doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Help reading German proof marks

This 1935 German OU combo rifle shoots Brenneke slugs above POA, even out to 100 yards. Like a laser. But I am having difficulty determining the correct 7x57R bullet weight.
The proof marks on the barrels read
St.m.G.
N 9gr.
7mm
57
1135
As I recall, line 1 means a steel jacketed bullet
Line 2 means a Nitro 9 gram bullet, which would be the 110-grain round nose [edit: my memory gets worse every day; it is the 139-grain bullet, which I have been shooting]
Lines 3 and 4 mean 7x57mm
and I thought line 5 meant the bullet weight, too, as in 11.35 grams, which is the 175-grain round nose.
I know there are German gun enthusiasts lurking here. Your help is most welcome, thank you

November 1935

http://www.shotguns.se/html/germany_1890-1945.html

Try these, they are cheap enough
https://www.grafs.com/catalog/product/productId/26786

or even try these

https://www.sellier-bellot.cz/en/products/rifle-ammunition/rifle-ammunition-hpc/detail/160/

ahhhh yes, that is the date, thank you. I knew it was a 1935 gun. But forgot that the date would be there.

Skeet, THANK YOU. With the gun came an old ammo can filled with boxes of various bullet weights of 7x57R Sellier & Bellot. 9 grams is the 139-grain bullet, which I have been shooting. Do you think the heavier bullets will perform well?

Pamtnman,

Taking the gun out for bear season?

For the cheap cost of a box of S&B ammo, I would surely give it a try.
BUT if the 139 is on point and stout enough for the game you will use it on, stay the course.

Mike

pamtnman,
The "hangtag" target that came with my 7x57R showed it had been sighted for the 11.2 gram bullet and I think this was pretty common practice. It seems yours was proofed for the 139 grain steel jacketed bullet. I mostly use the 11.2 gram HMK with complete satisfaction. You should use which ever load gives the best groups and a POI that is useable with Brennekes.
Mike

A note on those date codes. I have a 16-16-8x58R drilling which carries a 2.07 code. It is obviously a pre-1912 gun as the rifle barrel is marked by gauge rather than caliber, ie 172.28/59. All barrels are marked Krupp & are nitro proofed. A chamber cast showed proper dimensions for the 8x58R Sauer round so I suppose the chamber neck is actually 1 mm long. I forget what actual bore measures, should be between .300 & .310 (156.14) but the groove diameter is .321",

Yes in a way, but not in Pennsylvania. Every Fall I hunt one of the big wilderness areas in the Adirondacks, usually solo. Last year I killed an enormous bear that squared 7 feet; estimated 500-600 pounds. He was stalking me for two days, and I killed him at 30 yards as he was coming in and we were six miles from my truck. It is a truly wild area with absolutely no one within several miles. This year I am taking the ranger hunting, as he has yet to kill a whopper bear or buck. They are there but few and far between, and you really have to cover a lot of territory to see anything at all. All that said, I would not take a nice gun like this bear hunting here in PA. We hunt the northcentral and it is very tough on guns and people. Last year on one of our bear drives in laurel I tripped and face-planted. I am "large" and my chest crushed the nice binoculars hanging on the chest harness against the laurel stumps. All of our guns show terrible signs of use from the bear drives, like deep scratches, broken stocks, bent sights. Not to mention our knees and boots. And now that said, over the years I have taken a couple double English rifles out for the morning sit up high. And then swapped them out at the cabin for a bolt or lever gun when we head out to drive.
The Adirondacks are very rugged, but in a different way; they are more hospitable. I have hiked, hunted and fished from Maine to Alaska and a lot in between, and I have not encountered a rougher, more treacherous place to walk than the steep parts of northcentral PA. All the slick leaves on top of loose rock...and yet we return.

Mike, the 2.5" Brennekes print high even at 100 yards. The 139-grain is perfect for eastern deer and black bear. My first deer gun was a 1893 Spanish Mauser in 7x57, which I still have, and it shot the 175-grain round nose very well. I bought it from another kid at age ten, on our front lawn, without any grownups present, for thirty bucks. It killed a lot of deer. I really like the 7x57