I pulled this rifle from my collection the other day. It is an un-modified rifle, straight 1888 commission rifle, has an "S" bore (.320" slugged out). Made in Spandau, 1895. The bore is in excellent plus condition! Years back, you have probably seen a photo of some rifles piled in an Ecuador warehouse being shoved around by a bulldozer. This rifle came from one of these piles! I got two at the time. I sold the lesser conditioned one to a friend of mine. This rifle has a dinged up stock, looks more likes dings and scratches from combat use. NO cracks and the inletting is perfect. I washed up the stock using that "purple colored detergent" (NAPA) and hot water and that treatment got rid of the old dirt and oil and even some of the lesser scratches disappeared. Excellent Imperial German stock cartouches and miscellaneous other letter stampings So, I'm thinking that this will make an excellent cast bullet shooter. I have a quantity of Missouri Bullet Company cast, 170 grain, RNFP slugs for the .32-40 that I are ready to go. Other bullets in this caliber I have cast up myself from a previous project. Those are in .322" and are one notch below Linotype in hardness. Why am I thinking UNIQUE would do fine? I have cleaned up the metal parts and the finish is mostly brown patina, some blue. Normal "GEW 1888" marking on the left receiver wall (below this making is a very small font "N.M". Any idea what that means?). Maybe "National Match"? (!) What would you all think about putting this rifle to use?
Thanks,
GregT.