Bolt Action Rifles. Wayne Zwoll

or opposite the bolt handle, push the bolt head into the bolt as far as it will go; then turn the bolt head ¼-turn counterclockwise so the ejector lug is aligned with the left locking lug. Place the cocking piece over the rear end of the firing pin, with the safety lug in line with the bolt handle. Insert the safety and spring into place with the safety wing to the left and, while depressing the safety, turn on the striker nut until the rear end of the firing pin is flush with the end of the nut.

      Top view of the M88 German Commission action.

      Remove the barrel, action and magazine assembly from the stock by removing the front and rear guard screws from the bottom of the magazine/guard. Remove the bolt stop by driving out the bolt stop pin from the bottom. Remove the trigger assembly by driving out the trigger sear pin. Depress the follower arm and insert a wire or brad into the hole exposed at the end of the follower plunger. Then remove the follower screw to remove the follower. Remove the magazine plate screw and slide out the magazine plate. Remove the clip catch screw and remove the catch and spring. Pull out the wire or brad from the follower plunger to move the plunger and spring. Reassemble in reverse order. Do not unscrew the barrel jacket or barrel from the receiver unless you have the proper tools available.

      Remodeling

      As soon as the M88 rifle had been adopted, German and other European gunmakers began making sporting rifles on this action. The practice continued long after the M88 was dropped in favor of the far better M98 Mauser.

      At first, these sporting rifles were generally chambered for the 8mm cartridge originally designed for this action. This round was originally known as the 7.9mm, and later on as the 7.9x57mm or 8x57mm Mauser. Its commercial designation was 8x57J, the “J” meaning Infanterie.^* This cartridge was loaded with a bullet of .318” diameter to match the normal bore (.311”) and groove (.320”) diameters of the military barrel. Therefore, the correct ammunition to use in the military M88 rifles and carbines is the 8x57J. The sporting rifles were also chambered for the 6.5x57mm, 7x57mm, 8x56mm, 9x57mm and other cartridges, all of them originally factory loaded to breech pressures of less than 45,000 psi. That was considered maximum safe working pressure for this action.

      The clip of the M88 will accept and handle any rimless cartridge having the standard 30-06 head size and those that are no more than about 3.250” long. Cartridges feed in a straight line into the chamber, and even those as short as the 35 Remington will function very nicely. In past years, I have seen several M88 carbines rebarreled to 35 Remington, and their owners liked them very much for hunting deer. I have also seen some rebarreled with an M98 Mauser 8mm barrel so that commercially loaded U.S. 8mm Mauser hunting ammunition could be safely used. U.S.-loaded 8mm Mauser cartridges show a breech pressure of less than 40,000 psi and, therefore, are quite safe for these old actions if the new barrel fitted has a groove diameter matching the .323” diameter bullet used in these cartridges. In fitting the M98 barrel to this action, it is necessary to turn and thread a new shank.

      M88 German Commission action, opened.

       German Model 88 Commission Rifle

      General Specifications

      Type . . . . . . .Turnbolt repeater.

      Receiver . . .One-piece machine steel forging. Slotted bridge.

      Bolt . . . . . . .Two-piece with dual-opposed locking lugs on forward part of body. Separate, non-rotating bolt head.

      Ignition . . . .One-piece firing pin, coil mainspring, cocking piece and firing pin nut. Cocks on opening bolt.

      Magazine . . .Single column, non-detachable box magazine. Five-shot capacity. Special clip needed.

      Trigger . . . . .Non-adjustable, double-stage military type.

      Safety . . . . .Rotary wing-type safety built into bolt sleeve. 180° swing from left to right, locking striker and bolt when in the “up” or right-side positions.

      Extractor . . .Machined, one-piece spring type built into bolt head.

      Bolt-stop . . .Separate, hinged to the rear left of receiver. Stops bolt travel by contacting left locking lug.

      Ejector . . . . .Plunger type, built into the bolt head, activated by an integral finger on the bolt stop.

      When the German gunmakers used the M88 action for a sporting rifle, they seldom used the barrel jacket. The front guard screw was threaded into a nut inletted into the barrel channel in the forend. When using the military action without the barrel jacket, the collar on the jacket can be used to cover the threads on the front of the receiver. For looks only, the new barrel should have a shoulder like any sporting rifle barrel, as shown in the drawing of the barrel shank specifications. German gunsmiths installed some double-set trigger mechanisms in these actions, and I see no great problem involved in installing those made for the M98 Mauser in the M88 action.

      The German gunmakers also used the basic M88 action, but minus the magazine, for making up many fine, lightweight shot target/hunting rifles. I once owned and used a rifle of this type chambered for the 5.6x52R (22 Savage Hi-Power) cartridge. The receivers of these rifles have a solid bottom, and the action is almost always fitted with a fine double-set trigger. The barrels are usually partially octagonal, fully octagonal or ribbed, and fitted with sporting sights. When the 219 Zipper cartridge was introduced in 1937, I made up a single shot varmint rifle on the military M88 action. I left off all the magazine parts, filled the magazine well opening in the receiver with an aluminum block and used a Krag trigger guard. The bolt face was easily opened to accept the rimmed 219 case. It was one of my first successful varmint rifles, and it dropped many a crow in the Iowa farm country where I lived.

      Comments

      Thus far I have referred to the action under discussion as the German Model 88 Commission action since it was the first of this type and design to be adopted. Actually, the action is partly Mannlicher design, partly Paul Mauser’s, with some ideas thrown in by the German Testing Commission—whose job it was to find, develop if necessary, and test the new action which was to be adopted. The magazine was entirely the invention of Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher, an Austrian arms inventor. It seems likely that Mannlicher may have had a hand in designing the receiver and bolt, although the two-piece design of the bolt, the firing mechanism, safety, trigger and the slotted receiver were all Mauser patents. The forward dual-opposed locking lug system had been used previously on some other rifles, a design feature that is neither Mannlicher nor Mauser. Credit must be given to the testing commission for arranging all of these features in a single action that turned out so well. Later on, the great Steyr arms factory in Austria, the firm that manufactured most of the many rifles von Mannlicher invented, produced other military and sporting rifles based essentially on the same action. These included the M92 and M93 Rumanian rifles in 6.5mm caliber and the M95 Dutch Infantry rifle. Using a rotary spool magazine invented by Otto Schoenauer, one-time head of the Steyr factory, they also manufactured 6.5mm military rifles for Greece.

      The bolt and receiver of this rifle, with minor changes and improvements, was essentially the same as the M88 Commission rifle. The M1903 Greek action later became the basis for the world renowned Mannlicher-Schoenauer sporting rifle.

      M88