Rifle 88
| Rifle 88 | |
|---|---|
|
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| general information | |
| Civil name: | Commission rifle |
| Military designation: | Rifle 88 |
| Country of operation: | German Empire |
| Manufacturer country: | German Empire, Austria-Hungary |
| Weapon Category: | gun |
| Furnishing | |
| Overall length: | 1245 mm / carabiner 950 mm, with bayonet 1500 mm |
| Weight: (unloaded) | 3.8 kg / carabiner 3.1 kg |
| Barrel length : | 740 mm / carabiner 488 mm |
| Technical specifications | |
| Caliber : | 7.92 x 57 mm |
| Ammunition supply : | Box magazine, single row, loading frame and later loading strips |
| Number of trains : | 4th |
| Twist : | right |
| Closure : | Cylinder lock with bolt handle |
| Lists on the subject | |
The Gewehr 88 was adopted as an orderly weapon of the German Army in 1888 , the name is derived from the year. Since the Prussian Rifle Testing Commission (GPK) in Spandau endeavored to create the best rifle by combining individual components of different origins, it is also called the “commission rifle”.
history
origin
The M71 / 84 gunpowder rifle was actually the first German repeating rifle to be accepted as orderly in the German Reich in 1884 . In Rottweil there were attempts to produce smokeless nitrocellulose powder , but it was the French chemist Paul Vieille that made the decisive breakthrough. Result was the French Lebel Model 1886 equipped with a tubular magazine after Kropatschek equipped and was supplied with a cartridge in which an 8-mm round nose bullet was loaded. This cartridge enabled a previously unknown speed (flat trajectory) and thus range. In 1887 France adopted the rifle as an orderly weapon. Production and delivery of the 71/84 rifle started in 1886. Just a year later, the German Reich was forced to design a new weapon.
The German counterpart
The Spandau gunsmith Schlegelmilch designed the cylinder lock on behalf of the rifle testing commission - an opening tensioner that was based on the breech of the 71/84 rifle. The new weapon received a barrel jacket from Bayern Armand Mieg and an improved Mannlicher magazine for a loading frame with five cartridges. The Gewehr 88 did not have its own bayonet (side rifle), the side rifle of the model 71/84 was used and the rifle set up for this purpose. Engineer units carried the side gun 71/84 with a saw, Bavarian pioneers planted the fascine knife 71/84. Bavaria actually took the opportunity and used up old stocks of side guns 71 for the G 88, but in the rest of the empire this mostly only took place in the shortage economy of the First World War . Introduction was ordered on November 20, 1888. Hunter troops led the G 88 with the Hirschfänger 71.
Defects in the rifle 88
Older research believed that combining multiple designs and rushing to introduce them had created some serious shortcomings:
- Explosions opened closure from accidental driving succession two cartridges.
- Shooting accidents due to improper assembly of the lock
- Explosions as the G 88 could be fired without the bolt head attached
- Bulging of the barrel due to problems with the ammunition
- Dangerous gas flows to the rear
- “Bad shooter” in connection with the barrel jacket and its attachment
- Gun malfunctions due to the magazine well open at the bottom
Dieter Storz has recently come to the conclusion that the most important defects are to be found in the initially too low carbon content of the steel used and the insufficient number of fire samples. The improved ammunition also played a major role in the reduction in accidents.
Eliminating the defects
Through better training of the soldiers, the first three shortcomings could be almost completely eliminated. The shortcomings of the barrel construction with its too flat rifles were remedied by initially equipping all rifles 88 with deeper rifles (0.15 mm instead of 0.10 mm). These rifles were stamped with a “Z” on the system case. When in 1904 the S-cartridge with its additional projectile space was changed, either the barrels were exchanged or the cartridge chambers rubbed open in the neck area. These rifles got an "S" on the system case.
The systems got a new firing pin nut with gas shield. The "bad shooters" often resulted from the fact that the barrel jacket was not firmly attached to the system. Therefore it was now soldered on. These rifles got a punch mark on the system case. The cartridge 88, which was also a new development, was revised. As early as 1895, many rifles were given systems made of more resistant Krupp steel, these were stamped with "nm" (new material) on the left side of the system.
