Barn Find Gewehr 88

zperkey2003

zperkey2003

Well-known member
Update on my recent Gewehr 88 purchase. Now that I have it in hand, I can better assess its condition and I’d say it’s definitely a barn/attic find. Very rusty, but very nice bluing underneath, almost all latching minus one screw. Unmolested stock, with original cartouches present and deep. Bore has yet to be determined but I think it would be relatively safe to say this was brought home by somebody and put away and left for some time. Excited for the project!

https://imgur.com/a/2Q6gY5v
 
WW1 depot rework. Nice! The bolt matches and the stock was replaced at some point at a depot. Anything on the buttplate?

The stock came off an S conversion. The S conversions were a wartime variant that were modified to shoot S. Patrone on en bloc clips. There's a couple in the reference section .. On your example, the crown/S on the stock (an indicator of an S rifle) was X'ed out to prevent any confusion.

Don't do anything crazy other than maybe cleaning it with brass carefully. Don't touch the wood. It's a nice untouched bring back. Matching 88s are not common; particularly ones with WW1 provenance.
 
Should be looked at sights for distances, but there is a cover on magazine bottom, which would be more accurate by rifles converted to Mauser clips.
 
AndyB said:
Should be looked at sights for distances, but there is a cover on magazine bottom, which would be more accurate by rifles converted to Mauser clips.
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S conversions and many standard 88s also got dustcovers during the war to protect the bottom of the magazine ;though slightly different than the 88/05 ones. The covers for rifles that still used enbloc clips had a spring ejector added.

The 88/05 covers don't have a spring and won't function correctly on a Enbloc fed rifle.

Photoroom-20250327_223822_15.jpg
88 or 88S -Enbloc fed rifles

Photoroom-20241219_073439_15.jpg
88/05- stripper clip fed rifles
 
chrisftk said:
WW1 depot rework. Nice! The bolt matches and the stock was replaced at some point at a depot. Anything on the buttplate?

The stock came off an S conversion. The S conversions were a wartime variant that were modified to shoot S. Patrone on en bloc clips. There's a couple in the reference section .. On your example, the crown/S on the stock (an indicator of an S rifle) was X'ed out to prevent any confusion.

Don't do anything crazy other than maybe cleaning it with brass carefully. Don't touch the wood. It's a nice untouched bring back. Matching 88s are not common; particularly ones with WW1 provenance.
Click to expand...

Good info !! On the S stock , SOME were converted BACK to a standard Gew-88 by replacing the rear sight . Then the stock S was canceled . So it needs to be checked as it could be the original stock . The bore should be the standard .311 - .3208 as there is no Z stamp and the rifle does look to be a WWI bring back . Poor old andy has more incorrect info , as brought up before he should gather more info from here on Gew-88 rifle .
 
Very cool rifle. Any unit markings by chance? They could be interesting. Also when you get time show a picture of the butt plate as well. Awesome piece.
 
ernie8 said:
Good info !! On the S stock , SOME were converted BACK to a standard Gew-88 by replacing the rear sight . Then the stock S was canceled . So it needs to be checked as it could be the original stock . The bore should be the standard .311 - .3208 as there is no Z stamp and the rifle does look to be a WWI bring back . Poor old andy has more incorrect info , as brought up before he should gather more info from here on Gew-88 rifle .
Click to expand...
I did remove the stock and it is serialized to the rifle.
 
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