1914/16 Early Spandau Sterngewehr 8655 (no suffix)

Hi guys,

I picked this one up fairly local to me. I thought it was a neat rifle for demonstrating a bit more about how the "Spandau" sterngewehr program got up and running. It appears that in early production, salvaged receivers saw use before pivoting later to ordnance spares. This is not dissimilar to Dresden, which was known to do the same. In this case the salvaged component is a 1914 Spandau receiver. If you look closely you'll see two pieces of evidence that this was not an ordnance spare. First, there are the full set of acceptance stamps on the right side, evidencing that it was on a fully assembled rifle at one point; the second set of acceptance underneath indicates that this was a subsequent assembly (much like the 15 VCS start-up I posted a while back). Secondly, you can see evidence of a prior SN (I see a "3") under the existing SN. It appears that they did not worry about the actual year of rebuild (again, similar to the VCS from a while back) Here is another very similar rifle (close proximity to mine too) posted a while back by @learjet . Finding this one was a nice confirmation to his; the only two like it that I personally recall seeing. I'm calling this 1916 production because the acceptance screams it and that's when we have seen most Spandau stern production.

This rifle also has at least one, maybe two trips to Koblenz under its belt. (Note the "5" on both the buttplate and the stock wrist) The rifle has a matching bolt body, stock, triggerguard/floorplate and some smalls. The bands, handguard, follower, and striker assembly are m/m. In my experience, Koblenz generally didnt really sweat the renumbering of small parts like bands. When I received the rifle, it had a k98k handguard and striker assembly. I replaced those with an armorer's striker and a walnut Gew98 guard.

There is some old, bonehead cleaning on some of the metal, and there is some bluing loss under the wood (maybe moisture or some idiot using vinegar), but overall, it presents nicely and is a cool "niche" gewehr.

Receiver SN: 8655
Barrel SN: 8655 (Kr 213)
Front sight SN: 55
Rear sight SN: not visible
Sight Slider SN: 55
Ejector box SN: 55
Trigger Sear SN: 55
Front barrel band SN: m/m
Rear barrel band SN: m/m
Trigger guard SN: 8655
Trigger guard screws SN: m/m, 55
Floor Plate SN: 55
Follower SN: m/m
Stock SN: 8655
Handguard SN: m/m
Buttplate SN: 8655
Bayonet lug SN: 55
Bolt body SN: 8655
Extractor SN: blank
Safety SN: armorer
Cocking piece SN: armorer
Bolt sleeve SN: armorer
Firing pin SN: armorer

More pics:

That's a keeper Chris with an interesting history. Another great pickup!

Very interesting early Spandau Stern, Chris. Judging from the wrist acceptance, c/Z, i think there is a slight possibility it was assembled in 1915 (same year as the Schilling and Danzig salvages) because c/Z was common for standard rifle production around that time. However, looking at serial numbers, it's more likely that it was made in 1916, since 8655 is not far from the reported sterngewehre that use Spandau 1916 receivers, and also feature c/Z at the wrist. Like so many questions, we need more examples to say anything definitive. But it's so helpful to have another well documented Spandau with a salvaged receiver. And a nice score overall! i added it to the reference.

That's a very interesting Spandau stern, congrats on picking this one up! It's crazy to me to think about how much effort went in to keeping this rifle in service, 2 trips to Koblenz and a trip to Spandau. Hard to imagine what it might have seen to warrant that treatment.

Sweet Sterns Chris! I am into it

Ha I was watching this one on GunBroker. I am happy you got this one Chris. It's a great looking Spandau sterngewehr.

feldmütze said:

That's a keeper Chris with an interesting history. Another great pickup!

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Thanks Mike! I've been extra lucky with sterngewehre. They are a neat sub specialty; lots of little quirks.

PrayingMantis said:

Very interesting early Spandau Stern, Chris. Judging from the wrist acceptance, c/Z, i think there is a slight possibility it was assembled in 1915 (same year as the Schilling and Danzig salvages) because c/Z was common for standard rifle production around that time. However, looking at serial numbers, it's more likely that it was made in 1916, since 8655 is not far from the reported sterngewehre that use Spandau 1916 receivers, and also feature c/Z at the wrist. Like so many questions, we need more examples to say anything definitive. But it's so helpful to have another well documented Spandau with a salvaged receiver. And a nice score overall! i added it to the reference.

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Thanks Cyrus, as you know it was a little bit of a gamble and photos on the listing sucked.

I'm inclined to agree it's almost certainly a 1916 build, as I'd find it hard to believe they cranked out almost 9k of these in 1915. I guess the bigger question is whether the salvages were used exclusively early on, or if they were intermixed with leftover spares, and later new production ones. I don't seem to have a non-salvage this early in my records, do you?

MichaelWC said:

Ha I was watching this one on GunBroker. I am happy you got this one Chris. It's a great looking Spandau sterngewehr.

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Yeah the first couple times it was listed I thought it was too much given the bad photos and rough metal. Once they lowered it a good bit though, I thought it was good to take a chance on. I'm glad I did.

Awesome Stern Chris. A 1914 rifle is hard enough, but a Stern too? Double hitter... Can't imagine what that receiver has been through. Betting it had multiple users...

OnlyMil said:

Awesome Stern Chris. A 1914 rifle is hard enough, but a Stern too? Double hitter... Can't imagine what that receiver has been through. Betting it had multiple users...

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Thanks man, I think the only thing 1914 about this one is the receiver, but neat to see a recycled piece.