Handsome Rob

Also, send me your address. I'm 99.9% sure I have a set of 336 blanking screws you can have.

Welcome to club the club brother! I think we own the only 2 .44 336s in Tennessee!

And if you've learned nothing else from all this, it's that Robbie spends faaaaar too much time on the internet!

So basically, from a combination of the info I've researched & received: It was built at the Oberndorf munitions plant sometime after 1898 & before 1901 where it languished until it was sent to the Suhl proof house in 1912 (common for rifles to be bulk manufactured, then batch proofed as needed) From the it was shipped to the arsenal in Erfurt, where some enterprising young nerk decided he needed it more than the military & nicked it! Sometime after the Great War, during Germany's 'reconstruction' effort, said nerk (unlikely, due to being probably incredibly dead) or someone else had it bored out to 9mm, to avoid the military caliber ban, but it somehow managed to evade being re-proofed (the equivalent nowadays of owning a suppressor without a stamp. Very slap-on-the-wristy) Time passed, it passed through the hands of one Karl or his brother Kurt Schüler, deer were probably killed & then a really keen 19 year old (probably) American GI decided to throw it in his sea bag & bring it here! God only knows who he was, or where it came in, but it ended up in Alaska, where my old mate Bob picked it up, carried it to Africa, killed at least a lion (and lord only knows what else) and then it ended up in my sticky mitts! It's so cool I can't hardly stand it!

I received some further info this morning (Kudae from the Nitro Express forums; an actual German, Mauser historian! In Germany!! ) "This rifle was proofed at the Suhl proofhouse in 1912 as the bore/land (notgroove/bullet!)diameter is marked as 7.8 mm, but the service load info is still given as 2.75 gramm smokeless rifle powder and a steel jacketed bullet. The CROWN + crown/N marks indicate proof using the 4000 atm special proof powder, according to the proof rule of July 23, 1893. The rifle was proofed only once for the 8x57 I cartridge. As it is rebored to 9x57, it lacks the mandatory reproof . So the reboring was probably done about 1920, when the „military“ 8x57 was prohibited and proofhouses were not operating due to revolutionary turmoil. As the worker’s marks under the receiver show, the action is a Gewehr 98 one of military production, smuggled out of the Erfurt arsenal. A „grey market“ action, sometimes encountered at that time. The crudely scratched name on the barrel is probably of a former owner. No reputable gunmaker would have signed his gun with such scribbling. The rifle was once mounted with claw mounts. As the scope was not „liberated“ too in 1945, the now useless bases were removed and the front base dovetail in the receiver ring filled in. "

Thanks Rod. It's not a hinged plate, just the standard sliding model. Im in deep conversation with a gent on 24hr Campfire who dated it to originally built between 1899 & 1901. The barrel is original to the action, but at some point has been rebored. The fact that it has a 'crown over N' proof, along with the plain crown, is suggesting a rebore. A fresh barrel would only have the one stamp, unless it was also rebored & that wouldn't make sense. Also, the matched 4 digit serial. There isn't any way to determine the rebore date, other than the second proof mark is post 1950 (I believe) & it would have to have been proofed before resale or return to the customer. It seems, from all this, that it was exported from Germany post 1950. The original maker's mark & factory stamp, as previously mentioned, have been removed when the dovetail was cut in the front ring. Im trying to get hold of a gent from the Nitro Express forum who seems to hold the key to understanding the random letter & number stamps under the receiver. He's in central Germany somewhere, in his late 70s & i'm guessing it's some big muck-a-muck in the Mauser collecting circles. Im going here can tell me which particular factory it came from. It doesn't really matter, at this point. I know everything I really need to (the fact that there's a 1:3 chance that it's pre-20th century just makes me giddy all over! ) but it would be nice to uncover at least the important bullet points of its history. Then imma go whack an elk with it.

Possibly, but really don't know. The 7,8mm is the original bore size & the crown over N denotes that it's been proved for nitro powder & that's the limit of my knowledge! The "Schüler" signature could be a makers mark, or owners signature. I have no clue.

I'm wondering if the original Waffen marking might have been on top of the front ring. They would've been milled off when the dovetail was cut.

The barrel measures exactly 615mm from bolt face to muzzle (a gnat's over 24-1/4") & the bore slugged at exactly .358 in the grooves, not the more typically European .355-.356, making me wonder if it could possibly have been rebored over here.

Here you go. This is everything I can find..... The 5167 serial number is matched throughout all the action parts, barrel & steel buttplate, although oddly not on the bottom metal/trigger parts.

I think that the original loaf proof data puts it 1888 to 1901, but the action dimensions narrow that to post 1898. If i'm correct, that places it very tidily into a 3 year range, but I have no clue as to the maker or when it was converted from 7.92 to 9mm

Gotcha. Im going to pull it out of the stock today & get some detailed photos of all the markings, so I'll have a better idea then. Nothing is visible above the wood on the action, other than the load data (2.75grams, Rifle flake powder ((G.B.P))

I agree on the claw mount. The front dovetail has been filled in, very professionally. The rear screw holes look to be 2 different sizes & don't look to be perfectly aligned to the bore. Not that i'm planning on re-mounting an optic anyway. When you say "What does it say on the side rail?" What do you mean by side rail.

If anyone has any idea how to age or identify my latest acquisition, i'd really appreciate the help. All I know is that it's a commercial production on a '98 action in 9x57. It's insanely light (maaaaaybe 6lb) half octagon, half round barrel & the stock is veneer thin around the barrel!

Varget or cfe.223 will cover you for both. Cfe223 shines if you're wanting max elocity (especially in the .308) Varget seems like it's far more consistent though, albeit a couple hundred fps slower. Plus, it has the advantage of being available in 8lb jugs.

If i'd been smart enough to have bought this in .308, rather than .223, I'd still have it.

Same Redhawk, better grips.....

https://i.imgur.com/YggngPP.jpg

Now these two I really miss.....

Good God it looks like a truck exhaust. It couldn't be uglier if it had a nutsack hanging off it.

No major damage here, thankfully. Lots of trees & lines down in Tullahoma. No power since 17:00 yesterday.

I've probably hunted & killed a metric ton of skwerls in my life. Mostly in England. 99% with a .22 air rifle where head shots are imperative. A body shot will flat out not kill them. The other percent is a 50/50 mix of .22lr & a .410 single shot. I don't skwerl hunt much these days, but when i do, I have my .410 in my hand & a scoped Marlin .22 slung over my shoulder. I honestly think that both are essential. Squirrel hunting is far more successful if it's done in pairs. One with a shotgun, one a rifle.

I've heard about it since I moved here, but I've never had it. Didn't even know what it looked like. I just gave 'er a googling & realized I have literally TONS of it on my property. If anyone wants to come to tullahoma & clear my fence rows.......ahem....... pick a truck full of Poke, please feel free! (Le Wife asked if you could microwave it. Good God I detest that woman sometimes.)