Hopkins and Allen 1889 Belgian Mauser

[Teku]

This is something I forgot to post when I won it at auction earlier this year (Better late than never)
It is one of the ~12,000 made by Hopkins and Allen during WW1 for the Belgians, and may have been a GI bringback based on the cut in the wood under the barrel band. It needs a little bit of cleaning some of the rust on the buttplate, and at this point I have not attempted to remove the barrel shoud, though that is largely due to how difficult it has been to remove the barrel bands since they are quite stubbornly refusing the budge and the band springs fair little better. Still, with some Kroil and some patients, I will force them into submission eventually.

 

[cj556]

Nice rifle. Any 89 long is a scarce rifle in the US as I’m sure you know. That said despite the rollmark this is one the Marlin Rockwell assembled guns. H&A assembled something like 12,000 rifles in the A & B suffixes, whereas Marlin Rockwell made something to the tune of 119,000 rifles after the former went bankrupt using H&A parts.

 

[OnlyMil]

This is something I forgot to post when I won it at auction earlier this year (Better late than never)
It is one of the ~12,000 made by Hopkins and Allen during WW1 for the Belgians, and may have been a GI bringback based on the cut in the wood under the barrel band. It needs a little bit of cleaning some of the rust on the buttplate, and at this point I have not attempted to remove the barrel shoud, though that is largely due to how difficult it has been to remove the barrel bands since they are quite stubbornly refusing the budge and the band springs fair little better. Still, with some Kroil and some patients, I will force them into submission eventually.

Sorry I missed this thread! Definitely a good find! Just as Marc says they are very uncommon. This one being more matching than not. Looks great! If I'm not mistaken, I think this one has the late wartime or immediately post-WW1 addition of the extra barrel band. I kind of "fell into" owning mine, which has a mysterious history and in nice matching condition. Here's the thread on that rifle which has some good information from the knowledgeable contributors here : An Unissued 1889 Belgian Mauser Timepiece

 

[Teku]

Sorry I missed this thread! Definitely a good find! Just as Marc says they are very uncommon. This one being more matching than not. Looks great! If I'm not mistaken, I think this one has the late wartime or immediately post-WW1 addition of the extra barrel band. I kind of "fell into" owning mine, which has a mysterious history and in nice matching condition. Here's the thread on that rifle which has some good information from the knowledgeable contributors here : An Unissued 1889 Belgian Mauser Timepiece

Very nice. looks like its near mint.

 

[cj556]

Sorry I missed this thread! Definitely a good find! Just as Marc says they are very uncommon. This one being more matching than not. Looks great! If I'm not mistaken, I think this one has the late wartime or immediately post-WW1 addition of the extra barrel band. I kind of "fell into" owning mine, which has a mysterious history and in nice matching condition. Here's the thread on that rifle which has some good information from the knowledgeable contributors here : An Unissued 1889 Belgian Mauser Timepiece

Lovely example Alex. I hope one day we can figure out the story of the I series guns. You are also correct the third band was an interwar addition.