Gewehr 71/84 Erfurt 1887 sn. 8970

[hale1940]

Hey guys,

Picked this one up locally. Appears to be completely matching to the screws. This is my first 19th century Imperial rifle, so any thoughts/info are much appreciated.

 

[hale1940]

More pics

 

[PrayingMantis]

Thanks for sharing the photos. Erfurt 71/84s are quite rare, this is the first I’ve seen in a decade of imperial collecting.

 

[biggymu]

Nice rifle. Congratulations! Wait till you take it apart and examine the tigger group. Really amazing hand work.

 

[cj556]

Nice one Hale, any unit marks on buttplate?

 

[chrisftk]

Glad you pulled the trigger on this one! It was a no-brainer buy. I looked for several years to find one that met my standards. They didn't use letter blocks, similar to Spandau, which makes it really tricky to actually pinpoint production, but very few recorded. There's actually quite the dearth of Erfurt 71 patterns in general. Single shot 71 Erfurts are very difficult to find. I'm not sure the rhyme or reason, but Erfurt was the new kid on the block for arsenals, having replaced the old Saarn factory in the 1860s, maybe it took a while to build the capacity it later was able to achieve. I'll leave that to someone better versed.

Either way congrats man. You should be proud to own it. It's one of the nicer ones I've seen.

 

[joryfreeburg]

Nice rifle Hale. I don’t know much about these admittedly so, but I do know nice when I see it…. Congrats

 

[donki1967]

Very nice piece of history! do you plan to take it to the range?

 

[Warrior1354]

You will see a thousand Spandau 71/84 rifles before you see an Erfurt made one. I think I seen maybe three in the past 10 years and the condition on all three were not very good plus all mismatched. Very nice rifle.

 

[chrisftk]

You will see a thousand Spandau 71/84 rifles before you see an Erfurt made one. I think I seen maybe three in the past 10 years and the condition on all three were not very good plus all mismatched. Very nice rifle.

Agree 100% Jordan-- very tough-- you must have missed mine though. It's in good shape (not quite as good as hales, with more patina on the receiver), but matching save the front band screw.

 

[hale1940]

Nice one Hale, any unit marks on buttplate?

The unit marking appears to be 121.R.R.223. I don't have the resources to interpret them, but if someone does it would be awesome to find out who this rifle served with.

Glad you pulled the trigger on this one! It was a no-brainer buy...

Chris, your help was greatly appreciated. When I saw it I had a feeling it was legit, but I'm so green in regards to these that your guidance was really pivotal. Now I've got another little piece in my imperial collection puzzle.

Really need a wartime Gew98 now lol.

 

[chrisftk]

The unit marking appears to be 121.R.R.223. I don't have the resources to interpret them, but if someone does it would be awesome to find out who this rifle served with.



Chris, your help was greatly appreciated. When I saw it I had a feeling it was legit, but I'm so green in regards to these that your guidance was really pivotal. Now I've got another little piece in my imperial collection puzzle.

Really need a wartime Gew98 now lol.

121st reserve infantry regiment, weapon #223

 

[student of history]

That’s a fantastic example of a rare variant! Great snag home slice!

 

[Loewe]

added it to the study thread with a link here...

 

[mauser1908]

Very nice example! Finding an Erfurt is hard enough let alone that condition.