Danzig M71 with WW1 Service

chrisftk

chrisftk

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Staff member
I'm not sure where the M71 magnet I have is, but it seems like the trend continues. I found another nice 71 with the WW1 steel/painted triggerguard. My Erfurt, Spandau and Steyr have this feature as well, which is described by Storz in some detail. I've not come across an amberg with one, so I am wondering if this was a uniquely Prussian thing.

Aside from the triggerguard being cool, this is a nice condition M71 with no real issues. Just thought I'd share for the study and reference.

I continue to maintain that these are some of the most under-appreciated rifles in the Imperial era. Aside from Ambergs, none are really easy to find-- and an Amberg with nice finish is a "condition rarity"- I beleive the "kinks" in the bluing process were still being worked out at the time, with the band finish being particularly fragile.

In any case, pics:
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Another beautiful example Chris. The stock cartouches are like new. Thank you for the pictures. Almost time to add another room on the house to hold ‘em all!
 
Thanks Rick! The bands really held up well compared to most "nice" 71s I see, but you are right, the stock sure did too! Not bad for almost 150 years old!
 
Nice addition! You can tell how rare these are by the study underway, - which besides the scanty numbers, you have the developing pattern that Danzig serialed year to year, where it left off, and although there is a bewildering gap in 1876 where it just skips over 6 blocks it is consistent otherwise.

i think the vast majority were destroyed or disappeared in some manner, possibly sold and consumed but eitherway they seem gone, probably for good... really we need to place this in context, - in short, what was Danzig doing in the late 1870's? B.Mod's but what else and what was the funding situation?? One must always remember that Germany was not what history portrays it, in many ways Germany was one of the most "progressive" states in the world, the Kaiser "a man of peace" (often stated in the press and publications), they had the strongest socialist party in Europe, they led the way in public education and welfare and social security... funding was always an issue for the military and off-hand I am not sure how that played in small arms budgets (I do know they were always struggles - though Germans can make a dollar/mark stretch like no other nation, look at all the innovation displayed by arms development leading up to the war! They led the way bigtime in artillery, mortars and doctrine)

** I added it to the study, the only 1877 recorded! You covered the critical details in the lowest number of photographs possible, - a case study, saved me asking for the bolt lower flat acceptance!
 
Loewe said:
Nice addition! You can tell how rare these are by the study underway, - which besides the scanty numbers, you have the developing pattern that Danzig serialed year to year, where it left off, and although there is a bewildering gap in 1876 where it just skips over 6 blocks it is consistent otherwise.

i think the vast majority were destroyed or disappeared in some manner, possibly sold and consumed but eitherway they seem gone, probably for good... really we need to place this in context, - in short, what was Danzig doing in the late 1870's? B.Mod's but what else and what was the funding situation?? One must always remember that Germany was not what history portrays it, in many ways Germany was one of the most "progressive" states in the world, the Kaiser "a man of peace" (often stated in the press and publications), they had the strongest socialist party in Europe, they led the way in public education and welfare and social security... funding was always an issue for the military and off-hand I am not sure how that played in small arms budgets (I do know they were always struggles - though Germans can make a dollar/mark stretch like no other nation, look at all the innovation displayed by arms development leading up to the war! They led the way bigtime in artillery, mortars and doctrine)

** I added it to the study, the only 1877 recorded! You covered the critical details in the lowest number of photographs possible, - a case study, saved me asking for the bolt lower flat acceptance!
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Thanks Paul! I'm glad I've got the formula down for targeted photo studies. Haha.. my goal here is the document anything I can for research and reference.

Frankly, I've been wowed by the number of "nice" 71s popping up of late. I've managed to lock down a decent one with bluing on the barrel for all four arsenals and a couple others. I'm with you that these seem to have gone into a black hole once the Germans no longer had use for them. You look at the relatively large numbers produced for the time, yet they are extremely scarce. I do believe a significant number were sold overseas and consumed, a few decent ones have made it here relatively intact via old import or in cases like this, vet bring back, but I think the scarcity contributes to their underappreciated nature. Not to mention the expense of shooting them. (Unless you reload)

Btw: a lot of activity recently here, but did you see the comparable ŒWG I posted last month? I didn't see it in the study. It was odd in that there was a crown above the maker's mark, but it did come with a steel trigger guard and a period sling.

www.k98kforum.com

1874 ŒWG M71 IG

Hi All, I scored this one off an auction a couple weeks ago. While you tend to see export model Steyr M71s with some frequency (lots of "P" block H marked, no imperial acceptance on the stock), you seldom run into legitimate German accepted examples in anything high grade. The export models...
www.k98kforum.com www.k98kforum.com
 
Chris, I have had some troubles with getting and staying online and the methods I do have do not lend themselves to efficient research or thread maintenance; it is extremely likely I overlooked adding the rifle to the research thread but possibly saved it to my database. Do you have a serial or link to the thread?

I need to reconcile these research threads with my database as I am 100% positive they do not mirror each other, I am far more invested in maintaining the database!

I think this rifle is one of the more important discovered recently, it fills a gap that needed filling, it pretty much proves they serialed year to year w/o rolling over and with this report you can get a better idea of yearly production, or breaks, or at least a feel for more productive years, - with Mod.B observations we probably can get a feel for priority and or direction of primacy. I can't develop much of a theory on the means I have at hand, but I hope to have better access to internet and my database at the same time...
 
Loewe said:
Chris, I have had some troubles with getting and staying online and the methods I do have do not lend themselves to efficient research or thread maintenance; it is extremely likely I overlooked adding the rifle to the research thread but possibly saved it to my database. Do you have a serial or link to the thread?

I need to reconcile these research threads with my database as I am 100% positive they do not mirror each other, I am far more invested in maintaining the database!

I think this rifle is one of the more important discovered recently, it fills a gap that needed filling, it pretty much proves they serialed year to year w/o rolling over and with this report you can get a better idea of yearly production, or breaks, or at least a feel for more productive years, - with Mod.B observations we probably can get a feel for priority and or direction of primacy. I can't develop much of a theory on the means I have at hand, but I hope to have better access to internet and my database at the same time...
Click to expand...
Hi Paul-- i sent you a PM with the link to the Steyr M71

Happy to help on pinning down a few things in your research-- My Danzig Jaegerbuchse is also 1877 (you have it in the study, it's 3495a).

I'm also glad Danzig used letter blocks on 71s-- Spandau and Erfurt appear to have not, which adds an extra layer of headache. I prefer Ambergs "running total" serialization in this era. haha.

As a bonus, i didn't realize you didn't have my other Danzig 71 in your study. This one is a 1876 "g" block SN 3151g- this one will be going to a new caretaker at the end of the month. This one is a bolt m/m (so please disregard the bolt acceptance) and not as pretty, but a neat rifle and a cool unit mark. I believe another is known in 1876 with the same unit (or similar).
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Chis, I added it quickly, check the two additions and let me know if they have errors... Thanks!

** see more let me know as these were good additions!
 
Loewe said:
Chis, I added it quickly, check the two additions and let me know if they have errors... Thanks!

** see more let me know as these were good additions!
Click to expand...
Thanks Paul! I double checked, everything looked good on the study.

I'll get an Erfurt posted up here this week. I bought it in 2020 but I realized I hadn't posted.
 
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