DWalt
Member
At the local gun show this morning I saw a truly beautiful M1888 Commission rifle in sporterized form. Or maybe it was originally manufactured as a sporter. It had no stampings of any kind on it that I could see. The seller wanted $300 for it and I very nearly bit just due to its excellent workmanship and finish. The only problem was that there was no front sight blade, only a base on the barrel jacket. I asked him if it was chambered for the 8x57 J (.318")or the 8x57 JS (.323"). He had no idea what I was talking about so I explained that many of the earlier military 8x57 J Commission rifles had their chamber throats enlarged by German arsenals to safely fire the 8x57 JS military ammunition used during WWI (and WWII). And that those rifles usually had an "S" stamped on the top of the front receiver ring to indicate the chamber conversion.
Has anyone else seen such a "sporterized?" Commission rifle? If it is a true sporter, and not a former military rifle, I might buy it if it is still there at the next gun show.
BTW, I am a former owner of a fairly high condition WWI-era M1888 military rifle having the aforementioned chamber conversion and an "S"-stamped receiver ring. I had no problems firing several types of full-power WWII 8mm Mauser military ammunition in it despite its slightly smaller bore diameter. The WWI German engineers apparently saw no safety issues about that either.
Has anyone else seen such a "sporterized?" Commission rifle? If it is a true sporter, and not a former military rifle, I might buy it if it is still there at the next gun show.
BTW, I am a former owner of a fairly high condition WWI-era M1888 military rifle having the aforementioned chamber conversion and an "S"-stamped receiver ring. I had no problems firing several types of full-power WWII 8mm Mauser military ammunition in it despite its slightly smaller bore diameter. The WWI German engineers apparently saw no safety issues about that either.
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