See the thread JAK. Limpopo. Plains game
Identify this rifle
- Thread starter sh1kar
- Start date
Rhodesianjess
Well-Known Member
@sh1kar ,bit late to the party I'm afraid.
I'd have got the Mauser but calibre not a clue. Lovely old girl though, love the raised stock shape forend. Checkering on pistol grip nicely worn too,not abused just worked hard. Unusual set triggers too, only ever seen them on an ex military rifle presumably for sniper use as it was scoped with high turret mounts.
Enjoy your time out there, shoot quick and shoot straight.
I'd have got the Mauser but calibre not a clue. Lovely old girl though, love the raised stock shape forend. Checkering on pistol grip nicely worn too,not abused just worked hard. Unusual set triggers too, only ever seen them on an ex military rifle presumably for sniper use as it was scoped with high turret mounts.
Enjoy your time out there, shoot quick and shoot straight.
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
Military, not type B - they had the pear shaped bolt handles
In America this might be described as a "guild rifle" as in a rifle made by a small single handed German gunsmith of whatever name rather than a rifle made by a large sporting arms manufacturer. Rifles of this time may have been in the old 7.9mm Mauser of .318" diameter known as the 8x57J rather than the later .323 8mm Mauser that introduced the pointed spitzer bullet. 18 grams is 275 grains which would be a bullet used in the 9.3x62 cartridge.
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
I could happily sell all my scoped rifles and use this rifle. It’s simple, and stalk close enough, it’s all you need.
It's all a bit weird - but I think 7.8mm was perhaps the nominal proof bore of the old 8x57I (or J) cartridge (for the .318" bullet). In a similar way, I guess 8.8mm is the nominal proof bore for 9x57 - which is meant to take a 0.356" bullet - which the proof-mark seems to suggest was an 18g steel-jacketed one.
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
To add, but fitted with commercial oberndorf bottom metal and double set trigger. Very typical German or ferlach style build for the export market to Africa. Given the original mag box length, likely indeed 9.3x57. If so, highly unlikely it’s .318 bore, but possible. I had a commercial .318 J bore oberndorf with a .318 bore from the ‘40’s that was made to accommodate both .323 and .318 bullets alike - which was done to allow the use of older .318 ammo, and also circumvent the post war ban on .323 8x57 via the Versailles Treaty, also causing the rise in 8x60 chambered German rifles….i think…Military, not type B - they had the pear shaped bolt handles
Gentleman, do please temper your enthusiasm for said fowling piece and remember all you need for success is anything in a Creedmoor chambering!
K
K
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
With Conetrol scope rings obviously!
German script is a nightmare. I wonder if it's more likely to be EIR, in fact?
As an aside: why have the owner's initials on twice, and where you can't see them? I wonder whether it is the mark of whoever did the initial sporterisation (if it was a military rifle orginally) and the subsequent rebore to 8.8/9mm - hence it's being there twice?
Lancashire1
Well-Known Member
Excuse my ignorance but why does it have 2 triggers?
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
Double set triggers. Either one (heavy) works, or you can set that same trigger by pulling the rear trigger - by doing so you raise the trigger sear into a slot that makes the interception of the front trigger very fine - so much that when you just touch the front blade, it fires.
They’re marmite. Personally I’ve used them on oberndorf mausers and still prefer single blade trigger. For a bush rifle or DG rifle - downright dangerous if you get charged and you’re pulling at the wrong trigger, doing nothing at all
Lancashire1
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the reply.
I don't like the idea of that at all
Its a Comercial special Afrika Mauser, this one made late 1908 or early 1909.
Most where made in 8x57 as the machinery just spat barrels out in great numbers, the barrels where then taken to the civilian part of the factory where they where finished to higher standards than the millitary ones.
If it was to be send to the German colonies, the caliber had to be changed as they did not allow 8x57 to be imported for civilian use.
Most rifels for the colonies where changed to 9x57 (based on old M88 8x57, not the same as 9,3x57 based on 8x57IS). But many other calibers also existed from 6,5x54MS up to 10,75x68.
The caliber change was very common, and done by many gunsmiths in Germany, who then often engraved the rifels in more or less degree.
An orginal Afrika Mauser without engravings and in orginal caliber 8x57 is rare.
The sights set for "Stahl mantel geshoss" (stell jacket bullet) 18grams. It will be a flip sight, for short and long distance, and many barrels where long (64-66cm)
Around this time (1908-1909) the 9,3x62 in cheap rechamberd military Mausers was coming in fast, and taking over the civilian market in the German colonies.
Most where made in 8x57 as the machinery just spat barrels out in great numbers, the barrels where then taken to the civilian part of the factory where they where finished to higher standards than the millitary ones.
If it was to be send to the German colonies, the caliber had to be changed as they did not allow 8x57 to be imported for civilian use.
Most rifels for the colonies where changed to 9x57 (based on old M88 8x57, not the same as 9,3x57 based on 8x57IS). But many other calibers also existed from 6,5x54MS up to 10,75x68.
The caliber change was very common, and done by many gunsmiths in Germany, who then often engraved the rifels in more or less degree.
An orginal Afrika Mauser without engravings and in orginal caliber 8x57 is rare.
The sights set for "Stahl mantel geshoss" (stell jacket bullet) 18grams. It will be a flip sight, for short and long distance, and many barrels where long (64-66cm)
Around this time (1908-1909) the 9,3x62 in cheap rechamberd military Mausers was coming in fast, and taking over the civilian market in the German colonies.
Interesting. The way I was taught to think about this arrangement was that in fact only the front one is the trigger - meaning that if you squeeze it the rifle will go off. It characteristically takes a very hard squeeze unless the set mechanism has been first cocked by pulling back the rear 'trigger', in which case it will be markedly lighter - but easily-adjusted with the wee screw you can see in the actual trigger.
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