An aquaintance of mine has inherited a single shot rifle that neither he nor I know anything about. The rifle is Shuetzen style in appearence and has these markings on it

BOHLERSTAHL
CG HAENEL
8MM
A 5 digit number is also present that we take to be the serial #.

The barrel is octagonal although I am unsure of its lenght but he reports it as "long" (I haven`t yet seen the rifle)
My friend is interested in any history, possible value, or other info on this rifle.
The rifle was a war trophy handed down by his grandfather.
TIA

BOHLERSTAHL is Bohler Steel the steel used to make the barrel.

C.G. HAENEL was a well respected and large manufacturer in Suhl, Germany. The company was started by Carl Gustav Haenel in 1840. His son Carl 1855-1917 started making the Aydt schuetzen rifle, a very popular action for schuetzen shooting. Herbert who was Carl Jr. son ran the firm from 1917 until it was liquated by government decree in 1946 under communists rule.

8MM tells us little, many early German guns are marked with the BORE diameter so a chamber cast would be in order. The most popular schuetzen caliber was 8.15X46R.

If you remove the forearm there may be proof marks and proof date which would narrow down when it was made. The proof date will be a three or four digit number such as 1124 for November of 1924.

Michael, Thanks for the info, it`s more then was known a few hours ago.