doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com German drop leaf bolt rifle

I have a nice little single shot in 38-55 with no name on it. has engraving on the receiver, bolt and trigger guard. 2 set trigger and pop up peep sight. Barrel has crown over B, crown over U, crown over G Also 6.14 and 1100 Bolt has crown over U and crown over B in 2 spots. Serial # 8294 Solid rear sight has extra fold up leaf Matted top on Oct. barrel cheek rest on stock.
A lot of work for no name. Any information would be nice.
Bill

Glass' 38-55 Butterknife Handle.





Proofed in the final state in June 1914 @ the Zella-Mehlis Proof Facility.







Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Very nice rifle Bill but what's a drop leaf rifle?

That's what we call the bolt handle up here.
Bill

Interesting. We refer to it as a >>Butterknife<< handle in Alabama, unless Ford on River-View Time takes issue, and we use it to spread butter on our June/July Peaches & Cream Corn harvest; well, I'd take field corn any time.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Kraut Butter-Knife we affectionally refer to it, made by the Bosche/Bosch/Cabbage-Head(portmanteau alboche).

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

OOP'S made a mistake Mike Harrell I did not see before posting you are from Alaska. I lived so long in Warroad,MN 6 miles from the Canada border I assume everybody lives below me!
You are in Alaska so for you it would be down here.
Raimey
Thank you for putting up pictures!! I thought i read the "date code" right as I learned from you. This would put it about 1 month before the start of WW1 although it probably took awhile to drag everybody in it I think would have shut down production after awhile besides Military needs? As you know I am interested in the history not only of my guns history but around them. I was wondering if you ou have dates these codes started and ended? If you noticed I stated that I thought this was the date but did not say I know i have learned by experience that a little bit of knowledge can be more dangerous than none.
Bill

Butter-Knife sounds O.K. but not as nice as drop leaf to me. When i was 10 or 11 years old and getting into guns my neighbor who was 80 years old with a lot of guns showed me one.
He told me the bolt handle resembles a leaf and is dropped down and was a drop leaf bolt. I believe that old man bless his soul and forever more and since will be a drop leaf.
By the way this is the only one I have.
Bill

BGlass,
You asked for information. There is no doubt you bought the rifle as a 38-55 as it is plainly marked 38-55. However, it was proofed as having an 8,7mm bore (not groove or bullet) diameter barrel, which speaks to one of the 9,3 cartridges instead. The most common of the 9.3's was the 9.3x72R, but the closest to the 38-55 was the 9.3x57R. Immediately after the war, when German ammunition was scarce to non-existent, 38-55 ammunition was often fired in 9.3x72R rifles. This was because there wasn't much information about German rifles and the 38-55 would chamber in many of them and they didn't blow up. In spite of the difference in bullet diameters, lead bullets are pretty forgiving and 38-55 jacketed bullets were made for modest velocity and had a chance to move before encountering the smaller diameter barrel. There is a chance that the rifle was rechambered to 38-55, if it wouldn't chamber in this particular rifle. If you want to find out whether it was made as a 9.3x57R or 9.3x72R (or one of the other 9.3s) or if it was rechambered; the answer lies in a chamber cast. If you have been shooting it as a 38-55 and are satisfied with the accuracy, you might not care what the answer is. You also wondered why such a rifle wouldn't show the maker's name. Such rifles were made "for the trade" and sold to different dealers for marketing to the "end users". These dealers often applied their own name, but some did not. This is why many seemingly identical rifles have different names, or no name. While it is not actually a model 1871 Mauser, this type of action was known as a 71 Mauser type and was a popular style rifle for small cartridges up to the 9.3x72R, including cartridges for both hunting and target shooting. While it is counterintuitive, production of sporting rifles continued through the war.
I was interested that the rifle in the photo was laying on a Berdan decapping tool. Did it come with the rifle? Do you handload Berdan primed cartridges?
Mike

Thank you for the information! This rifle is currently chambered for the 38-55 which makes it i nice addition to my High Wall 1894 Win and 1873 Marlin. Pulled out a 9.3x72R to see if that could have been the donor for this rifle but no way as it is too long.
I received the decapper with a german cape gun. I thought the 11mm might be a 11Mauser from the poor pictures but even as appears to be the same shell this one has only a 2" case and the H. Utendoerffer headstamp has 1876 not the Nurnberg that i would expect. Sometime will post the Cape gun and shells.
Bill

I thought at first that the device on your gun might be a long range focusing device of the type often seen on Mannlichers. The were aligned with the sights and acted like a pinhole lens to sharpen the image. I had one on a gun I once purchased and didn't believe it at first but it actually worked quite well. It brought the sights well into focus at longer distance and rInteresting gThe peep sight is interesting. Very similar devices were seen on a lot of Mannlichers but they were generally not sights but long distance sighting assist devices. They had a very tiny hole and worked like a manual diaphragm in a lens. eally helped. The one on your gun was obviously intended as a peep sight due to the size of the aperature and the lack of any other rear sight.

Interesting gun.

The rifle does have a fixed rear sight and a foldup leaf with it.the "peep sight" has a really small hole. the reason it looks bigger is it is adjustable for both rear sights. right now it is aligned with the shorter fixed sight and will not work with the taller fold up sight without adjustment.
Hope this makes it clearer and Thank You for the information! I was unaware of this different concept on the sights. was wondering why most the venire sight i have had the rear sights removed! now it makes more sense to me.
Bill