Opinions on 1888 Commission Q&A???
 

The November 2013 issue of 'American Rifleman' arrived yesterday, and in the 'Technical Questions & Answers' there is a question & answer [duh!] about 1888 Commission rifles/carbines...

I have several books open in front of me, and I looked up several online articles a couple years back on these rifles and their cartridge...(I want the carbine)...

Reid Coffield is a contributing 'gunsmithing' editor for Shotgun News.

It's not a copyrighted article, and it will eventually appear on the AR website, so here's a scan of the Q&A...

It's not a comprehensive history of this rifle, and may well have been edited for content and space allotted...

Comments??? Criticisms??? Applause??? Additions??? Issues??? :)

I agree with what most he said, except some of them had their barrels changed or converted to the .323 diameter and a slugging of the barrel will tell you that. As for reloading for a commission, if the bore diameter has been upgraded, keeping the loadings light is good but I don't see the need to use lead bullets and deal with all the leading and the cleanup involved? Leading of the bore will actually cause preasure increases if not dealt with right, so I don't know why he is recommending that? Even if you had a full blown unmolested 1888 Commission with a .318 diameter bore and it was a sound gun, why not reload for it modestly and with jacketed bullets of the proper diameter?

On Youtube there is a guy whose userId is: TheKoba49. He does a lot of videos about firearms and he goes into a great deal of detail. He has about 6 or more videos on the Commission 88 rifle and he goes in the ammo, the problems, the fixes, the markings that indicate what fixes or improvements have been applied to a particular rifle.

This is one of his videos: Commission 88 part 1.

You can check out his channel or do searches to find all the other of his videos on the Commission 88 rifle.

Richard

Here's another scan from CotW 9th Ed. I direct your attention to the two pictures at the top, and the two lines of the ballistic text...

The round bullet cartridge in the pic is the 'J' cartridge...226grs!!! That is a real thumper!!! From a rifle with a 29 in barrel!!!... :eek:

The Germans were just then converting from black powder to smokeless, and from the 11mm M1871 rifle to the 7.92mm M1888...

These rifles were widely distributed/sold after the adoption of the M98 Mauser in 1898, and were also used as reserve weapons in both world wars...And by German 'allies' in those wars...

This is another useful link that you may like: Commission 88 rifle. This link is a static webpage that is very informational.


This is a video that eventually gets to the details of ammunition and re-loading. It is also very interesting: Reloading.

A friend of mine has a couple of Chinese 88 Commision rifles that were used hard and appear to be in the original 8x57J chambering, though it hasn't been verifed. Both of their bores are worn smooth, no usable rifling left whatsoever on both of them with one of them having a cracked bolt head by one of the lugs. I would guess ( can't prove) that these were used with full power military JS ammo in their service life and hence part in their condition now.

That page is the 11mm Model 71/84 rifle. There's no listing for the 1888 Commission rifles... :(