Гевэр 88: Немецкая винтовка комиссии и эволюция патронов

The Gewehr 88 (commonly called the Model 1888 commission rifle) was a late 19th century German bolt action rifle, adopted in 1888. The invention of smokeless powder in the late 19th century immediately rendered all of the large bore black powder rifles then in use obsolete. To keep pace with the French (who had adopted smokeless powder "small bore" ammunition for their Lebel Model 1886 rifle) the Germans adopted the Gewehr 88 using its own new Patrone 88 cartridge, which was also designed by the German Rifle Commission. The rifle was one of many weapons in the arms race between the Germanic states and France, and with Europe in general. There were also two carbine versions, the Karabiner 88 for mounted troops and the Gewehr 91 for artillery. Later models provided for loading with stripper clips (Gewehr 88/05s and Gewehr 88/14s) and went on to serve in World War I to a limited degree. Unlike many German service rifles before and after, it was not developed by Mauser but the arms commission, and Mauser was one of the few major arms manufacturers in Germany that did not produce Gewehr 88s.

In 1886, fifteen years after their defeat by German forces in the Franco Prussian War, the French Army introduced the new Lebel magazine rifle firing an 8 mm high velocity projectile propelled by the new smokeless powder. This made Germany's rifle, the Mauser Model 1871, obsolete due to its large and slow 11 mm round propelled by black powder. The practical result was that the French rifle had greater accuracy and range, and needed cleaning much less often, giving French troops a tactical advantage over the German Army. In response the German Army's Rifle Testing Commission developed the Gewehr 88 which was adopted for service in 1888. For this reason the Gewehr 88 is also known as the "commission rifle," or "Kommissionsgewehr".

The first step was to select a new cartridge. This began by adapting a Swiss design, resulting in the Patrone 88 or M/88 of 1888, an 8 mm rimless "necked" cartridge (bullet diameter 8.08 mm/.318 in) loaded with an 8.08 mm (.318 in) 14.6 g (226 gr) round nose bullet propelled by a single base smokeless powder. In 1905, the 8 mm M/88 cartridge was replaced by the 7.92×57mm Mauser S Patrone (ball cartridge) which was loaded with a new 8.20 mm (.323 in) 9.9 g (154 gr) spitzer bullet and more powerful double base smokeless powder, resulting in nearly 40% higher muzzle velocity and 30% more muzzle energy.

The Gewehr 1888 is a further development of the receiver and bolt of the Gewehr 1871 combined with a Mannlicher magazine. It has a receiver with a "split bridge" (i. e., the bolt passes through the receiver and locks in front of the rear bridge); a rotating bolt head; and the characteristic Mannlicher style "packet loading" or "en bloc" system in which cartridges are loaded into a steel carrier (an en bloc clip) which is inserted into the magazine, where it holds the cartridges in alignment over a spring. As shots are fired the clip remains in place until the last round is chambered, at which point it drops through a hole in the bottom of the rifle. This system was used in almost all Mannlicher designs and derivatives, and while it allows for speedy reloading, it also creates an entry point for dirt. To settle a patent infringement claim by Steyr Mannlicher, Germany contracted the Austro Hungarian company to be one of the manufacturers of Gewehr 88s, and Mannlicher together with Otto Schönauer derived from the Mauser Schlegelmilch design a whole family of turn bolt actions, the last of which was serially produced until 1970s.

The commission rifle's bolt action design was a commission modified Mauser action. The barrel design and rifling were virtually copied from the French Lebel. The rifle has an odd appearance as the entire 'floating' barrel is encased in a sheet metal tube for protection, but with the tube removed the rifle looks rather modern. This tube was intended to increase accuracy by preventing the barrel from directly contacting the stock, but in practice it increased the risk of rusting by providing a space for water to be trapped if the rifle was exposed to harsh conditions. The Karabiner 88 utilized a different bolt handle, which resembled those found on commercial sporting rifles.

