Immanuel Meffert hung out his shingle in 1839 and if of typical age of a Master, he would have been 23 or 24 years old; therefore, his birth would have been 23 or 24 years earlier in circa 1816. At first I thought "Treff" to be a person/inventor like the Belgian Roux, like the underlever action, but usually the word "Treff" is in gold and many times is accompanied by D.R.G.M. #71381, which was probably from 1896. Many, many D.R.G.M.s were issued from 1895 to 1897 and they span the range from about 30k to 75k. I haven't seen D.R.G.M. #71381 but am sure that some info exists somewhere, possibly Berlin. I think either Friedrich Justin or Ernst Richard Meffert developed the design, which was way ahead of it's time circa 1896, which was about 5 years prior to Meffert's acquisition of the weapons maker Stahl's widow/daughter's firm. Meffert could have easily sourced the craftsmen at Zella Saint Blasii or Mehlis to perform the intricate work for the Treff action. Meffert itself abandoned the design in the late 1920s.

If the example with the "RH" mark was post WWI, it just may have been made by Richard Hengelhaupt of Zella-Mehlis who was a barrel drawer by the 1930s.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse