panzerschrek: Well said! I admit to needing glasses the older I get but my eyes are still very useful (at least to me) and fooling with "hot rod" loads in a 110+ year old rifle just doesn't strike me as a wise idea. I own a modern 30/06 rifle and if I want power, I'll shoot that. As far as the 88s go, I'm more content with a safe Sunday drive than a trip to the velocity race track.

Wow! I've been side tracked for several weeks on other projects and find I'm way behind on checking out the recent postings here.

RP -- I think panzerschrek was on the mark with his comments. It is always wise to slug your barrel and -- importantly -- down load your ammunition to avoid any resembling excessive pressure. If youn have read the regimental marking correctly (and some of these can be a pain when they've been XXX'ed through), according to Jeff Noll's very useful book this translates to 32nd Infantry Regiment Recruiting Depot, Company 11, weapon no. 122.

WALLYWORLD8 -- Persuming you have a Gew 88 and not a Gew 88/05 (these have the "ears" mounted on the rear of the receiver to accept five-shot Mauser stripper clips) your rifle may never have had a "snap on" covering plate on the bottom of the magazine well/ trigger guard assembly. These were made with a coil spring attached to the interior surface of this cover designed to push the spent Manlicher type clip out the top of the receiver. These were issued in World War I and it is my understanding that they were never well liked by the troops and many were pitched in the field. If you have a Gew 88/05, this plate was simply a one piece cover that snapped on the lower rails of the magazine well. Both types are offered now and again on GunBroker.com. Many shooters say that American made (Remington or Winchester 8 mm Mauser is safe to shoot in these but it's still a good idea to have the barrel slugged.

butler -- Welcome aboard! Glad to have you with us! I'm not sure that I can answer all of your questions but I'll give it a try. To begin, all of the Ecuadorian rifles were essentially Gew 88s -- there were no special markings on them indicating that they had been disposed of by the Germans or accepted by the Ecuadorian army. A number (nbut certainly not all) of the Ecuadorian 88s had small (about 2-1/2 inch?) aluminum tags attached to the back right portionof the butt stock. These were fastened by means of two small tacks -- these tacks (or their shafts) should be visible on the stock. Almost universally, the Ecuadorian 88s were (being kind) in rough shape after being stored for years under less than ideal circumstances. Most (but surprisingly not all) of the Ecuadorian rifles were "mix masters" with all sorts of serial numbers showing up on any given rifle.

I must admit that I have no idea what the "IIV" marking under the serial number means. Serial numbers ran in blocks of 10,000 units -- when 10,000 was reached they began the numbers anew by stamping the next higher letter beneath the number. These letters are usually fractur or "italics" although I have seen some that where Latin block letters. I believe the "Z" in a circle indicates Czech production.

I believe you covered most of the markings but for a fact those folks had a fetish for staming all kinds of markings on their parts and I find that any time I have reason to re-examine a rifle or my parts inventory I always see something new. See the comments above regarding what ammo to use -- but ALWAYS avoid and European surplus. Looking at Jeff Noll's book, I think you are correct about the interpretation of the regimental mark. As for suggestions, I always recommend that folks who dismantle these rifles for cleaning would be well served to put a good coating of gun grease on those parts (e.g., outter surface of the barrel, insdide the barrel tube -- use a 10 gauge bore mop for this, and below the woodling portion of the barrel tube) to preserve them. The rear sight blade was held in place by a pin. The sight base was soldered to the sheet metal barrel tube. If the entire sight has been "knocked off" the rifle, you might be time and money ahead to buy a replacement barrel tube. Without a good photo, I'm afraid I can not offer any further insights on the state of the rear sight on your rifle.

I hope you'll drop back by and keep us posted on how you're doing with getting your 88 "road worthy" once again!

When it rains, it pours!!

C96Guy - You have not been forgotten and I will try to move forward with our Hanyang project as soon as possible.

