Spandau 1989 Mauser

[Jay2020]

Hello,
While visiting a friend yesterday I spied a rusted old rifle in the corner of his garage. He said it was junk and I could have it . Getting it home I discovered I had a mauser gew 88 commission rifle. Most everything is there and it should clean up nicely. One major thing missing is the bolt head. My question is would I be able to use another bolthead say off a few 98? Are gews interchangable?
Thanks for your time

 

[.455_Hunter]

A few items...

1. It's not a Mauser.

2. The Gew 88 and 98 are completely different designs and share no critical interchangeable parts.

3. The detachable bolt head might be located with a used parts dealer, but they are commonly misplaced and in high demand.

4. Gew 88 is somewhat of a special case, and has a learning curve for safe operation.

 

[Jay2020]

Am I mistaken is is a few or a mauser?

 

[.455_Hunter]

The GEW 88 was developed by a Commission and not by Mauser. It is closer in design to a Mannlicher than the subsequent Mausers. GEW is an abbreviation for "Gewehr" which means "rifle" in German.

The original 7.92x57mm cartridge developed for the GEW 88 uses a smaller diameter bullet (.318) versus later (1905) 7.92x57mm ammunition (.323). Like I said, there is a significant amount of information that needs to be processed to fire one of these guns safely. The cartridge was not a Mauser development, but he definitely used it going forward.

I have been an owner of a 1891 production Ludwig and Loewe GEW 88 for over 30 years, getting mine at age 15 for elk hunting. I will now only shoot mine with US factory 8mm Mauser, loaded just above .30-30 performance.

The bolt design is a big problem with these guns, as the head is easily lost, and the rifle can be fired without it, guaranteeing disastrous and probably fatal results.

 

[Jay2020]

Thank you very much for the lesson. Looks like a wall hanger

 

[Jay2020]

You know while taking down for cleaning this morning at times things looked a lot like my Steyr 95

 

[.455_Hunter]

Thank you very much for the lesson. Looks like a wall hanger

At least until you find a bolt head. Depending on the bore diameter and bore condition, you may be able to fire it in the future. Just keep away from high-performance, full-power, Euro-type ammo. A GEW 88 with a good bore is a great candidate for pleasant and mild cast bullet loads.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

The G88 bolt was designed by an oft-overlooked gunsmith named Louis Schlegelmilch -- this bolt design was popular in its day, and shows up in rifles such as the M95 Dutch, the Portuguese Mauser–Vergueiro and Mannlicher–Schönauer. Here's what one of his original (and somewhat later) designs looked like:

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/schlegemilch-1896-closest-competition-to-the-mauser-98/

And here's a good discussion of the Gewehr 88's origins:

 

[Jay2020]

Thanks. Always willing to learn. Just got a book. Somehow became a magnet for mausers

 

[Archie]

As I recall, the bolt heads were made in different lengths - thousandths of an inch or millimeter - to adjust headspace as needed. Just guessing at one will likely not blow up anything, but excessive head space will allow cartridge cases to stretch and shorten the life of those cases significantly.

Also, the 1888 rifle (some of them anyway) were modified to allow use of the "new, improved" 1905 edition of the 8x57mm cartridge (later known as 8mm Mauser as mentioned by .455 Hunter). The top of the receiver has a "S" stamped; the "S" is seemingly disconnected from the rest of the legend. That "S" indicated the chamber has been altered and the 1905 edition (the more or less 150 grain, .323 caliber bullet) may be used. I presume it simplified the supply line demands (to not have two different rounds for the same set of rifles) and seems to operate in my Commission rifle without result.