Third Party Press

Modified Gew 88 and Gew. 91

runner

Senior Member
I have had these who examples of modified 88's for some time, always wondered if they are just some
post war tinkering. I believe I saw a post on a similiar example some time ago, but don't remember if it was here
or Gunboards.

On both examples the shortening of the barrel sleeves seems well done, but neither show evidence of a front sight ever being added.

First a cutdown Gew. 88, sn 7907, Spandau 1890
 

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More Gew. 88, modified

More Spandau 1890 7907
 

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Cutdown Kar 91, Cutdown Gew. 88, Regular length Gew. 88

Comparisons to normal length Gew. 88 barreled receiver.

*** Edit. The Kar 91 barrel is original length. Being in a cut down Gew. 88 stock and modified barrel sleeve, I initially thought
the barrel had been cut as well, I should have measured, sorry for the misleading post.
 

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Last edited:
Gew. 91, shortened.

This shortened Gew. 91 has several matching numbered parts, including bolt. It need only a front sight to be useable.
***Edit. The barrel length of the Gew. 91 is correct, it has not been shortened. The tube is missing the front sight, and the
stock is a cutdown Gew. 88 stock.
 

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Gew. 91

more pictures
 

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More Pictures

These are probably nothing more than someones unfinished projects, but I figured Paul
could at least mine some Mod. 88 barrel data.
 

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Short of time at the moment, but if this is one of the shortened G88's, then it is a legitimate variation. CB had a little fascination with them, especially when he and John Wall discovered an 1928-1929 article by G.B Jarrett that mentions the variation. Before CB passed away he drafted an article on this subject and we were going over the subject, I still have that articles completion as a must do before I get too old and delirious to finish it..

Later I will check out the pictures of your two rifles and see if they have similarities to the variation.

I have had these who examples of modified 88's for some time, always wondered if they are just some
post war tinkering. I believe I saw a post on a similiar example some time ago, but don't remember if it was here
or Gunboards.

On both examples the shortening of the barrel sleeves seems well done, but neither show evidence of a front sight ever being added.

First a cutdown Gew. 88, sn 7907, Spandau 1890
 
Very interesting, I think Clay had a shortened one he posted up here a while back, and we were wondering the same thing...looking forward to hearing a bit more on these!
 
Checking my post, it dawned on me to measure the Kar 91 barrel length, instead of assuming it had been altered
simply being in a shortened stock. The barreled receiver of the Kar. 91 is correct/original.
sorry for the confusion on my part.
 
Frank, Can you measure the barrel and barrel jacket?

While there are six Gew.88k (Craig attributed the unofficial model to them as Gewehr 88 kurz, and i will stick with it), none are especially well detailed, CB's rifle was picked up at auction and seems to be a little short compared the Jarrett's rifle (and a K88 RS arrangement vs. Jarrets original RS), which "seems" slightly longer than a Kar.88 (CB's rifle is slightly longer, but not as long as Jarrett's, further Jarrett's description leave something to be desired, it isn't exact but seems to match closely with CB's rifle mathematically, - Jarrett states shortened 10.5 inches, CB use metric, which translate to about 11 or so inches, but Jarrett's rifle, next to the three others, looks shorter than a G88, but longer than K88 and G91). Craig couldn't get his jacket off to detail the barrel markings, his rifle had additional acceptance on the RR, but he never took pictures of his rifle, so all I have are the original auction pictures and the Amoskeag sale picture after his death.

I will not pretend to know much about the variation, but I can tell that of the 6 known examples, not all are authentic and some are more ridiculous than others. Craig's rifle looked more correct than the others (compared to Jarrett's, the RS being the most obvious discrepancy), but his is the only rifle detailed with any "exactitude".

Larry sold perhaps the closest "match" to Jarrett's, but who the hell knows... I will have to do some sorting out and some spectacularly long guesswork to finish his article with a conclusion.... really without CB I think a reasonable conclusion can't be made, the G88 isn't a major interest of mine and all the variations to modifications and markings get a little confusing, especially as there are so many foreign modifications and "adulteration's" involved. Probably will just stick with Craig's words with the minimal amount of modification, he wouldn't have wanted my hamfisted modifications and interpretations muddling up his work.
 

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Jarrett's rifle in "B", this rifle was written about in 1930, so the variation, real or imagined, pre-dates the profession of humperism, at least humperism for profit... these rifles aren't worth much today and in 1929 weren't worth their weight in scrap.
 

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Here is Larry's rifle, no sale text.... there are others, but some have shortened stocks beyond what is standard (sportered)
 

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Frank, Can you measure the barrel and barrel jacket?

While there are six Gew.88k (Craig attributed the unofficial model to them as Gewehr 88 kurz, and i will stick with it), none are especially well detailed, CB's rifle was picked up at auction and seems to be a little short compared the Jarrett's rifle (and a K88 RS arrangement vs. Jarrets original RS), which "seems" slightly longer than a Kar.88 (CB's rifle is slightly longer, but not as long as Jarrett's, further Jarrett's description leave something to be desired, it isn't exact but seems to match closely with CB's rifle mathematically, - Jarrett states shortened 10.5 inches, CB use metric, which translate to about 11 or so inches, but Jarrett's rifle, next to the three others, looks shorter than a G88, but longer than K88 and G91). Craig couldn't get his jacket off to detail the barrel markings, his rifle had additional acceptance on the RR, but he never took pictures of his rifle, so all I have are the original auction pictures and the Amoskeag sale picture after his death.

I will not pretend to know much about the variation, but I can tell that of the 6 known examples, not all are authentic and some are more ridiculous than others. Craig's rifle looked more correct than the others (compared to Jarrett's, the RS being the most obvious discrepancy), but his is the only rifle detailed with any "exactitude".

Larry sold perhaps the closest "match" to Jarrett's, but who the hell knows... I will have to do some sorting out and some spectacularly long guesswork to finish his article with a conclusion.... really without CB I think a reasonable conclusion can't be made, the G88 isn't a major interest of mine and all the variations to modifications and markings get a little confusing, especially as there are so many foreign modifications and "adulteration's" involved. Probably will just stick with Craig's words with the minimal amount of modification, he wouldn't have wanted my hamfisted modifications and interpretations muddling up his work.


Here are the barrel and barrel jacket measurements for Modified Gew. 88 sn 7807 v

Barrel (measured from bolt face to muzzle) 23 3/8 inches
Barrel Jacket, 22 5/8 inches
 

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