Gewehr 1888 Country Germany Type Rifle Manufacturer German Rifle Commission Introduction 1888 Specifications Weight 3.8 kg Length 1245 mm Barrel length 740 mm Cartridge 7.92x57 mm Mauser Action bolt-action Feed system 5 round clip in an internal magazine

The Gewehr 88 (commonly called the Model 1888 Commission Rifle) was a German bolt-action rifle, adopted in 1888. Invention of smokeless powder in the late Nineteenth Century rendered all of the large-bore black powder rifles then in use obsolete. The German Army adopted the Gewehr 88 using its own new 7.92x57 mm 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 was also a carbine version, the Karabiner 88. Later models would go on to serve in World War I to a limited degree. Unlike many of the rifles before and after, it was not designed and developed by a private company, but a military commission. The Commission Rifle saw field service during the German colonial expansion, including in China during the Boxer Rebellion, and it served as a front line weapon for German troops during World War I until 1915 when there where enough Gewehr 98 rifles available. The rifle remained in service with the Turkish Army through World War II.