An old gun that's a work of art

I have always had a thing for old custom guns at the turn of the 20th century that were made by the masters, the early days of Holland and Holland, John Rigby, etc. A while ago, our local gun shop got in a couple of older rifles that were custom pieces, one being either a Mauser 1881 Karabiner or '91 Short rifle, the giveaway being the turned down bolt handle.
This gun was built by Eduard Kettner in Koln. The gun is in 7.92 x 57mm, it's the earlier 8mm Mauser with the .318" bore (I've already slugged the barrel and used a dummy round to confirm the chamber). I know I will be handloading for it and not using the hotter .323" commercial ammo out there now. The serial number on the bolt matches the number on the inside of the magazine floorplate.
The rest of the gun is simply amazing in the time it took to put together. The top of the action is stippled by the chamber, and then near the bolt and even part of the bolt. The barrel itself is a half-octagon from BohlerStahl (Bohler Stahl), the Bohler brothers, Albert and Emil were considered some of the finest steel makers in Germany at that time. The star on the maker's mark was because they were Jewish and proud of it and kept that logo until 1933 when they moved their plant to Austria. The company operates to this day under a slightly different name.
The top of the barrel is engraved along the flat and includes the Eduard Kettner name which looks like it has the remains of some gold inlay. The bolt also has a set up for claw style scope mounts and an express rear sights. Even the sight blades have been checkered.
The gun has double set triggers which work and work very well, inside the action is still the remains of the case coloring that must have been on the gun when it was made. The scope mounts are scout/long relief style because the action still uses the Mannlicher style clips for the rounds.
I spent about 3-4 weeks researching the rifle before I decided to trade a lever action Marlin for it, since the odds of me seeing something like this again is probably not going to be an every day thing. And yes, I do plan on shooting this gun. I can only wonder at how long it took to make this gun and how much it would cost to make a gun like this today.

Truly a work of art! Congrats! I have a feeling it will shoot as good or better, than it looks.

Very pretty shooting machine. Well done!

I've got a 98 with the I (J) bore. I reload for it and there is only one source of J bore bullets I could find. Plus, finding a sizing die is problematical as well. But not unsurmountable by any means.

While I've never owned one, I've always been fascinated by the German pre war sporters and "Guild Guns".

They always exhibit fantastic craftsmanship and hand work, yours being no exception. It's remarkable in this day and age the level of hand fitting that went into its construction.

Thanks for sharing it.

Very nice........... I’m a fan of Old World craftsmanship!

That is class that you don’t see in today’s ball bats they sell as rifles.

A show stopper for sure ! Love the pics.

Here's mine, a guild gun made in 1910, according to German Gun Owners Assn.

I think Buffalo has the bullets in one size only, about 170 gr. IIRC. I found a J reloading die on eBay. I down loaded rounds because the gun is so light recoil is noticeable.

The last 4 #s are on the stock, inlaid somehow. You can only see them in bright sunlight.

The OP's rifle is a GEW88 sporter. Many were made from x-Military M88 German infantry rifles and carbines. The others were purpose built sporters.

The .318bore was the 8mmx57 groove size of the day along with the heavier round nose bullet at over 200gr.

You can reload the caliber simply by using standard 8x57dies.
Don't use the expander 'button' ,,just let the FL die size the neck down and leave it that way. It'll be small enough for the smaller dia 'J' bore bullet (actually 'I' bore for Infantrie).

If the case necks are too tight using this method,,then go back to using the expander button but spin in down in dia to reduce how much the neck is expanded.
For a supply of bullets, I use standard 170gr 32Winchester Special jacketed FN, or cast bullets. They are .320d and the thin jacket on the jacketed bullets poses no problems down the 318 bore.
Keep loads light and these are wonderful rifles to use.

Many GEW88 Military rifles which were orig in the J bore .318 were converted to 'S' bore .323 simply by rechambering. The neck of the chamber was enlarged to allow the case holding the .323d bullet enough room to expand and release the bullet w/o running pressures up.
The orig .318d bore was simply left as-is. No re-bore/rerifling to .323.

Yours looks to have the 'clip saver' door on the bottom of the magazine box. A hinged door that keeps the empty enbloc clip from falling free after the last rd is chambered. Then you simply flip the door open with it's over center flat spring keeping it open or closed for you and retrieve the 'clip'.

I think Eddy Kettner was a retailer. There was a family of them IIRC.
Haenel (sp?)built a lot of the 88 Sporters as well as the New Model Mannlichers. The latter a mix of M88 Mannlicher and M98 Mauser features.
Neat scope mt. One of mine has claw mounts that place the (now missing) scope off to the left side.
Another is just iron sites. Both 8mmx57J

Thanks for posting this. Seems like the gun rags these days showcase nothing but MSRs, 1,000 yard tactical rifles and all of it in 6.5 Creedmore. It's nice to see blued steel and walnut somewhere besides Sporting Classics...and my safe.

Like 2152HQ I also use the 170 grain bullets for the 32 winchester in My stalking rifle with 318 bore. They work great and I have taken a deer with it. Just to say I have.

I have the exact same rifle that David show us. Mine is hanging in the wall of my dining room. I Never tried to shot it because has a few parts missing from the magazine. The barrel is like 26", and the wood work is awesome.

Congratulations on your fine piece David, and thanks for sharing.

Reloading: I don't know about once-fired brass, but with new 8x57 brass, won't do. The bullet falls through the neck when you attempt to seat it. Way too large neck.

Gene L said:

Reloading: I don't know about once-fired brass, but with new 8x57 brass, won't do. The bullet falls through the neck when you attempt to seat it. Way too large neck.

Click to expand...

Jump back a ways and read 2152hq's post. He addressed that problem quite well.

I read the post which has a lot of info in it. However, a new 8mm brass neck is too wide to accept an I-bore bullet. I had to neck them down in a I neck sizing die for the bullet to work. I have no experience with resizing fired brass.

I'll try without the expander ball. I hope I didn't spend my time and money looking for a J-bore sizing die with an S would work!

Gene L said:

I read the post which has a lot of info in it. However, a new 8mm brass neck is too wide to accept an I-bore bullet. I had to neck them down in a I neck sizing die for the bullet to work. I have no experience with resizing fired brass.

I'll try without the expander ball. I hope I didn't spend my time and money looking for a J-bore sizing die with an S would work!

Click to expand...

One thing I looked into is getting an expander die for a .32-40 which is .320 is so which I am going to try with some 8mm dies to see if it works.

Wow, that rifle leaves me a little speechless. I don't know what to say, other than the beauty of the craftsmanship, that has only gotten better with age is truly something to behold. I'm think of saving this picture in my files so I can go back and look at it from time to time and marvel at the way things used to be. Thanks for taking the time to post it Mr. LaPell.