Also, the gun must have been made for a larger man or just someone with long arms as the LOP is 14 7/8" (37.78 centimeters).
This LOP would be just right for me in a winter coat, I am 6' 5''.
Large hands too, but not THAT large to need such a long pistol grip.
I am actually in doubt if this should be called a "Kaisergriff", it lacks that "forward sweep" at the bottom.
Compare here:
http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat....=true#Post95785(I have seen some rifles with Kaisergriff and other interesting features from the Scherping shop in Hannover in the net - but do not know if they were made there or bought in from Suhl.)
That little "Krawatte" or bow tie behind the pistol grip is interesting, too. Michael Petrov named this the "Shelhammer Chinstrap" in his first book, saying that this became T. Shelhammer's "signature", before 1940.
Indeed you will find this chinstrap on plenty of Ferlach rifles, but all I have seen were newer examples built after WWII, often with a Kaisergriff (plus a hogback, Bavarian cheekpiece, Schnabel forend and all the other curves that generate the "Ferlacher Barock"), but this became fashionable only after 1970 or so. I do not remember having seen any pre-war Austrian stock with "Kaisergriff" or "Krawatte".
Anyway, this chinstrap needs a pretty steep pistol grip, and it is used well on this rifle to mask that protruding bottom of the grip.
My first impression when seeing the pictures in this thread was that this gun might have been restocked, maybe even in the US.
But as it appears to be the original stock, this is very interesting!
fuhrmann