PROCSHOT - Glad to have you with us. Your comments about various numbers appearing on your rifle suggest that it is non-matching (which is very commonplace for these). Turkish markings on the bolt indicate that the rifle may have been used in Turkey or, alternately, that a Turkish bolt may have been installed in the rifle prior to your brother acquiring it. The rear sight blade was marked in meters. I'll try to answer your questions about Gew 88 history in the following remarks.

luv2sing2 - Welcome aboard! With getting cramped fingers from typing too long a response, I would begin by noting that Gew 88 rifles for approved for use by German troops in 1888 (hence the model designation) and produced from 1889-1899 (this is not a typo - a limited number of Gew 88 rifles were manufactured at the Amberg arsenal in Bavaria in 1899). A major impetus for making these rifles was to expeditiously supply the German army with a "modern" small caliber, smokeless powder weapon. It comes as little surprise that anything rushed into production is bound to have undetected problems and that is precisely the situation which followed. The Germans initially went "gang busters" on production from 1889-1891 (discounting some lag time required to produce the tooling needed to make them) when they had to apply the proverbial brakes and deal with a number of unanticipated technical problems such as excessive bore wear, bursting barrels, and double feeding. That brings us to 1892 when it appears that many of their arsenal resources were devoted to repairs and production was slowed (but not halted). The letters "n.m." on the left side of the receiver beneath "Gew.88." stand for (and I hope my spelling is correct) "neues metal" or "new metal" which denotes a change in the metallurgy of the receiver.

In the process of recording Gew 88 serial numbers, I have thus far seen only one serial number for an 1892 Spandau Gew 88. That number is 8816m which equates to a production of at least 138,816 rifles in that year at Spandau (presuming that all serial number letter blocks were used). In contrast, the highest serial numbers I have seen thus far on 1890 and 1891 Spandau Gew 88s are 7037z (i.e., 267,037 rifles) and 2931s (192,931 rifles), respectively. As there are many as yet unrecorded rifles form many years and arsenals, these production figures are bound to change as additional information is accumulated. However, I should mention that based upon the Gew 88 serial numbers I have recorded, total production at six arsenals (Amberg, Danzig, Erfurt, Loewe Berlin, Spandau, and Steyr) from 1889-1899 easily exceeded approximately 3,000,000 rifles which is half again more than the 2,000,000 production figure which you will see elsewhere. A major part of the confusion surrounding the number actually manufactured is attributable to the extensive loss and destruction of old arsenal production records during World War II.

You mentioned a "J" stamped on the magazine well plate which suggests that your rifle is properly termed a Gew 88/05. Among other modifications, this rifle had two raised "ears" attached to the rear portion of the split receiver and accommodated the use of five-shoot Mauser stripper clips rather than the en block five-shot clips used in the original design of the rifle. The maker of the piece who used the "J" marking is uncertain but there are two possible "suspects": (1) J. Falk of Nuremberg, Germany, a late 1890s to 1940 manufacturer of stationary steam engines, optical projectors, and steam-propelled boats; and (2) the firm of Junghans in Schramberg which is thought to have produced Gew 98 Ansteckmagazin/Grabenmagazin (trench magazines) marked with the letter "J."

As to value - a very good question but I'm not sure I can give you a definitive answer without additional information and seeing some good photographs. What is the condition of the bore? Is the stock cracked? Does this rifle have a complete bolt head and a cleaning rod? Is the rear sight "slider" still on the sight blade? Are any parts missing? How much (or how little) of the original finish on the metal yet remains? I'll give an admittedly "off the hip" answer that it may be in the area of $100-$150 but please understand that this is a less than fully informed response and your rifle may be worth less or more than these figures. Even as a non-firing "wall hanger," my personal feeling is that it is worth keeping as an interesting item of firearms history.

If you have a few moments, could you please help me? The serial number is stamped on the lower left side of the front of the receiver (the receiver ring). Is this where the number 9384 appears? Frequently one will find a small letter stamped immediately beneath this number (a suffix indicating a block of 10,000 rifles in the production sequence). Is there such a letter beneath the serial number? Should you have any additional questions, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to address them.

PROCSHOT -- The "65" above the "n" on the lower left side of the receiver should be the serial number for your 1890 Spandau Gew 88. I'm not sure what the right angle "1" indicates. Would it be possible to post a clear a photograph of this?

Are there by chance any regimental markings on your rifle? These typically appear on the front and/or rear barrel bands (sometimes these are marked by by "XXXXX") and less frequently on the left rail of the receiver. I've also seen one stamped on the butt plate (this wasn't "regulation" but it was done anyway). The letters can appear as either Latin block or Fractur script (i.e., italics to most of us). An "R" or an "R" can make a big difference in correctly interpreting these.

hammer09 -- Welcome aboard! I hope you'll drop back in an visit with us on a regular basis. Thank you so very much for contributing your serial number to the ongoing study. Be assured that every bit of information is useful. Your number is the highest I have seen to date for an 1891 Loewe Berlin Gew 88.

majspud -- Thank you much! Every serial number is appreciated!