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Have you located the date stamp?

730 or 7.30 or 7/30
1922-1939 Date mark, in this case July 1930.
Can be used from 1912 but was not a legal demand before 1922.

With the 2,2g G.B.P. / STMG stamp and the mm mark it has mixed stamps so it must have been made fore or aft a few years centred around 1912. Loseche typically peddled upper rung/quality offerings.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I have an unmarked drilling with an 8mm rifle barrel that has this same type of marking for the powder & bullet, IE; 2grG.B.P / St.m.G. Its caliber marking however is 172.28/59. Other than the 59 all other dimensions check out for the 8x58R Sauer. It bears a proof date code of 2.07 / 690. Unfortunately from 10" to 13" from the breech the entire right hand wall of the right barrel is missing, from top rib to side rib.
A Hammer Drilling by Miller & Val Greiss has a 9.3x72R rifle barrel under. It is marked K.m.G / 12.7gr for bullet only. Caliber marking is 8.8m/m / 72. Proof date is 6.13 / 240.
Both have regular 65mm, 16 gauge chambers. Both are Nitro Proofed for both rifle & shot barrels. In both cases the "m" for Mantle in the bullet designation appears to me to be lower case, as it does on this example.

Der Ami Skeetx kindly opened the images I supplied. Except for "85" followed by an upside-down "U" just forward of the forearm clip I could not find any other proof marks or codes than the ones shown. Where should I look for a date stamp? Its 2 3/4" from the breech face to start of the cones.

Adolf Loesche, Hoflieferant - Magdeburg had additional outlets/satellite locations and with different advertising:
Hof-B�chsenmacher, etc.

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=267712&page=all


"An Adolf Loesche opened his shop at Koelner Strasse 13, Magdeburg, in 1873. Son Gustav Loesche took over in 1905. In 1916 Waffen-Loesche, Magdeburg is listed at Wilhelmstrasse 13 (street renamed?). In 1916 he bought the remains of the bankrupt Stendebach & Co., Suhl. He closed this Suhl branch in 1926. His branch in Berlin is documented post-WW1 only, 1925-1941.
The Adolf Loesche, Grosse Packhofstrasse 21, Hannover branch was opened in 1919, together with A. Helmuthauser."

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Hal,
I saw where Skeetx opened the images, but they also won't open on my computer,where the image id should be is a block with a red x.If there was a date stamp, it would be near the caliber stamp.The lack of proof marks(as far as I can see w/o photos)indicates it was made before the proof law.This in itself would date the gun(likely 1892 or before).On the other hand, if it is marked with 8.8, this would be part of the normal proof marks and could indicate manufacture during the transition period before early 1893. I am disadvantaged by not having access to the photos.For practical purposes, the 2 3/4" would be from the breech face,but would be difficult to measure w/o a guage.Conventional measuring tools can be used for comparison, but don't expect a precise measurement.Anyway, there is little doubt that the gun is "short chambered", unless it has been opened up.This is based on the appearent age.Of more interest would be the rifle caliber,a chambercast is still needed to determine the precise 9.3 cartridge.
Mike

Too bad Mike. Is there any way I can change my photos to eliminate the infamous "red X" problem? I think is has something to do with codecs that I know nothing about.

The way I measured the chambers was to look down the illuminated barrel and put the corner of a piece of metal at the point where it looked and felt like the cones began. I know this is very crude. The cones look quite dark compared to the chambers and bore...a sign of lengthening?

Hal,
Raimey kindly emailed the photos to me. The gun does have proofs.The use of both powder and bullet(steel jacketed bullet) together with the lack of case length indicates it was proofed before the 1911 improvements were implemented in 1912.The bore diameter being shown in mm rather than gauge indicates it was likely close to the implementation date. The nitro proof and steel jacketed bullet,makes it more likely that the chamber is 9.3x72R, but I would still recommend a chamber cast.BTW the crown W on a shot gun barrel means the barrel is choked. The crown U is the view proof, which is a detailed inspection. The shotgun caliber(ga) shown in a circle w/o a "70" next to it indicates it was chambered for the standard length shells, which would have been 65mm.Sorry for the confusion.
Mike

Hal;
I habitually measure shotgun chamber lengths in essentially the same method you describe. I use a 6" flexible steel scale & slide it along the chamber wall until its corner touches the shadow of the cone as you described, then just read the measurement on the scale. I have "Definitely & Absolutely" in spite of what some may tell you, found instances where this was more accurate on older guns than using a chamber gauge. This was due to the chamber diameter being slightly smaller than the "Modern" gage thus causing the gage to stop short in the tapered chamber.
Understand the shell length is determined by its "Fired" length. Due to the amount of case used in making a fold crimp even a 3" magnum shell would ordinarily enter a 65 mm (Aprox 2 9/16") chamber with no resistance, But should not be Fired in same.

Many thanks for all the information. Can I grease the chamber and use plaster of Paris (with a good cleanup afterwards) or should I buy some cerrocast or whatever its called? Source for same?