I have read also that many of these were mass imported to the USA... But unlike hershies melamine this gun has all the testing marks from proofing houses and it is also to German specs for the time... The metal of the reciever is not a standard gun metal... at least not the hardened steel or Damascus I am used to.
so my real question (apart from can it be used) is why was it made? Was it a tourist type catch the eye gun? Was it a special order? Was it an apprentice given the go ahead to make a gun?
It was a price point tool made by an industry with lower labor costs, as well as an adequate labor force, trained, that could all but supply the world with longarms. One note on the German proof law of April 1, 1893 is that German excluded Liege from its proofhouse reciprocity forcing Belgium to revise their proof law on July 11, 1893 which lead to the "Crown" over "ELG" in an oval. Without it, Belgian tubes had to be reproofed/reproved in Germany. You see the mark of the tubes experiencing re-enforced proof, or something acknowledged by the German proofhouses, on your post 1898 longarm.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