The cartridge 88
When designing the cartridge, the model was the 8 mm Lebel cartridge . For this reason, an almost identical caliber was chosen. It has the military designation 8 × 57I (for infantry, the "J" that can sometimes be read is a misinterpretation of the Fraktur letter ). However, it is not a rim cartridge like the Lebel, but a rimless one. The model for this was the cartridge developed by Eduard Rubin for the Swiss army, of which the Bavarian military observer Oskar von Xylander knew and reported. From the adoption of the cartridge in 1888, it took until 1895 before it was ready for use in the war. The barrel for this cartridge initially had a field-to-train diameter of 7.90 by 8.10 mm; later, due to massive nickel deposits, the pull depth was increased to 0.15 mm each, the pull diameter thus to (nominally) 8.20 mm.
Initially, the cartridge carried a full metal jacket round head bullet weighing 14.8 grams and a diameter of .321. The problems with this cartridge also resulted from the fact that at first it was impossible to imagine that full jacketed bullets would also be compressed. The deeper moves then immediately brought the solution to this problem. The cartridge was further developed in 1903/05 with the introduction of a lighter flat-bottom pointed bullet to form the 8 × 57IS cartridge with a bullet diameter of .323 and a bullet weight of 10.2 grams.
With the 71/84 rifle the soldier still had 30 cartridges in the two front cartridge pouches and 60 cartridges in the rear one, so a total of 120 cartridges, the small cartridge could now give him a total of 170 rounds.
A cartridge 88 (left) compared to a 1905 S cartridge, also in Mauser caliber 7.92 × 57 mm.
Loading frame with 5 cartridges M / 88.
rating
To this day, this rifle has a bad reputation in Germany, even though countries like Turkey or China were extremely satisfied with this weapon. However, they only received the rifle at a time when the design could be described as fully developed.
Copies with the same number can hardly be found today. Turkey was the main buyer of the weapons that were no longer needed in the German Reich since 1917 when the production of the Gewehr 98 was so high that the predecessor could be dispensed with. There they were apparently either dismantled into all individual parts and reassembled in a wild “mix of numbers” or - what is more likely - the victorious British at the end of the First World War deliberately robbed their locks in order to make them unusable. The Turkish rifles often have a crescent moon on the bolt handle, but this is often no longer recognizable. Even if the same numbers are not to be expected, the visors are good (better than on the G 98) and the triggers are acceptable to very good (with pressure point). Some of these rifles have been coming back to Germany for some time and are being sold.
In shooting this multi-shot rifle is used only limited; it is approved as a former orderly rifle by all associations.
Production sites and total number
The state rifle factories in Spandau , Danzig , Erfurt and Amberg as well as the factories of the Loewe / Berlin company and the Österreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft (ÖWG) in Steyr had already produced 1.9 million pieces by 1890. As early as 1890, the ÖWG produced more than 300,000 rifles on behalf of the German Empire.
The total number of rifles and carbines manufactured can only be estimated. The Bavarian army received exactly 274,333 rifles 88, 26,960 carbines 88, and 17,000 rifles 91 until production was discontinued in 1899. Based on these figures, Dieter Storz calculates a total German production of 2.4 million rifles 88, 240,000 - 250,000 carbines 88 and 150,000 rifles 91.
Mauser as a manufacturer
The rifle 71 and the repeater 71/84 were designed by Paul Mauser . The Gewehr 88 was created under the sole direction of the GPK, Paul Mauser or the Mauser company had no part in it. A variant of the G 88, the G 88/05, can be fitted with Mauser loading strips, as used for the Gewehr 98 as the successor to the G 88, instead of with a loading frame. This is the only connection to the Mauser company in Oberndorf . However, this rifle is often incorrectly referred to as the Mauser rifle, especially in US Internet forums.
distribution
The Gewehr 88 ended up in the following countries:
- Peru
- Brazil
- China (later manufactured there as a Hanyang rifle without barrel jacket)
- Ireland
- Turkey (weapon aid of the German Reich in World War I; later own variant without barrel coat)
- South Africa
- Austria-Hungary (weapons aid from the German Reich in World War I)
- Ethiopia
- Czechoslovakia
- Yugoslavia
- Ecuador
variants
- Rifle 88
- Karabiner 88 , introduced on November 4, 1891 as a short, easy-to-use version for mounted units ( cavalry ).
