Mystery Gun (To me anyway) HELP

[fredrader]

Ok,My buddy dug this rifle out or the back of his safe and brought it over to show me since I have the BP Bug..We can't find any info on it anywhere..It has a 29" brl 44.5" overall with ..371 Lands and .393 groove..Any help ???

 

[rabjr]

Wow, nice! Looks German or Austrian to me. I know one thing I wouldn't mind having it.

 

[fredrader]

I want it too but he won't come off it..I just figured you guys would know something about it. :bow:

 

[rabjr]

Stopel needs to look at this, he should know if it were German.

 

[bwhoffman]

Whats the stampings on the barrel read??

 

[Captjoel]

Looks to be a German half stock percussion era jaeger\target rifle. It has the makers name "Wolf" and the location "Suhl" which was\is a very busy gun building area within what used to be East Germany. The workmanship in Suhl was usually top notch.

 

[excess650]

A 'net search shows Zella about 5km from Suhl, so very likely German. I couldn't see the sights, but it appears to have a provision on the tang for a tang sight which suggests "target rifle" to me.

The rifling is interesting with wider grooves than lands, and even the tops of the lands appear to be grooved.

 

[fredrader]

It only has one very small deep stamp and we couldn't make out what it is..
It does have a tang sight base on it but the sight is missing.The front sight is very low and very fine blade..It has lots of engraving on the breach end and the lock and the hammer is engraved to look like a fish or something..The gunsmith said it has a ring of white gold or something back at the breach end and in the words on top of the brl..
My buddies dad bought it for $50 a long time ago and it looked pretty rough then,He took it to our gunsmith and he cleaned it up and repaired the cracks in the stock and left it alone..The only reason he bought it was it had pretty wood on it..He won't sell it to me (YET) But I will work on him.. :hmm:

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Admittedly I can be a bit dense at times but I really don't see any "mystery" here. It is clearly marked with the maker's name "S Wolfe & Sohne in Zella". That's a lot more info than we usually find on original muzzleloaders. It appears to be a very fine rifle, probably a hunting or "stalking" rifle, not a target rifle, judging by the length and weight of the barrel and shape of the buttstock. Probably some GI stole it and shipped it home as a souvenir. It's amazing how many fine firearms are still found in Germany, considering how the country was looted during and after the war.
The Walther plant was originally located in Zella-Mehlis, Thuringia and I once had a drilling by Ed Kettner of the same place. It was a gun making center for many years, if not centuries.

 

[fredrader]

When my buddy brought it over he said the gunsmith we use couldn't find any info at all on
"S Wolfe & Sohne in Zella". We found Zella and it is in Germany but that was about it..He just wanted me to post it up here to see if anyone had any more on it since we hit a stump..

 

[arquebus]

Yep, Joe is right, all the information you're going to get is probably right there in front of you already. There were probably hundreds of small gunmaking firms operating in the area at the time, with little to no records remaining. You might be able to contact the City Hall in the town shown on the barrel & ask them if they have any records dating back that far. Certainly looks like a light hunting/stalking rifle, not uncommon for Germanic hunting rifles to have set triggers & aperture sights. There are two towns in what is now Germany (remember, Germany wasn't unified as a nation until 1871, almost certainly after this rifle was made) with the name Zella. Zella-Mehlis, & Zella-Rohn, that appear to be in neighboring states, so it could probably be from either. Nice looking rifle, caliber would probably considered to be 10mm if your measurements are correct. By the way, does the aperture sight base have a round or square hole in it?

 

[fredrader]

It has a square hole and a thumbscrew to holds it in place..He wanted me to try to find one for it but I haven't gotten that far yet..

 

[sbhg]

http://davide-pedersoli.com/img/Accessories/USA 442.jpg
From looking at old German guns on the net, I don't think this sight would be correct. But it might fit.

 

[fredrader]

Thanks,I sent him the link..

 

[DrLaw]

German made, private small shop gun maker. Wolf and Sons, from Zella, in Germany.

Best I could come up with.

 

[PreglerD]

Hello from Germany,

Zella is a town in the Thuringia Forest in middle Germany, not eastern Germany. Today it is called Zella-Mehlis. It is near Suhl/Thuringia, were the famous gunbuilders were, still be.

The rifle and its cal. looks more like a target rifle to me because a .40 cal. was not common in Germany. Are there any holes or somewhat in the stock for peep sight mount?
Can you tell me something about the ROT?

I will do some recherche about the name on the barrel.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[fredrader]

It has a mount on the tang for a peep sight but the sight is missing..You can see it in the 4th pic from the top..I didn't shech the ROT but I will call him and see if he can check it and let me know..Thanks

 

[fredrader]

He said the ROT is 1 in 30" which sounds fast to me but he said the rod turned 1/4 turn every 7.5" so that makes it a 1 in 30 ROT.. :hmm:

 

[PreglerD]

Hi fredrader,

thanks for the info. So it the ROT and the cal. are looking to me as if the rifle was used for target shooting. How does the groove-land profile look?

I will do some recherches and mail asap if you are interested.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[fredrader]

If you click on the small pics in my original post it will take you to larger pics so you can get a better look at the rifle..