I had bad luck!leaving the house for a visit and came home with another gun.
came into the house of collector and see it in the corner it was only an old airgun.
but, was the airgun I was looking for two years now.

have a little projekt, working about different guns here and there start liking the old style 19. century airguns with a crank but they are very, very rare today.

they are undoubtly a german invention but came into the united states right after the civil war. some of the airguns above are sold by german origin gunmaker in the united states than. made there or importet from the suhl area about old connections,

but who was Oskar Will? Oskar Will alias Venus gunworks was located in Zella Sankt Blasii. since 1919 Zella St. Blasii and Mehlis are connected to Zella Mehlis.

google maps shows the situation

in the yellow circle is Mehlis, in the blue circle is Zella St. Blasii and in the red circle is Suhl, all growing together today.

but who was Oskar Will, the 1902 catalog have it all from single shot pistols to drillings and mauser rifles.

http://www.germanhuntingguns.com/archives/will-oscar-ernst-leo-julius-venus-waffenwerk/

but what Will was famous for than were airguns, the old style with a crank lever and than another newer version called "Bügelspanner" or bail spanner(?)

this Bügelspanner was the mercedes of the airguns up two WW 2 and than I came into the play.
the better ones had a walnut stock and checkering but the majority only lacquered beech. the ordinary will go today for 200 -250 euro usualy allways having some issues from the last hundred years.

my new gun was not cheap like this

the complicated spring is strong but the leather washer is probably dry and don't give enough pressure anymore. the barrel lock is not tight anymore and so the gun goes to a master gunmaker because its not the kind of gun you want to make mistakes.

after passing the smooth barrel this 6,36 mm /.25 caliber airgun pellet measure ,6,35 mm

out of the box it have 6,50 mm

what make the difference in hundreds of euros to any other Will airgun was this stamp

the gun was bought before from a collector in the alsace, the stamp reads as 132. infantry regiment in strasbourg, company number 8, gun number 2

thats the real deal

here another example of a prussian unit marking on a mauser 71 buttplate

11. foot artillerie regiment,ersatz battery 3, gun number 107

the 132. regiment

https://www.flickr.com/photos/die_109er/galleries/72157675985425203/

don't believe this was for recruits, to expensive and to good in shape. maybe a gun for the officer's mess to shoot out who pays for the next beer.