- Gendarmerie Karabiner 88 (variants: a Prussian and a Baden model) for the gendarmerie
- Rifle 91 for the foot artillery
- Like carabiner 88, but with an assembly spike on the metal plate at the front of the shaft
- G 88/05 (approx. 350,000 rifles)
- Mark:
- - two jaws on the locking bridge for Mauser loading strips
- - Milling for the S-cartridge on the case
- - Thumb recess on the left of the locking sleeve
- - Insertion of two steel strips into the magazine so that the cartridges do not rattle
- - Lock under spring tension on the left side of the magazine to hold the cartridges
- - longer feeder in the magazine
- - Remove the release button inside the trigger guard
- - Close the discharge opening for the loading frame with a lid
- G 88/14 with welded loading strip guide
- From the beginning of 1915 over 750,000 rifles are said to have been converted to the G 88/14.
- (Paul S. Scarlata has so far only been able to find a single rifle that has the specifications that are required in the older literature for a G 88/14. Therefore, he doubts that the G 88/14 has been modified in accordance with regulations However, at the end of World War I, millions of weapons were destroyed, it does not rule out their existence entirely.)
In addition, there were civilian versions for hunting , especially of the Karabiner 88, made by CG Haenel and VC Schilling in Suhl .
literature
- The Gewehr 88 and its ammunition, with appendix: performance of the Gewehr 88 etc., school shooting, fire effect; for teaching the teams. Salzgitter 1890. Digitized edition , e-book of SLUB Dresden ( e-books on demand )
- The Gewehr 88: Excerpt from Wedell's service instruction for the infantry reserve reserve who is required to exercise. Berlin 1890.
- New military sheets, Volume 47. Expedition der Reuen military sheets. 1895.
- Guide to the Gewehr 88 and its ammunition. According to the K. Prussian guide of the same name. Munich 1894.
- Guide to the carbine 88, the rifle 91 and their ammunition. According to the K. Prussian guide of the same name. Munich, printed in KB War Ministry 1894.
- Felix von Klaß: The rifle 88. The good comrade: A learning u. Reading book. fd service instruction of the German infantryman. From Felix v. Cool because. Major. Continued by Maximilian v. Loefen, captain
- Guide to the 88/05 rifle and its ammunition. Munich / Berlin 1907.
- R. Eschweiler: The gunshot wounds from the small-caliber rifle. Munich 1897.
- Journal for the entire art of gunsmithing and explosives. 36 (1941) No. 4, p. 77.
- Hans Dieter Götz: The German military rifles and machine guns 1871-1945. Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-87943-350-X .
- Uwe Mai: How the Jew does it. The enemy image of the anti-Semitic movement using the example of Hermann Ahlwardt's agitation. In: Christoph Jahr, Uwe Mai, Kathrin Roller: Enemy images in German history. Studies on the history of prejudice in the 19th and 20th centuries. Berlin 1994, pp. 55-80.
- Gerhard Ortmeier: The Gewehr 88 and its variants. In: DWJ. German weapons journal. 12 (2000) pp. 138-144.
- Wolfgang Finze: A fateful affair. The Gewehr 88 was Germany's first repeater for nitro ammunition - and had a reputation for being useless. In: Visier 2001, Issue 1, pp. 132-138.
- Mechthild Leutner: German-Chinese Relations 1911–1927. From colonialism to equality. Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-05-004243-5 .
- Paul S. Scarlata: Das Gewehr 88. Germany's first modern military rifle. Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-30618-9 .
- Dieter Storz: German military rifles. Firearms 88 and 91 as well as target and fencing rifles. Side guns and cartridge pouches. (Catalogs of the Bavarian Army Museum Ingolstadt 9) Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-902526-55-7 .
- Sebastian Thiem: Ottoman imports. Side rifles 88 and 98 for Turkey. In: DWJ (formerly Deutsches Waffen Journal) 7/2014, pp. 88–93.
Individual evidence
- ^ Paul S. Scarlata: Das Gewehr 88, p. 72.
- ^ Paul S. Scarlata: Das Gewehr 88, p. 74.
- ^ HD Götz: German military rifles and submachine guns. P. 104.
- ^ Paul S. Scarlata: Das Gewehr 88, p. 73.
- ^ Dieter Storz: German military rifles. P. 115.
- ^ Dieter Storz: German military rifles. 2, firearms 88 and 91, as well as target and fencing rifles, side guns and cartridge pouches . tape 2 . Militaria, Vienna 2012, ISBN 3-902526-55-6 .
