Old German/Turkish rifle - anybody know anything about them?

[Martinjmpr]

We have an old rifle that appears to be a Gewehr 88 (G 1888), sometimes called the "Commission rifle." Ours is stamped "Ankara 1918" on the barrel so it seems it may have been one of the old 1888 rifles that the German empire sent to Turkey during WW1.

Wondering if it's collectible and/or has any value, anyone know? It's in decent condition, all intact, appears to function well and even includes a matching bayonet with scabbard.

Came to my wife through her brother who passed away in 2002. She's asked me to do a little research to find out if it's worth keeping.

Gunbroker seems to be all over the place, I see them selling for $250 - $500 but none of the ones I see are Turkish marked. I don't know if that's a plus or minus.

I seem to recall that in the mid 1980's there were a whole crapload of old military bolt-action rifles imported by various companies and sold at sporting goods stores or even at "Variety" type stores like K-mart and similar. I'm guessing that's when the wife's brother acquired it, although he was in the Marines in the early 1980's and stationed in Okinawa, so I don't know if he may have acquired it then.

I'll attach photos tomorrow.

[Martinjmpr]

Photos:

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76854

76855

[wctriumph]

Nine. I don't know much about these but to me you have a Mauser worth $200- $300 to the right person.

[BlasterBob]

At least you can be pretty certain that it is considered to qualify for the Curio Relic classification. [blaster]

[CS1983]

Does that say 1918 or 1938?

[Martinjmpr]

Nine. I don't know much about these but to me you have a Mauser worth $200- $300 to the right person.

Actually, not a Mauser although it shoots the same caliber (7.92mm.) People often assume all old German bolt guns are "Mausers" but that's not always the case. The action seems different from most of the older Mausers I've seen (and my Winchester Model 70, which was derived from the M-1903 Springfield, which was almost a straight copy of the M98 Large Ring Mauser.) There is a rotating segment on the front of the bolt (basically about the first inch of the bolt turns separately from the rest of the bolt) which is something I've never seen on a Mauser.

The GEW 88 was made by several manufacturers in Germany but from what I've read, Mauser wasn't one of them. The GEW was replaced in German inventory by the large ring (M98) Mauser and remaining stocks were kept for reservists.

[ChickNorris]

Does that say 1918 or 1938?

Looks to me like '38

[Martinjmpr]

Looks to me like '38

Ah, you know I think you're right. I had just thought it was 1918 but the more I look at the photo the more that 3rd digit looks like a "3".

[Martinjmpr]

OK, thanks to the eagle eyes of some readers here, I have obtained more info. [not-worthy]

Apparently the Turks converted a bunch of old rifles to take the more modern 7.92 cartridge in 1938. That explains both the date on the barrel and the lack of any other German markings on the barrel.

The "good" news is that the rifle is likely fine to shoot 8mm Mauser modern rounds (hell it's the same age as the Winchester Model 70 I hunt with every year.)

The "bad" news: not much of a "collector piece." Even with the matching bayonet I doubt it's worth two bills.

[Dunno] Oh well, I guess it will go into the back of the gun safe with the other guns that are "too cheap to sell" (Chicom SKS, Taurus M94 Revolver, etc.)

[CS1983]

Pair it with 500 rounds and sell it at the next panic.

[chuckchili]

I think you have it all figured out, I bought three of those that were bolted to a wall in a restaurant for 50 years. I attempted to take all the best parts and make one complete rifle and sell off the rest of the parts. My problem (that you do not have) is I did not have a decent stock. I ended up giving up and selling all parts. The funny thing is- those stocks are crazy rare but they?re not really in demand. It will shoot commercial ammo but unfortunately the rifle isn?t worth too much. Neat piece of history though.

[SideShow Bob]

Only thing that know about that rifle is that they were selling well south of a $100 dollar bill in the mid to late 1980’s with a tin of surplus ammo.

[rondog]

Damn, if I had the spare cash I'd be trying to talk you into selling it to me!

[Nagant1984]

That's an M38. "Turkish Mauser". I owned one and traded it away a couple years ago. Here's a whole site about them: https://www.turkmauser.com/1938/

These used to be the cheapest Mausers around. Especially one shooting a viable cartridge that's still common enough to find any loads for. They were not desired much for collector value but they are a solid gun. I'd rather have a Mauser action than a Mosin action any day. And I kind of like the cock on closing function it has. It's certainly a little different feeling than the K98.

As for the value, you can ask whatever you want but you'll probably have to price it low to get anybody to want to buy it. Since there's better milsurp bolt action rifles out there for sub $500 (M48, Lee Enfield, etc) in my opinion you could get around $350 out of it pretty quickly. If you want more than that be prepared to keep it listed on Armslist or Gunbroker for quite a while. Or keep it. These are great shooting rifles and the 8MM Mauser cartridge is a pretty sweet one for deer or other similar sized game. I was able to get less than 3 MOA out of mine pretty easily and I'm sure if you practice with it and have decent / consistent ammo you could do a little better even. Nothing amazing for a modern sporting rifle but considering I was shooting surplus ammo from the 1950s in a rifle from almost 100 years ago I'll take it!

[rondog]

There's one on the wall at Casa Bonita. Damned if I can upload photos here anymore though.....