Forums.NitroExpress.com

Hello kuduae,
Thanks for the reply.

Yes ... that's it! A Wehrmannsgewehr.

I knew you would know this.

I started collecting Wehrmannsgewehr rifles 35 years ago. I bought my first one because it had a brass plaque that read " Ehrengabe der D.W.M. zum 5.Landesschiessen, Insbruck 1942 " I bought it for $200 because I was born in Austria and thought it was a really nice piece of Military History. I thought it was a WWII Military Mauser. Boy, was I wrong.

Only when I went to the range to shoot it, did I discover an 8x57 cartridge would not fit into the chamber. Here is a comparison of the two cartridges.

That's when I discovered what a Wehrmannsgewehr was. I started to research this rifle with the information found on the brass plaque and decal. I actually contacted the Director of the German Shooting Federation and he found me a copy of the Newspaper from 1942 that gave the match winner. It was written in German so I had my friend, a German language professor at the local college, translate the text for me. Those results told that Walter Gehmann was the overall winner of the event. His top prize was a 1942 Volkswagen. Further conversations with that Director told that Walter Gehmann was the head of Gehmann Industries, the company that made high quality sights, and all kinds of shooting apparel for competition shooters - worldwide, and that Mr Gehmann was still alive. So, I called Mr. Gehmann in Germany and discussed the rifle that I purchased. Mr Gehmann had a photographic memory and told in great detail about the event and even recalled that there were two such rifles (like mine) that were given as prizes, and he knew the names of the winners of each and told me the winner of my rifle. He also sent me a copy of the "Match Results" flyer from the 1942 event that showed the scores and the prizes that were awarded. When I relayed all this information to the German Shooting Federation Director, he traveled and met with Walter Gehmann. After a two-week interview with Mr. Gehmann, the Director called and thanked me for bringing Mr. Gehmann to the attention of the Federation. Turns out that Mr. Gehmann was the man solely responsible for resurrecting German shooting sports after the war. Mr. Gehmann was also the recipient of the "Silver Feather" which was the highest recognition award in shooting sports. He also told that Mr. Gehmann's 1939 World record "perfect score" for 300 meter offhand has never been broken. What a wonderful piece of History associated with my rifle.

I had 16 Wehrmannsgewehr rifles in my collection up until I sold 11 of them in 2021 to buy my hunting land. I even had one that was a Steyr Mannlicher M1888 Wehrmannsgewehr in 81.5x46R caliber, (first one pictured) and the prize rifle (second one pictured) and one with double-set triggers and a 22 rf caliber insert (third one pictured) and a Haenel-Lorenze with a short 21-1/2" barrel with a Mannlicher Stock. (last one pictured)

I kept 5 of them, the 4 mentioned above and another nice Haenel-Lorenze. So now I have 6 with the addition of this last one.

as always your comments are most welcome.

--------------------
"You never pay too much for something, you only buy it too early."

Post Extras