 3, 4, and 5 thus they were flung out of the magazine and out of the action.
I have been thinking about this issue and I believe it is due to the mis-matched magazine, cartridge retainer, and the tightness of the magazine lever spring. Loading fewer rounds in the magazine provided a temporary solution for the Erfurt.
This issue occured once in the Danzig but did not happen at all in the Loewe.
2. Feeding issues. The Erfurt experienced this a few times and it was very consistent on Round # 2 when being chambered. After firing and extracting Round # 1 successfully and attempting to chamber Round # 2, the bolt head would not catch the round perfectly and the bullet would get wedged just outside the chamber. Simply pulling the bolt back and removing the round and loading it later provided a temporary fix for this issue.
The Danzig and Loewe did not experience this issue.
I believe this issue to be caused by the Czech bolt replacement and possibly the magazine.
Well, there you have it ladies and gents. I hope this provides some in sight into the whole controversial issue of firing the Gewehr 88.
I have some videos of the test firings as well as the "Magazine dump" issue. I will be uploading them to youtube soon once my buddy sends me the video files.
I thought this would be of interest to those who either own a Gewehr 88 and are not sure how to go about taking her to the range or for those who are simply interested in the whole Gewehr 88 topic with respect to firing 8mm Mauser. Just for you all, I have taken my three Gewehr 88s out to the range with some hand loaded ammo and I have returned alive and unharmed as well as extremely satisfied at firing rifles that are close to 120 years old.
In this report, I will state up front that I was not focusing on achieving tight groups at range, rather seeing if the rifles would chamber and fire 7.92x57mm Mauser hand loads. The shooting was done at 100 yards, free handing the rifles from a sitting position on the firing line.
The ammo specifications:
Bullet: Hornady Interlock 150 gr Spirepoint .323"
Brass: Remington 8mm Mauser cartridges
Powder: IMR4064, 42 grain charge
Primers: Winchester large rifle primers
Loaded onto nickel plated 8mm Mauser charger clips.
I attempted to get as close as possible to the same bullet type and weight as would have been used with these rifles by Germany and Turkey but with a much lighter powder charge.
Bullets were seated into the cartridges with a case over all length ranging from 2.90-2.95. This variance occured because of the reloading press and the bullets themselves.
Gewehr 88 en-bloc clip versus the Gewehr 98 charger clip
The rifles
All three rifles are Gewehr 88/05s. All three were sent to the Turkey but still retain their German barrels and markings. Bores slugged out to ~.311" on the lands and ~.321" on the grooves.
Generally, many of the parts on these rifles are mis-matched German parts that would have been most likely swapped during their lengthy German and Turkish service. However, all three rifles function without incident.
Erfurt 1890
Danzig 1891
Loewe Berlin, 1891
The range
The range used for the test firing had a firing line with targets laid out at 50 yards and 100 yards respectively. The test firing took place at the 100 yard mark free-handing the rifles without supports.
Loading the rifles was interesting as these rifles were originally designed to take the Mannlicher style en-bloc clip but had been modified to take the Gewehr 98 stripper clip. Charging the magazine proved interesting as the magazine lever springs were still quite tight. Care had to be taken as rounds were stacked on top of each other instead of staggered like in the Gewehr 98. This would prove to have an issue later on.
The rounds chambered without problems though it was a bit stiff on the Erfurt. The Loewe was by far the smoothest of the three as far as charging and chambering rounds with the Danzig in close second.
Firing the rifles was certainly both a scary moment and one of anticipation at what would happen. Would the barrel give out despite my best efforts to load a light charge ? What would the recoil be like ? Will the action hold ? These and some other questions were running through my head as I picked up the Erfurt, charged the magazine, locked the bolt down, and took aim at my paper target 100 yards away down range.
It is hard to remember the first shot as it seems to be a bit of a blur in the back of my mind. What I can remember is a bit more kick than normal compared to my Gewehr 98 but the rifles, including the Erfurt, all shot quite well and, although I was free-handing the rifles, they proved to be quite accurate at 100 yards.
All three rifles fired between 15 and 20 rounds each.
Since the bores were slugged out to .321" on the grooves, I expected there to be some more lead fouling in the bore than compared to my Gewehr 98. This proved true. However, three or four patches with Hoppies cleaning solution and a tight fitting patch took care of it and now the bores are clean again on all the rifles. Inspection for any barrel bulges and/or other damage yielded no results.
Issues
There were a few issues to take note of that I wish to inform you all should you take your Gewehr 88 out to the range for a test firing.
1. "Magazine dump". This is the nickname for the issue that arose when firing my Erfurt for the first time. After firing the first shot and retracting the bolt, the pressure of the lever spring, as noted as being quite tight on all three rifles, pushed up on the rounds that were being moved up to be chambered. The cartridge retaining piece located in the left side of the receiver wall was pushed back to chamber round # 2 but could not hold against the pressure of rounds 3, 4, and 5 thus they were flung out of the magazine and out of the action.
I have been thinking about this issue and I believe it is due to the mis-matched magazine, cartridge retainer, and the tightness of the magazine lever spring. Loading fewer rounds in the magazine provided a temporary solution for the Erfurt.
This issue occured once in the Danzig but did not happen at all in the Loewe.
2. Feeding issues. The Erfurt experienced this a few times and it was very consistent on Round # 2 when being chambered. After firing and extracting Round # 1 successfully and attempting to chamber Round # 2, the bolt head would not catch the round perfectly and the bullet would get wedged just outside the chamber. Simply pulling the bolt back and removing the round and loading it later provided a temporary fix for this issue.
The Danzig and Loewe did not experience this issue.
I believe this issue to be caused by the Czech bolt replacement and possibly the magazine.
Well, there you have it ladies and gents. I hope this provides some in sight into the whole controversial issue of firing the Gewehr 88.
I have some videos of the test firings as well as the "Magazine dump" issue. I will be uploading them to youtube soon once my buddy sends me the video files.
