![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
The sling is dark in color and slightly aged, and matches the color of the wood very well. Most importantly, the bore looks very smooth and shiny to the naked eye. Hopefully, it will shoot as good as it looks.
It is hard to fathom just how old this rifle is. I did a search on what was happening in history at that time, just to put things in perspective for me. Here is what I got:
In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of Three Emperors and is also a secret code to mean Adolf Hitler Heil Hitler (1=A, 8=H). Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). This record will not be equalled until 2388 (MMCCCLXXXVIII), or surpassed until 2888 (MMDCCCLXXXVIII).
[edit] Events of 1888
[edit] January - March
January 3 - The 91-centimeter telescope is first used at Lick Observatory.
January 12 - Blizzards (see: Schoolhouse Blizzard) hit Dakota Territory, the states of Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, with 235 dead, many of whom were children on their way home from school.
January 27 - In Washington, DC, the National Geographic Society is founded.
February 27 - In West Orange, New Jersey, Thomas Edison meets with Eadweard Muybridge who proposes a scheme for sound film.
March 8 -The Agriculture College of Utah, which would become Utah State University is founded in Logan, Utah.
March 11 - The "Great Blizzard of '88" begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
March 22 - The Football League is formed
March 27 - Dorus Rijkers saves the 30-man crew of the Renown, risking his own life.
March 11: Great Blizzard of 1888.
[edit] April - June
April 11 - The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
May 1 - The United States Congress establishes the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.
May 13 - Brazil abolishes the last remnants of slavery.
May 28 - In Scotland, Celtic F.C. played its first official match against Rangers F.C. and won 5-2
June 3
"Kingdom of Sedang" formed in modern-day Vietnam
Casey at the Bat published
June 15 - Wilhelm II is crowned Emperor of the German Empire
June 19 - In Chicago, Republican Convention opens at Auditorium Building. Benjamin Harrison & Levi Morton will win the nominations for President and VicePresident, respectively.
June 29 - Handel's Israel in Egypt is recorded onto wax cylinder at The Crystal Palace, it being the earliest known recording of classical music.
[edit] July - September
August 31: Victim found from Jack the Ripper?July 25 - Frank Edward McGurrin, a court stenographer from Salt Lake City, Utah, who was purportedly the only person using touch typing at the time, won a decisive victory over Louis Traub in a typing contest held in Cincinnati, Ohio. This date can be called the birthday of the touch typing method that is widely used now.
July 27 - British parliament passes an act that permits bicycles on road on condition that they are equipped with a bell that should be rung while on the carriageway. The law was abolished in 1930.
August 5 - Berta Benz arrived in Pforzheim in a car, which was manufactured by her husband Karl Benz, in order to complete the first "long-distance" drive in the history of the automobile, which was started in Mannheim (40 miles away from Pforzheim).
August 7 - The body of Martha Tabram was found, a possible murder victim of Jack the Ripper.
August 20 - There is a mutiny at Dufile, India, and the Emin Pasha is imprisoned.
August 31 - Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She was perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper's victims.
September 4 - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film.
September 6 - Charles Turner becomes the first cricket bowler (a sport) to take 250 wickets in an English season - a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
September 8
In London, the dead body of Annie Chapman is found. She is considered to be the second victim of Jack the Ripper.
In England, the first 6 Football League matches ever were played.
September 30 - In London, the bodies of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes are found. They are generally considered Jack the Ripper's third and fourth victim respectively.
October 6: Washington Monument opens.
[edit] October - December
October 1 - Sofia University is officialy opened becoming the first university in liberated Bulgaria.
October 9 - The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
October 14 - Louis Le Prince films the first motion picture: Roundhay Garden Scene in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. Followed by his movie Leeds Bridge.
November 6 - The U.S. presidential election, 1888. United States Democratic Party incumbent Grover Cleveland wins the popular vote, but loses the Electoral College vote to Republican challenger Benjamin Harrison, therefore losing the election.
November 9 - In London, England, the dead body of Mary Jane Kelly is found. She is considered to be the fifth, and last, of Jack the Ripper's victims. A number of similar murders in England follow, but the police attribute them to copy-cat killers.
December 23 - During a bout of mental illness, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh infamously cuts off the lower part of his own left ear and gives it to a prostitute.
[edit] Undated
Annie Besant organizes the London matchgirls strike of 1888 in June
John Robert Gregg first publishes Gregg Shorthand.
Prosecution of Edward King, Anglican bishop of Lincoln for using ritualistic practices begins.
Sarawak and Borneo become British protectorates.
Susan B. Anthony organizes a "congress for women's" rights in Washington, DC.
National library in Athens, Greece, (established?)
The first railway in China goes into operation.
The Kodak camera increases the popularity of photography as a hobby.
The first recorded film, Roundhay Garden Scene, is made in Roundhay in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The film is two seconds and 18 frames in length.
First sightings of the dolphin Pelorus Jack in Cook Strait, New Zealand.
Camborne School of Mines founded in Cornwall, United Kingdom.
The Finnish epic, Kalevala published for the first time in the English Language by John Martin Crawford.
An unknown inventor develops Mum (deodorant), widely recognized as the first personal product developed to prevent body odor.
So, not as interesting as 1886 was when I looked that up, but not bad. Mr. Benz had invented the first automobile that year if I read correctly.
All this just helps to put the rifle in perspective for me. This was the first repeating bolt action rifle, using a system adapted from the 1866 Winchester design. Only a year or two earlier, the Russians had been soundly defeated by the Turks, despite superior numbers, because the Turks had many repeating Winchester '66s in thier employ. The Germans quickly realized they needed more fire power, and modified their Model 71 single shot rifles into a repeater design.
It is interesting to note that despite the size of the "pond" between us, that ideas flowed freely between the continental US and Europe.
Anyhow, I'll be meeting up with Jim Williamson this coming weekend to look over my rifle, show me how to dismantle it, clean it, and just assess its condition. Jim is a Shootist, and a personal friend of Mc McPherson, and I am really greatfull for all of his help, and Mic's for showing me the "ins and outs" of these rifles.
Jim and I will take it out shooting over Christmas Break sometime, so will report back then.
Here are the not so great pics as I unwrapped her, and some others from in the house. Not the best, but better than nothing.
![Image](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f39/Cowboytutt/7184037.jpg)
![Image](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f39/Cowboytutt/7184036.jpg)
![Image](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f39/Cowboytutt/7184035.jpg)
![Image](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f39/Cowboytutt/7184034.jpg)
![Image](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f39/Cowboytutt/7184023.jpg)
![Image](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f39/Cowboytutt/7184024.jpg)
![Image](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f39/Cowboytutt/7184025.jpg)
![Image](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f39/Cowboytutt/7184027.jpg)
With the combination of parts "in the white", blued, and fire-blued, I can only imagine what these rifles looked like when new! And all the parts have a cartouche and a part of the serial number on them, even the screws. And the bolt is buttery smooth, and all parts fit very well. Wow.
-Tutt