Some early models had flaws due to rushed ammunition production. This was used in 1892 by the then notorious anti Semitic agitator Hermann Ahlwardt, member of the German Reichstag, to spread an anti semitic conspiracy theory. Many of the Gewehr 88 rifles were produced by the armament manufacturer Loewe & Company, whose chairman was Jewish entrepreneur Isidor Loewe. Isidor Loewe also held a controlling interest in the Waffenfabrik Mauser. According to Ahlwardt's claims, Loewe would either deliberately supply the German army with insufficient rifles, or, along with other Jews, secretly exchange rifles with flawed ones after they had passed the reliability tests. Ahlwardt accused Loewe of being a spy for France, and denounced the rifle as a Judenflinte ("Jews' musket"). After these claims were found insupportable, Ahlwardt was sentenced to 4 months in prison for malicious falsehood. Part of the production run was exported to China (see lower) or Latin America (for example Brazil army use them in War of Canudos in 1896–1897). The commission rifle saw field service with Germany's colonial expansion, including in China during the Boxer Rebellion (with the Gewehr 88s and the unlicensed Hanyang 88 copies also being used by the opposing Chinese troops), and served as a front line weapon for German troops during World War I until 1915 when the supply of Gewehr 98s increased. When Germany replaced the 88 with the Gewehr 98, many of the rifles were given to Austria Hungary and the Ottoman Empire during World War I because both states had a shortage of rifles (however, it was used extensively by the Turkish Army even through the 1930s and 1940s). Many Gewehr 88 rifles stayed in active service in second line units, reserves, and in armies allied with the Germans through and well past World War I. Most of the Gewehr 88s seen in the US are the ones that were given to the Turkish forces in World War I and have been modified from the original design. The Turks issued these and updated versions at least as late as the 1930s. Gewehr 88/05 rifles were also used by Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia (for example as modified guard shotgun), and Poland. Gewehr 88 rifles have been used widely during post World War I revolutions, uprisings and wars (on both sides of the Russian Civil War, the German Revolution of 1918–19, the Revolutions and interventions in Hungary (1918–20), the Greater Poland Uprising (1918–19), the Silesian Uprisings, the Turkish War of Independence, the Polish–Soviet War, by the Ulster Volunteers and by Lithuanians in the Lithuanian Wars of Independence). About 5,500 Gewehr and Karabiner 88s were delivered to the Lithuanian Army in 1919–1920 (granted by Germany and sold by France and the UK). Used by the paramilitary Rifle Union, the rest were kept in the storage and were re barreled before World War II. Inter war Germany used Gewehr 88 rifles only for the militia. Gewehr 88 rifles were also used in the Spanish Civil War by both sides. At the beginning of World War II some Gewehr 88 rifles were still in use, by second line units or paramilitary organizations (or partisans) in Poland and Yugoslavia. Some of the ex UVF rifles were used by Home Guard in the United Kingdom in 1940. Ethiopean rifles (some ex UVF rifles also found their way there) also saw action during the East African Campaign. These rifles were also used by the German Volkssturm in 1944–1945. China also used this rifle extensively during the Qing dynasty and the Republican era. China first bought Gewehr 88 rifles for the First Sino Japanese War in 1894–1895 and after that started production of the unlicensed Hanyang 88 copy. In the beginning of the 20th century China bought for a second time a large number of original Gewehr 88 rifles. During the following 50 years, the rifle and its Hanyang 88 copy were used in the Xinhai Revolution, the Chinese Civil War and the War of Resistance against Japan and proved more than adequate against the Japanese Arisaka Type 38 rifle, though the latter was newer by 30 years. The last time they saw action in Chinese service was during the Korean War, where some of them were captured and taken to the US as souvenirs. The rifle was adopted during a period of rapid development in firearms technology, and marked Germany's shift to a smokeless powder. This explains why its period as the primary German service rifle was just over a dozen years, but it remained in limited service for much longer. In 1898 a Mauser design was adopted, the Gewehr 98, which was the culmination of a series of Mauser models in the 1890s. It was a superior replacement using the same ammunition with a stronger powder charge. However, this rifle soon had to be converted to fire the new Spitzer round that Germany adopted after the turn of the century. With these modifications the newer design remained in use until the end of World War II. The Gewehr 88 was also sometimes made into very elegant sporting rifles by gunsmiths in Germany. Examples of these usually show first class workmanship and special features such as folding sights and altered bolt handles. Some Karabiner 88 carbines are known to have been produced in 7×57mm Mauser instead of the usual M/88 or the 7.92×57mm Mauser chambering. These were likely intended for sale in South America, where use of the 7×57mm cartridge was widespread. All known 7×57mm Karabiner 88s were produced by Haenel.