Third Party Press

Spandau 1915 Possible Gas Corrosion (?)

chrisftk

Moderator
Staff member
Hi All,

I'm just going to go ahead and wade into a little controversy while sharing this rifle. A while back, the topic of this came up on my 1915 CGH,, which was heavily patina'ed with no blue on the metal, but rich bluing underneath the wood. The suggestion by another well established collector/member was that it was very possibly stripped by prolonged exposure to poison gas (chlorine is a well-known oxidizing agent, as are some other known chemical weapons). A passage from Storm of Steel mentions rifle barrels being blackened by poison gas. This was also a topic that CB has posed in the past.

In the spirit of this-- I present exhibit A- a Spandau 1915 that I picked up last year. The rifle matches, save a rear sight leaf and slider. The rifle had a trip to Depot #13, so it was likely replaced there.

The condition of the rifle made me think back to the aforementioned CGH thread:

The surface metal of this rifle is rough, blackend with oxidation and have some scattered pitting. It is uniform on any exposed metal. However, under the wood the receiver is bright while and the barrel has rich bluing. If the CGH raised this question, this rifle should too-- is there ever a way to prove it? Doubtful, but makes for interesting discussion; could have just as easily been 75 years of cigarette smoke at a VFW hall! :ROFLMAO:

Either way, it's a nice rifle on its own merits and a solid war horse and the stain from a mudcover on the stock is an added bonus.

Here's the data:

Receiver 2071 n
Barrel 2071 n (Bo (?) 157 )
Front Sight 71
Rear Sight Leaf: mm
Sight Slider mm
Ejector Box 71
Trigger Sear 71
Front Barrel Band 71
Rear Barrel Band 71
Trigger Guard 2071
Trigger Guard Screws 71, 71
Floor Plate 71
Follower 71
Stock 2071
Handguard 2071
Buttplate 2071 (Depot 13)
Bayonet Lug 71
Cleaning Rod 71
Bolt body: 2071 n
Safety: 71
Cocking Piece: 71
Bolt shroud: 71
Firing Pin: 71
Extractor 71

IMG_20220120_223834428.jpgIMG_20220120_223912508.jpgIMG_20220120_223937617.jpgIMG_20220120_223954730.jpgIMG_20220120_224002489.jpgIMG_20220120_224007863.jpgIMG_20220120_224013073.jpgIMG_20220120_224025713.jpgIMG_20220120_224029408.jpgIMG_20220120_224056097.jpgIMG_20220120_224105080.jpgIMG_20220120_224115808.jpgIMG_20220120_224137713.jpg
 
Gas/chemical corrosion seems certainly possible to me. It’s interesting that the corrosion is so consistent. I imagine that would be a hard thing to achieve sitting against a VFW wall, but I’ve never tested it. Either way, great example and thanks for the photos!
 
Gas/chemical corrosion seems certainly possible to me. It’s interesting that the corrosion is so consistent. I imagine that would be a hard thing to achieve sitting against a VFW wall, but I’ve never tested it. Either way, great example and thanks for the photos!
Yeah, I'm not one to "carnival bark" any of my rifles, but this one certainly seems to be a good candidate. Even on its own merits, it's a solid 1915 that survived relatively intact - the rear sight being mismatched.
 
I do not know about the influence of gas on metal, but it sure isn't easy finding a stock-bolt matcher 1915, - I can't make out the BC here, but maybe trends will suggest a probability... often lots can lead to a probable supplier. I do know Spandau can be pretty "original" in barrel coding.
 
I do not know about the influence of gas on metal, but it sure isn't easy finding a stock-bolt matcher 1915, - I can't make out the BC here, but maybe trends will suggest a probability... often lots can lead to a probable supplier. I do know Spandau can be pretty "original" in barrel coding.
Thanks Paul, agree on the 1915 rifles. It's my stretch goal to find a complete set of 15s. I've got Haenel, Sauer, WOK, Spandau, Danzig, DWM, and a Dresden, so a great start, but Simson, Schilling and Erfurt are going to be tricky. I'm convinced WMO and Amberg are the "easy" ones left if you can say easy on those!

I believe the barrel code on this one is a mis-struck Bohler with the top of the "B" missing
 

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