Many of you might have typed German or German guns into a search engine and arrived here.

Welcome to the Website of the German Gun Collectors Association!

We are a non-profit Educational Association and answering questions is one of the services we provide. It is said that if you ask a stupid question you might get a stupid answer. Although we don’t think that this is true, we welcome your questions but ask you to please take the time to read the following suggestions!

We concentrate our efforts on German hunting guns of the last 150 years and their makers, beginning with the needle and pin fire guns that were the first practical breech loading hunting guns and ending with the modern German hunting guns. If you ask us about other guns, we will try to refer you to a source where you might get the answers you are looking for.

There would be no need for hunting guns without the hunters that use them, and for this reason we also study and give information about the rich and historic German hunting tradition.

Our members give of freely of their time and knowledge, but an answer might not be given right away. You can make their work easier when you follow these guidelines:

1. If at all possible, submit your questions by E-mail to: jaeger@valley.net because this allows us to quickly forward them to members who might have answers for you.


2. State your questions clearly and avoid writing a long letter. As much as we might enjoy corresponding with you, we just don’t have the time.


3. List all information you can supply about the gun, starting with the inscriptions on the top rib or on top of the barrels.



This close-up photo of the action shows a very unusual bolting system by Gustav Kersten. Close-up images of an action tell us more than images of the whole gun.



4. Take close-up photos of the action from all sides and of all markings that can be found on the underside of the barrels and the flats of the action.



Besides the proof marks, this photo shows the trade mark of a gunmaker in Suhl named Lindner. It also tells us that the gun was made in Prussia where Suhl was located at the time the gun was made. Witten Excelsior is the steel that was used for the barrels.



5. A few good photos are better than a whole bunch of poor ones! Send only the best and those that show features or markings that are of interest. Images with as low as 72 dpi (dots per inch) suffice for e-mailing.



Besides proof marks, the markings tell us, that the caliber of the two rifle barrels is most likely the obsolete 9.1x75R Nimrod.



6. Use a background without patterns that is light and uniform in color.Make sure that your camera is focused properly.


7. Unless you have lighting equipment and experience, you can get the best results outside on a bright but cloudy day. For photos taken in the sun, read the captions in the next photo.




An easy to duplicate set-up for using the sun.



A cloth uniform in color and without any patterns makes the best background.




8. Avoid sending big digital files by e-mail! The service providers might not transmit them! Compress the images or burn them on a CD for mailing.
9. For use of your photos in our Journal, send smaller images first by e-mail. Once we have confirmed that we want to show them in our Journal, follow these instructions: Click here.

There are many questions that we can’t answer because we have not found the information yet or it is not available. Many records were destroyed when German cities were bombed during World War II and when Germany was divided after the end of the war. The major gun making centers ended up under Russian occupation and a Communist government that took over all companies with the exception of the smallest that were located in the homes of the craftsmen. Some of the records were taken to Russia and many others were destroyed.