Spandau 1889 Gew. 88, SN 746 and 856

Interesting (at least to me) how two rifles, very well made on the same day, had such very different histories.

SN 746 was probably brought to the US as a War Bond rifle. It has a plugged bore and the firing pin is clipped. The only
non-matching parts are the two barrel bands and the two action screws. I surmise these parts may have been
mismatched by the guy in the US who disassembled for demilling purposes? Totally a guess, they may have been
replaced the day before I bought it.

SN 856 is a total mismatch except for the receiver and its small parts. The barrel is a Czech replacement barrel. All
other parts were mixed sometime in its post war service, probably South America. I was really hoping when I bought it, that it would have
its original barrel, so it could be compared with the earlier rifle, but no luck.

1889 Spandau 746, final pictures

The last of the pics for #746

1889 Spandau #856

This one had a rougher life. Only matching parts are those attached to the receiver.

The real early rifles are cool . Your 746 rifle looks to have the original barrel on it , the .314 - .321 . It is hard to find an original barrel , they were only used for about 14 months , and they did wear out much quicker and were replaced more often than the later .311 - .321 barrels .

Thats a cool set Frank! Thanks for sharing!

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I found it fascinating also, the bolt as much as the barrel, these original parts are incredibly difficult to find on a rifle and even less common to get good pictures of... The siderail style seems to be consistent throughout 1889 production, which doesn't appear to have gone to rolling over but very late (9000 block), though 1890 does have some impressive gaps early on, not sure how accurate trends are 1889-1890, but Storz might give some answers, he did seem to have used collectors research in his 88 book.

Anyway, a really neat rifle and although one other seems to have its original bolt I can't compare it with yours unfortunately. One day I hope to get the research thread up and producing better observations here.

Can anyone interpret the various markings on the buttplate?