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:
- If at all possible, submit your questions by E-mail
to:
inquiries@germanguns.com because this allows us to quickly
forward them to members who might have answers for you.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
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.
Use a background without patterns that is
light and uniform in color.Make sure that your camera
is focused properly.
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.
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.
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.
