I have a Springfield 30 06 custom. I have been told it was built post-ww2 for an American General/Official who was occupying Berlin at the time. If anyone has further information about the rifle, feel free to reply.

I have attached a link to a photo gallery of the rifle. If someone could also inform me on the value of the rifle that would be appreciated.

https://imgur.com/a/GkV8LXX

Nice rifle Roger.

No idea of the value, but it sure is nice! The engraving is amazing, I would hate to think what it would cost to duplicate it today.

To me the stock looks similar to Fred Aldoph's pre-WWI work.

Looks great Roger!

Boy..that's really something...sorta had to smile about the turkey's

Fantastic rifle! I tend to agree with the previous poster that it is earlier work and looks much like something Fred Adolph would do. The 34 rear sight was discontinued much earlier and replaced with the 48 which also makes me think it is an earlier rifle. The post-war rifles built in Germany sometimes called "cigarette rifles" are generally not of the quality of this rifle and are often built on 03A3 receivers.

Very special rifle, good luck with whatever you end up doing with it.

Thanks for sharing,
John

Great Rifle Roger!

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Boy..that's really something...sorta had to smile about the turkey's

I think the 30-06 might be adequate for turkeys. Even legal in SDak.

Don't think I'd try it on a cape buff though.

Does it have the armory barrel date intact? If it has a custom front sight the ramp may have hidden the date. Very cool and I agree with John that it looks much earlier. I’d guess 1920 +/-, however if I had one of those sights handy I’d put it on a really cool 1903 RIA NRA sales rifle I have stashed.

Nice rifle no matter when it was built.

Dave

I couldn't find a general with the initials RM

gee never thought about 30/06 for turkey here in Missouri we typically use 375

Very nice Roger, I can't offer any idea of the value but my observation is that if you took the outer legs off of the "M" it would have your initials on it.

Mr. Vardy.

Since the General can't be verified or identified yet, have you separated the action from the stock to hopefully identify the builder?
Might help determine a fair value. Quite a value spread from unknowns to top builders.

If you can convince yourself the initials are MR instead of RM,,,maybe it was Ridgeway's rifle. He was a gun nut.

Nice rifle anyway, it does have that look,, older and more like a classic from the 20's than even the best post war efforts for the GI's. But you never know.

Hope you find some history on it.

The styling and checkering look much like the rifles Fred Adolph built. The Adolf rifles that I am familiar with had Schnabel forend tips, I could not tell about yours from the pictures.

I agree that it appears very much in the Adolph style and quality. And while most later high grade rifles had Lyman 48's, it was not unusual for rifles built as late as the 30's to have the earlier Lyman 34 sights .

Its one of those guns that nobody can put a true value on, although many will...I wouldn't even make a guess, and Im up on gun values as a rule...I wish it were mine...

I think if I were selling it, I would put it in one of the better auctions, that allow a PO if the money doesn't suit you..A gun like that with little or no history can bring really big bucks or disappoint you to no end, thus the need for a PO..

After further investigation the rifle was definitely made by Fred Adolph Pre-WWI work and Rudolph Kornbrath was the engraver. I have studied both of their works. Fred Adolph was first born 1875 in Austria and then went onto being apprenticed in Silesia 1890, This was also where Rudolph Kornbrath was born in 1877. Further information on Kornbrath is a bit limited with him moving to the states (Hartford, Connecticut) in 1910 this was at a similar time with Adolph moving two years prior in 1908 (Rochester, Genoa, New York). A large portion of work for engraving was done by Kornbrath for Adolph in the period of 1910 and 1914.

Kornbrath is noted to rarely sign his engravings. The stock shape, checkering and carving stock work, forend tip is identical to Adolph's work. The engraving style on this rifle is exactly the same as Kornbrath's of that era. This is the best work of both craftsmen on a Springfield rifle that I have been able to research.

So the rifle itself has a fair amount of history. There are only two marks on the stock, both of which can be found on the forend these are positioned in the middle, however I don't know why. There are also markings on the metalwork, one is a 2 on the action below the woodwork on the lefthand side, the only other marks is a serial number that was stamped onto the barrel for New South Wales (State of Australia) registration.

I have linked another gallery for people to take a look at. The link is easy to use just click and scroll down.

Would anyone be able to value this rifle?

https://imgur.com/a/xwgmmqu

Here are some close ups of the rifle:

I would send a few pictures to Griffin & Howe about this rifle. A simultaneous phone call might be a good idea as well. Perhaps they could give you retail value range.

270 Stanhope Sparta Rd, Andover, NJ 07821

Hours: Open ⋅ Closes 5PM


Phone: (973) 398-2670

Perhaps George Caswell at Champlin Firearms or Morris Hallowell at Hallowell & Co. could help.