German Made Single Shot Question

[Ed2269]

Thank You Canada, will find out pretty soon how and what it shoots, and thanks to everybody for figuring out what that gun was in a few hours. I looked back at thread and Liberty1776 got it first, and Jim K and Jim Watson really helped out. ED

 

[Jim K]

"In other words that rifle had to have been made either in 1918 or 1919, maybe a little earlier, but it looks like from what I read it was only open for 3-4 years during WW1"

It was probably made before WWI. During that war, I doubt they were making .22's when every resource was needed to make military rifles. And after the war, production stopped, even though the factory was not formally closed until 1921. So, I would think pre-1914 would be most likely.

As to a pre-WWI German bolt action rifle being chambered for a proprietary American semi-auto cartridge, I can only think it seems unlikely.

Jim

 

[Jim Watson]

I saw mention of centerfire sporters from Gewehrfabrik Danzig under that name only in 1919 and 1920.

I don't know why I can't find them on Facebook. ;-)

 

[natman]

It's conceivable that this rifle is chambered for the 22 Win Auto cartridge, which was popular at the time, and is slightly larger in diameter (which would cause split cases if you fired 22 Longs in it).

It's conceivable, but it doesn't seem very likely. The 22 Win Auto round was designed to use in a semiauto. The special cartridge was only offered in smokeless and kept the gun from fouling which would have occurred had the gun used the black powder 22 shells which were still widely available at the time. I can't imagine why a German company would chamber a bolt action rifle in it.

A better but still small possibility is that the gun is chambered in 22 Winchester Rimfire (22 WRF), which is a shorter predecessor to the 22 Mag. If so chambered it would split 22 LR cases.

 

[Jim Watson]

Why would they chamber for a low volume round - very low in Europe - and then mark it ".22 Lg"?

I googled several of these and they were all marked the same WR .22 Lg.
I don't know what the WR stands for, but if .22 Lg means something besides .22 Lang (Long) I cannot divine it. One owner reported split cases another said his shot great with LR.

The OP's serial number is the highest I saw; I saw one G. Danzig .22 in the 300s and one in the 700s. Doubt they made many, but scarce does not always mean valuable.

 

[Jim K]

Just FWIW, the .22 Long has the same case length as the .22 LR, but has the same bullet (29 grains) as the .22 Short. The .22 Long Rifle has a larger powder charge and a 40 grain (normally) bullet.

So a .22 LR will work in a .22 Long chamber, but may or may not be accurate because the normal rifling twist rates are different. There are also pressure concerns in some guns, since the .22 LR runs higher pressure.

Jim

 

[SDC]

The usual German marking for 22 LR is "LFB" (Lang fur Buchsen), so it seems like this wouldn't be a standard chambering.

 

[Jim Watson]

I know that.
What is the Polish designation? Danzig/Gdansk seems to have trouble making up its mind.

 

[natman]

Why would they chamber for a low volume round - very low in Europe - and then mark it ".22 Lg"?

I googled several of these and they were all marked the same WR .22 Lg.
I don't know what the WR stands for, but if .22 Lg means something besides .22 Lang (Long) I cannot divine it. One owner reported split cases another said his shot great with LR.

I suspect that it is indeed chambered for either 22 LR or 22 Long. However, there is a slight possibility that the WR stands for Winchester Rimfire. This would be consistent with the split cases.

In any case it's more likely to be in 22 WRF than 22 Auto.

 

[gyvel]

From what I can see in your photo in the action (need a better pic in focus), the bolt closely resembles that used on Swedish Husqvarna .22 rifles of more or less the same era. In fact, I think I might have a spare bolt for that gun.

And it definitely says "Gewehrfabrik Danzig" on the receiver.

According to some scant info I found on this website you have a "Model 2": http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforums.yuku.com/topic/6703#.VRJkr9Dn_ct

Also here: http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirear.../243242/mystery-rifle-what-is-it#.VRJlG9Dn_cs