battle damage Gewehr 88

[hoopharted]

at one point i had over 200 of these , im down to maybe 50 now , out of the arsenal i found a battle damaged example , it took a bullet right at the rear band , it breeched the shroud and the barrel itself as i can see light when siting the bore , i have never disassembled the rifle because i didnt want to dick with the originality of it , it was hanging on the wall of my gunroom for about 20 years , the last maintenance i decided to list it on GB and then got cold feet and yanked the auction early

[Larry D.]

50 you say?

By the way, that's cool as all gitout.

[hoopharted]

lol , yea thats probably more there than 50  isnt it ,LMAO !!! i was buying those things 20 at a time  , i had box's of bolts and coffee cans of bolt heads ,extractors , ejectors and sight slides , im almost completely out of bolts , maybe 8 or 10 left , no more heads except what i have on my personal rifles , and down to maybe 5 sight slides

[Larry D.]

Those are all old enough to be classed as antiques, right?

[hoopharted]

yup , they range from 1890 to 1895 , anything pre 1898 is antique , at one time i had half that shed packed with them

[hoopharted]

everyone said i was stupid , throwing my money away on them , i just laughed , paid $10 a piece for them , im selling them from $375 to $450 , whos stupid now

[Larry D.]

Hoo's stoopid?

Sorry brother, I couldn't resist......

[Greatguns]

Hoo's stoopid?

Sorry brother, I couldn't resist......

, we have entirely way too much fun on this site.

[hoopharted]

ok that one busted me up

[Phosphorus32]

Definitely a cool one  The bullet perforated the jacket and barrel on both sides. That is quite remarkable. Bad day for the rifle, but possibly a lucky day for the owner if the rifle took the worst of it.

The only thing similar I have is the stock of a MAS 36 that probably encountered "Front Toward Enemy" side of a Claymore while in VC/NVA hands.

[hoopharted]

oh yea that one is a keeper too ,i like that one ,

my rifle had small chunks of shrapnel in the butt ,it cut me several times before i just tapped it in flush ,  i am so glad i came to my senses and decided to hang onto it

[hoopharted]

i bet you could get a greased BB up that guys anus with a sledge hammer after taking a shot to the rifle like that

[Phosphorus32]

Definitely a sphincter-contracting event 

[echo1]

Very cool guys. PAX

[Bob_The_Student]

Definitely a cool one  The bullet perforated the jacket and barrel on both sides. That is quite remarkable. Bad day for the rifle, but possibly a lucky day for the owner if the rifle took the worst of it.

The only thing similar I have is the stock of a MAS 36 that probably encountered "Front Toward Enemy" side of a Claymore while in VC/NVA hands.

I'm amazed that those swabs shot through the butt stock like that! 

[Greatguns]

Those aren't swabs, they're fleches from a miniature bow with a rubber band for a string, shot by miniature little men from Mars.

[hoopharted]

im thinking someone didnt recover from that one , thats allot of damage

[Larry D.]

im thinking someone didnt recover from that one , thats allot of damage

You're likely correct. The former owner didn't need it anymore...

Pretty cool piece of history. Do you have any photo's of your "shrapnel butt"?

[Greasemonkey]

War is hell, plain and simple.. I have a few with damage, but these are the 2 worst, I'd say gruesome ones.

They look like normal Mosins.. but the solider carrying either of them, had a rough ending 



Blood etching on my Finnish capture '38 Tula, several collectors attributed to that, about the only part not etched is the last 4 to 6 inches of the barrel at the muzzle. The bolt, trigger, rear sight and spring are all Finnish replacements.




Barrel shrapnel damage on my Finnish capture '39 Izhevsk.

[Larry D.]

Wow.
I feel like not in the cool battle damaged stuff club.