Mystery Gun (To me anyway) HELP

[PreglerD]

It would be helpful to press some lead through the barrel to see the profile.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[TFoley]

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.

Kirrmeister

Sir - you said that Thuringia was in middle Germany. This is true, but to those of us who were brought up, like you, in the Cold War era, and served our respective countries in the armed forces - again, like you - we remember that Zella-Mehlis, Suhl and Thuringia were in the DDR - East Germany to us.

For almost eight years out of my thirty-four years military service I was a British Army soldier in Germany, and for three of those years I served in the British Military Mission to the Group of Soviet forces in Germany [Google BRIXMIS], so I still think of Zella-Mehlis and Suhl as being in Eastern Germany.

I'm sure than none of us mean any disrespect by remembering this sad fact of life.

Best wishes

tac

 

[PreglerD]

Dear Sir,

from the view of politics and cold war block thinking you are right. But geographicaly the former GDR was never eastern Germany. It was always middle germany. People there today see it in the same way. Eastern Germany is meanwhile gone and part of Poland(eastern prussia, upper slesia, Pommern) and Russia (eastern prussia around Kaliningrad, former Königsberg).

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[Stumpkiller]

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.

Along that note: my former scoutmaster (35+ years ago) was in the Army of Occupation in Germany after WWII. Part of his unit's duties were to collect and destroy anything remotely resembling a firearm. He told of taking muzzleloaders and drillings and twisting them to destruction by leaning them against a beam placed on the ground and driving heavy equipment over them. Then they had to seperate the stock from the barrel/action and burn the stocks. Modern or antique, it made no difference. Ouch.

With the proper blessings, form and signatures each soldier got to send one (and only one) home. He had a beautiful three-barrelled drilling: 16 x 16 x 8mm as I remember.

 

[Captjoel]

Here are my German refugees. The single barrel jaeger was also made in Zella. It sports a .54 caliber swamped slow round ball twist barrel and is a hoot to shoot. The double is a "cape" gun or combination rifle shotgun. It was made in Furstenau.