An August Wolf, gunsmith, is noted in Suhl, Rimbachstr. 27 in 1935. This date is quite late for your rifle, but he may have been an old man by 1935. At least in 1945 an Ewald Wolf is listed as owner of the August Wolf shop, a son?
The problems with the front action screw is common to many sporterized M88 actions, as on the military rifles and carbines the front screw threaded into the barrel sleeve, not into the receiver. Gunsmithes who built sporters on these actions came to individual solutions. On many such sporters they used simply a wood screw or a screw with a nut inletted into the barrel channel to fasten the bottom metal to the stock. The barreled action was held muzzleloader-fashion by the tang screw and a wedge throgh the foreend. Frank de Haas recommended a barrel band with a screw forward on the barrel and foreend instead of the wedge. Other gunsmithes welded, dovetailed or brazed a threaded stud to the barrel to accept the front action screw, but doing so may seriously weaken the barrel in the chamber area. So that saddle soldered to the barrel may have been August Wolf's original solution, not a SA repair.
Last edited by kuduae; 08/27/11 06:59 AM.
