The Gun Counter

Copy of the German Gewehr 88
The Type 88, sometimes known as "Hanyang 88", was a Chinese rifle that was issued to the National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The name derived from the Hanyang Arsenal factory that made this rifle.
Production started in 1895. The Hanyang 88 was used throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War and the early phase of the Chinese civil war, when the Hanyang Arsenal was shut down in 1947.

Wars in which these rifles saw action:
First Sino-Japanese War, Boxer Rebellion, Xinhai revolution, Long march, Central Plains War, Chinese civil war, Second Sino-Japanese War, Korean War.

I did some horse treading with a friend to add this one to my collection. I just got it yesterday and will take some good pics to post.

What?! Is this a "weekly" thing with you???

Friend: Why did you buy this Chinese rifle?
Candyman: It's Thursday.

Flintlock Tom wrote:What?! Is this a "weekly" thing with you???

Friend: Why did you buy this Chinese rifle?
Candyman: It's Thursday.

Well this is my 57th gun for the year and there are only 52 weeks in the year, you do the math.

Man... I dont know where you get all these nice toys but I am jealous.

Wow. What an interesting piece. Well wear!

Here is something funny. It is chambered for 8mm Mauser and the bore is a little dark with good rifling. I pulled a bullet from a 8mm Mauser round and dropped it into the bore at the muzzle. Other then a little ratteling it went all the way thrugh the barrel. This reall doesn't bother me because, I bought it more for my collection and not for shooting.

You don't want to shoot 8mm Mauser ammo in a Gew 88 commission rifle anyway.

Candyman wrote:Wars in which these rifles saw action:
First Sino-Japanese War, Boxer Rebellion, Xinhai revolution, Long march, Central Plains War, Chinese civil war, Second Sino-Japanese War, Korean War.

All those wars in less than 60 years!??!


And that doesn't count the "Great Leap Forward".

Windy Wilson wrote:

Candyman wrote:Wars in which these rifles saw action:
First Sino-Japanese War, Boxer Rebellion, Xinhai revolution, Long march, Central Plains War, Chinese civil war, Second Sino-Japanese War, Korean War.

All those wars in less than 60 years!??!


And that doesn't count the "Great Leap Forward".

I guess they just had trouble getting along with others.

The Gew-88 Commission rifle was caliber .318 according to my sketchy memory, while the WW2 8MM Mauser cartridge was .323.

My first bolt-action rifle was a variant of the Commission rifle that was sold to Turkey; it had no barrel shroud, the bore was .323,
and the receiver was cut for loading with a stripper-clip. I fired hundreds of rounds of commercial 8MM through it with no hint of trouble.
But one day at the rifle range at NWSTF Boardman, I encountered a cartridge headstamped "FCPQ 46"; it was identical to
the commercial rounds except for the FMJ bullet. Foolishly, I chambered it and pulled the trigger. The report was somewhat louder
than the previous shots but the recoil was the same. The main difference was that I needed a section of 2X4 to open the bolt,....
No visible damage to the rifle, but I never fired it again.

Some of my friends suggested that it might have been a high-pressure round intended for a machine-gun. I still have about 30 of them.

By the way, the rifle cost me $29.95 at Big Five Sporting Goods in Riverside, CA in 1979. I sold it along with the Turkish bayonet to a collector in El Centro for $100 back in 1988. He was firmly convinced that it shouldn't be fired with modern ammo.