Amberg 1917

[mauser1908]

Hi Everyone, this was a recent find, that Cyrus and Chris pushed me into. Late war is the area I most enjoy and I would consider it a focus of mine; this one fits the bill. This rifle falls at the tail end of Amberg's 1917 production. Amberg broke into the y block during that year, so this rifle was most likely made in December of 1917. Late Amberg's give a wonderful snapshot of the lag between component production and assembly. During 1916 Amberg adopted receiver and bolt codes that indicate when those components were produced. This receiver was manufactured in August of 1917. I'm pleased that this is a legitimate vet bring back, which is always a question on guns made in the last year of the war. This example really shows the precipitous decline in quality Amberg experienced in 1917. While I don't have a good photo, there's exposed solder under the rear sight in addition to the tool chatter on the magazine.

Receiver SN: 8585x
Barrel SN: 8585x BO 789
Rear sight SN: 85
Sight Slider SN: 85
Ejector box SN: 85
Trigger Sear SN: 85
Front barrel band SN: 85
Rear barrel band SN: 85
Trigger guard SN: 8585
Trigger guard screws SN: 85, 85
Floor Plate SN: 85
Follower SN: 85
Stock SN: 8585
Handguard SN: 8585
Buttplate SN: 8585x
Bayonet lug SN: 85
Bolt SN: 8585x
Extractor SN: 85
Firing Pin SN: 85
Bolt Sleeve SN: 85
Saftey SN: 80
Cocking Peice SN: 85

 

[mauser1908]

 

[mauser1908]

reserved

 

[mauser1908]

 

[mauser1908]

 

[joryfreeburg]

Sweet Amberg…great beach stock…...congrats

 

[PrayingMantis]

All around a great Amberg, Sam, I’ll get it in the reference. Great to have an example of such a late 1917. Even as Amberg starts to decline they still stamp acceptance on far more parts more consistently than other makers.
I agree with Jory, great beech stock. All cleaned up I rather like the duffle cut, some built in provenance.

 

[OnlyMil]

Super crisp rifle, thanks for sharing! Was the duffle cut ever repaired?

 

[chrisftk]

Sam, I'm glad you got this one-- there are a few small warts, but it's a nice, late one. The blue under the wood.... wow! The decline in machining by this point is well evidenced by your photos.

I actually prefer d/c pieces. This is a good example of one of the duffelcuts where the guy must not have been thinking ahead (the smart guys knew where to cut! lol.) I've got a couple in the same place. I know in theory it could affect the value for some, but I really don't mind ones like this. Part of the history. I used to have one I sold to a friend that had a diagonal cut right in front of the rear sight base.

It looks like the cut was repaired with medical or electrical tape at one point? I'm not sure if there is a good strategy for removing that tape residue without harming the finish?

 

[DWM1915]

Thanks for posting, great example of a late war Amberg and what was happening with their production. I noticed the rear site base is marked Gl V, is the marking to indicate that this rifle is spec'd for GlasVisier sites?

Congrats on the find,

Nick

 

[chrisftk]

Thanks for posting, great example of a late war Amberg and what was happening with their production. I noticed the rear site base is marked Gl V, is the marking to indicate that this rifle is spec'd for GlasVisier sites?

Congrats on the find,

Nick

Nick, not to steal any of Sam's thunder on this, but the working theory is that rifles with suitable accuracy were marked. Not just for the Zeiss sight, but actual snipers too. The marking also doesn't necessarily mean the rifle had a Glasvisier equipped either. Here's Sam's research thread for these:

RESEARCH PROJECT- Gl. V. Marked Rifles and M1916 Glasvisier Study

I have been trending examples of Gl. V. marked rifles for the last year, I wanted to bring this one to the forum in an attempt to establish a pattern as to why these rifles were marked in such a way. Per Storz, all rifles by 1918 should have a Gl.V. marked rear sight. Meaning they are of...

www.k98kforum.com

 

[mauser1908]

Sweet Amberg…great beach stock…...congrats

Thanks Jory, I've always been fond of these very blonde Amberg stocks.

All around a great Amberg, Sam, I’ll get it in the reference. Great to have an example of such a late 1917. Even as Amberg starts to decline they still stamp acceptance on far more parts more consistently than other makers.
I agree with Jory, great beech stock. All cleaned up I rather like the duffle cut, some built in provenance.

Thanks Cyrus, I appreciate the prodding on this one! I love how consistent they are year over year, where every position was done by the same inspection team. They did miss one on the rear sight, I was surprised by that.

Super crisp rifle, thanks for sharing! Was the duffle cut ever repaired?

Thank you. Yes, although rather haphazardly. They placed a splint in the cleaning rod channel and used two pins on each side of the channel. I'm not inclined to repair it further.

Sam, I'm glad you got this one-- there are a few small warts, but it's a nice, late one. The blue under the wood.... wow! The decline in machining by this point is well evidenced by your photos.

I actually prefer d/c pieces. This is a good example of one of the duffelcuts where the guy must not have been thinking ahead (the smart guys knew where to cut! lol.) I've got a couple in the same place. I know in theory it could affect the value for some, but I really don't mind ones like this. Part of the history. I used to have one I sold to a friend that had a diagonal cut right in front of the rear sight base.

It looks like the cut was repaired with medical or electrical tape at one point? I'm not sure if there is a good strategy for removing that tape residue without harming the finish?

Thanks Chris, I also like duffle cuts. I only shoot a few of them so they don't bother me. I have a few that most would consider pretty heinous. It looks like old medical tape to me. It's almost part of the stock at this point, it's pretty fossilized. I'm conflicted on what to do, I'll probably leave it. I'm sure the old adhesive has destroyed the finish under it. If anyone has any suggestions on how to remove it, I would love to hear them.

Thanks for posting, great example of a late war Amberg and what was happening with their production. I noticed the rear site base is marked Gl V, is the marking to indicate that this rifle is spec'd for GlasVisier sites?

Congrats on the find,

Nick

Thanks Nick, I appreciate it! Chris summed it up well. The meaning word Glasvisier has probably been misinterpreted over the years and thus became improperly associated with the Zeiss Optic. Which is logical, considering it's in the name. The literal translation of word is Glass Sight; which likely refers to all optics. It's likely that's what the Gl.V marking represents. Even if the marking was referring to the Zeiss optic specifically, the sight construction theory leaves a lot to be desired. Mainly the truth that the Germans would never set a state of the art optic based on sight construction alone. This would result in them being wasted on guns of marginal accuracy. Scharfschützen became quite standardized by 1917, I think the Gl.V marking was part of this effort.