Interesting mix of weapons – A ZB30, a Mauser 98, and what appears to be an 1891 Mauser. Photo courtesy of Beryl Barnett.
Vintage Saturday: Wingshooting
Semiauto pistol
Is My Luger All Matching?
Today I am visiting Simpson Ltd in Galesburg, Illinois – a gun shop, import/export shop, and premier Luger dealer. The question we are look at is one of the most common they hear from customers: […]
Bolt Action Rifles
A Unique Pre-WWI Custom Combination Gun
This unique custom sporting rifle (and shotgun) is a very cool example of the true gunsmith’s art. This firearm began as a Mauser model 98 action, which was embellished and fitted with a fancy barrel […]
Bolt Action Rifles
German Mauser Obrez Pistol
From the collection of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, a reader named James found an example of an Obrez pistol made on a Mauser K98 rifle action. This apparently was made by Czech partisans during World […]
hey, TinTin shot a Mosquito down with a Stuhrmgewehr!
This is not ZB 30 machine gun, but ZB 26:-)
I’m going to take a guess that the one rifle is an M-1889 Belgian.
Almost certainly a Belgian ’89 (or variant), based on the external magazine and the barrel jacket.
Why not; Red Baron was also shot down by rifleman.
I thought he was shot down by a beagle with an active fantasy life…
Very cool reply.
But only after he had shot down the beagle too many times to count.
Were these possibly occupation troops in Belgium or Holland? Their inventory of weaponry certainly seems to indicate that they were members of a second-line unit usually associated with that sort of duty. The Alsatian pup seems to be more interested in what is in the grass just ahead of his ( or her ) nose than in the otherwise dramatic proceedings around him ( or her ).
An Alsatian, or perhaps a Belgian Malinois..?
Could be. Hard to tell from the photographic resolution ( or lack thereof ).
Looking at the details in these pictures mades my head hurt but could the long rifle be a Gewehr 88?
No, because it doesn’t have the barrel shroud. A Belgian 1889 Mauser is probably the best guess.
Actually, it DOES appear to have the barrel shroud, a feature of the original Belgian ’89.
Reasons why it’s not a Commission M1888:
1. Bolt handle BEHIND the rear receiver ring. Gew88s have a split bridge.
2. The construction of the external magazine. If I remember correctly, there’s a “toe” at the front of the ’89 and ’91 magazines which houses a pivot for the follower. ’88s have no such structure.
Chris, that’s a really astute observation, especially coming off an old photo that isn’t all that sharp. My hat’s off to you on this one.
My FIRST firearm was a Commission ’88 cut down to short rifle length (probably for the Turkish Forestry Service) that I bought while in college in the ’70s. I’ve owned several more since then, including a Gew ’91 artillery short rifle. I’ve always been fascinated by the Commission ’88 and its Dutch and Greek cousins. Some day I’d like to own some of the commercial sporter conversions like the ones in the 1910 Alfa catalog.
Okay, you might have had a slightly unfair advantage when it came to identifying the rifle in the photo :-D. That still has to be a pretty impressive ongoing collection you’ve owned over the years — I’m jealous! Seriously, though, I think it’s really great that you’ve had the opportunity to do so, and I hope those commercial sporter rifles will come your way soon. Many thanks for being kind enough to share this with the rest of us!
They really are neat guns with a much richer history than people think, just by virtue of all the countries that used them, including Germany, China and Turkey. If I’m not mistaken they were even used in the Easter Rising.
I am also pretty confident that the longer rifle is indeed a Belgian M 1889 Mauser.
The documentary My Private War has amateur movie footage of German soldiers shooting down a Russian observation plane with rifles early in WW2. So it did happen.