A WWI Gewher 98 should have a .323 bore and should be totally safe to run modern European 7.92x57mmm Mauser ammo like the rounds sold by S&B, Norma and Privi Partisan.
-brickboy240
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Senior Member
A WWI Gewher 98 should have a .323 bore and should be totally safe to run modern European 7.92x57mmm Mauser ammo like the rounds sold by S&B, Norma and Privi Partisan.
-brickboy240
Member
Originally Posted by wintermute
The Germans would almost certainly have restamped if there was a caliber change, and marked the barrel for proof pressure.
Member
Maybe.
A factory sporter built post WW I might be stamped with the caliber... Have seen more than a few that were not.
A gunsmith built sporter might also be stamped. A hunter or enthusiast built sporter? All bets are off. A chamber cast is easy enough to do and inexpensive enough... and will absolutely answer the question of what cartridge is the rifle chambered in.
Member
Yes, with any gun of unknown provenance it's a good idea to check.
Member
Yes this is what I plan to do. The receiver is marked "Danzig 1916", so clearly this rifle was sporterized after the fact. As I understand it, all rifles in Germany after the end of WWI were required to be re-chambered for non-military ammo. As I understand it, the only way to determine if this rifle is chambered for 8x57IS and not 8x60 is to do a chamber casting. What dimensions should I pay particular attention to? Also, does anyone have any tips on how to get the cerrosafe into the chamber without spilling it all over the place?
Member
You might see how deep a .30-06 (7.62X63) fits, and compare depth in a known 8X57 chamber. That'll tell you relative depth. The cases have the same base and diameter.
Do not, of course, attempt to fire the .30.
Yes, this is guerrilla gunsmithing.
Last edited by MichaelZWilliamson; 11-21-12 at 08:57.
Member
A few years back I got a great deal on a case of 1950s Yugo surplus and a few hundred rounds into it I had kabooms. After some research I learned the brass had deteriorated after so many years, making it weak and causing case head failures. IIRC the '52-56 lots were more affected but needless to say I quit shooting the stuff and sold the remainder to a reloader that wanted to pull the bullets. The 98 Mauser is a great design and the saftey features worked as intended after 60+ years through two painful kabooms. If I had been shooting an 8mm autoloader like a Hakim or FN-49 things would not have ended well. The rifle was taken to a gunsmith to check headspace and damage and everything was found to be normal and it's now one of my favorite shooters along with my Finnish M39. I now shoot only 70s or later Yugo surplus, along with a big stash of Yugo M75 and Portuguese 8mm.
Last edited by El Pistolero; 11-21-12 at 10:06.
Senior Member
I had a WWI Gew98 that was made in Danzig in 1915 and it was a .323 bore and shot regular 8x57mm Mauser ammo with no problems at all.
-brickboy240
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks