German rifles, rare & unusual

[Blind Hog]

Here are some very rare and historical german rifles. These are from one of the collectors displays at the 2003 NRA Meeting of Members, Orlando, FL.

The Kaiser's Hunting Rifles, these were a design by the Imperial Spandau Arsenal offered as a prototype military rifle, but never produced as such. As the design never went beyond the prototype stage, they were used to make up sporting rifles and presented to the Kaiser and possibly other notables.
From my conversations with the owners, at the time of the show, these are the only three known to exist.

If this post is not appropriate to this forum, military, feel fre to move to the commercial Forum.

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL68/1624602/6727977/86733503.jpg

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL68/1624602/6727977/86733521.jpg

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL68/1624602/6727977/86733509.jpg

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL68/1624602/6727977/86733515.jpg

Blind Hog

[WmRoy]

WOW!!! those are very nice..........

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[Rockman]

Sweet!

[Rustybore]

Very unusual, albeit beautiful. Sure seem odd without a receiver ring, wonder how safe these rifles would be to shoot?

Kevin in Or.

[Blind Hog]

Kevin,

They are all mechanically sound and totally safe to fire. Note one of the interesting features is that the bolt head locks directly to the barrel breech.
I talked at length with the owner of one of the rifles and he said that he shot it often and that it's accuracy was outstanding.

The action is quite like the Mauser produced Model 66 which was derived from the patents awarded to Walter Gehmann for his short, telescoping bolt action rifle. Gehmann developed his design ideas in the 1950's and Mauser was licensed to use and manufacture the design in the early 1960's.

Gehmann was a Meister Shooter who began his shooting career in the 1930's and who, according to Jon Speed in his book "Original Oberndorf Sporting Rifles", won the 1938 World's Free Rifle Championships with a 20 shot group inside a 5 inch bull offhand at 300 meters. Said to have never been equalled to this day.

Guess it goes to show there are not many really new ideas. Here's an action design from the turn of the century that resurfaced slightly different in the 1960's.

Blind Hog

[keithreid]

they kind of remind me of an enfield action. well, other than having the lugs on the front of the bolt. i guess the first thing that caught my eye was the ring over the bolt. like an smle. nice looking rifles! Keith