Tankgewehr Mauser M 1918 (#2854)

[90th Light]

Picked up a July 1918 live round for one of these today in a trade.

Thus I thought I would add a couple of images to this thread. The example shown in the images below is the lowest serial number known to still exist today. So low that I better double check that it is not a first "shorter barrel" model.

Another interesting point, is the fact that it was the second example captured by the British and may be the one photographed in post number 49. Funnily enough, those are New Zealanders holding up another example in post number 48. The NZ soldiers and unit have now been identified and I if correct then I know where that one is also out here today. It is documented and was brought back as one of New Zealand's official war trophies (note also the German belt being worn in post number 48 which also made it back).

Been lucky enough to have already obtained a couple of inert rounds for display but a live round is quite a find. Now all we need is an original WW1 British tank to aim at

Chris

[MG1918]

T Gewehr

Great finds Chris. I still have no rounds so you ought to share!!! Brussels Museum has no 37 srl number but still the longer barrel.
Mark

[90th Light]

Great finds Chris. I still have no rounds so you ought to share!!! Brussels Museum has no 37 srl number but still the longer barrel.
Mark

Thanks Mark,

well No 37 beats me so there goes that theory. I will assume longer barrel also. They must have all been modified. Still the first one was captured on 8 August 1918 or perhaps you might have more up to date information ?

I have found a couple of tanks to aim at out here in NZ thanks to Peter Jackson's "Weta Workshops" so it is all go now

Chris

[IMBLITZVT]

I know those tanks are slow but if I was in the trench they were coming for I would want one of these:


I know I have not made the investment in one of these guns yet but we really need to figure out how to get some brass made for these so we can fire them again. I have one round which has had the bullet pulled. I figure I can make the bullets by hand out of brass on a mini lathe. If we could get some brass made that would take 50BMG primers... we would be set!

[Alan Smith]

I'm with you Matt. Too bad the U.S. military did not just copy the TuF round and standardize it as the .50 Browning round. If that were the case we would have all sorts of ammo options, including AP, Tracer, API, Ball, etc. How much fun would it be to shoot hard targets at a distance with API rounds?

Oh well . . . . at least we can daydream.

[90th Light]

You can adapt them to take US .50 cal. There was a guy out here who did it, no trouble and use to put on public displays of shooting up old engine blocks with it.

Very impressive but this is my target with the original round,

Chris

[Alan Smith]

Yes, I have seen some of the T-Gewehr's butchered by pulling the original barrel and replacing it with a .50 BMG barrel. While I suppose you could machine the .50 BMG barrel to resemble the T-Gewehr barrel's profile, you would have no rear sight or front sight unless you cut them off of an original T-Gewehr's barrel (thus, most of these conversions drill & tap the BMG barrel and put a scope on it).

Personally, I would only want to shoot a T-Gewehr if it were in 100% unmolested original condition. If I just wanted to shoot a .50 caliber rifle, I would get a Barrett, etc.

If you look in the T-Gewehr book that I mention several times in this thread, it has a photo of a T-Gewehr that has been converted to use the .50 BMG barrel; I think the gun was then owned by the guy who founded "Second Chance" body armor. To a purist like me, the conversion to use the .50 BMG barrel is not attractive at all.

[90th Light]

Hello Alan,

they did not butcher it and it was still in in its original cofiguration. It was over twenty years ago but I will try and find out exactly what they did and report back. It could certainly do some impressive damage to the old engine it was being fired at,

Chris

[Mike39]

Chris is correct about using modified 50 cal rounds without modifying the T - GEW. And I believe the individual concerned still takes the occasional order from time to time.

Mike

[Alan Smith]

I am interested in learning about the use of modified .50 BMG rounds in the T-Gewehr. As shown in the following photos, the rounds do have substantial differences, so I am very curious as to what can be done to get the .50 BMG rounds to function in the T-Gewehr.

[Alan Smith]

T-Gewehr vs. BMG round - photo 2

[Alan Smith]

T-Gewehr vs. BMG round - photo 3

[Alan Smith]

Thread Update: Thanks to my friend and fellow WA Forum member, Matt (a/k/a "IMBLITZVT"), I have now acquired an original tubular-type bipod for the T-Gewehr. Looking at period photos it appears that both the regular MG 08/15 square tubing type bipods; the tubular bipods; and no bipod are all correct for this weapon. IMO, however, the tubular-type bipod just looks the best for display.

Thanks Matt!

[Alan Smith]

Another view of bipod.

[Alan Smith]

Bipod photo 3.