doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Imman Meffert?

Really like this makers style!

What a trio with the left one(eccentric tipping breech??) having an Austrian/Bavarian style stock. I really like that hammergun and I think Steven Hensley even has an earlier Pinfire platform.

But I like the hammergun specifically for the adornment, which is seldom, seldom seen on Meffert offerings. Meffert management was of the opinion that they could roll out 3 run of the mill offerings to 1 >>fancy one<<. By the 1930s, the concern was rolling out 1000+ per year. But these years would be the heyday years for the Meffert Compagnie and soon war and imprisonment would follow.

Initially, Immanuel Meffert founded the concern in 1839 and almost 100 years later Gerhard Meffert in 1934 joined his father Bruno in the compagnie. Meffert would be the final Meffert to >>uphold the gun-making tradition.<< In the 2nd Major Disagreement of Europe, Gerhard served in the Germany Army and was taken prisoner in 1945 in Austria by American forces. After a couple months of detainment, he was released & sent home to Suhl where he was greeted by Russian Forces, arrested and sent to multiple Russian Prison Camps. For about 5 long years he bounced around from Camp to Camp and finally was allowed to return home in 1950. Then he made a solid attempt to raise the Meffert Concern from the ashes but the effort was nationalized by the Communists. For the next 9 years he was continually harassed by the >>Stasi<< and in 1959 finally capitulated, where he & his wife took as many fotos and drawings that they could carry, told only ONE friend giving said friend the fotos & drawings and set out for Berlin where they jumped to the West Sector via the >>Luftbruecke<<, never to return again. Too, with all this bad taste in Gerhard's mouth, he was quite disconnected from the Meffert Concern & its history. Said friend forwarded the fotos and drawings some years later preserving 4 Generations of Meffert Gun Making. But Gerhard could not stay away from the gun-trade and found employment with AKAH as their shop manager. I am sure there is more to the story.....

Anyway, Bruno was more than likely @ the helm when these gems rolled off the line....

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

I remember that one of the drillings I had back in the early 70s was an Imman Meffert. Could it have been the slick underlever one?

More than likely it was the Meffert Dural Design, which was a light weight dreiling.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

It was, how can I say it, very "streamlined". Thinking about it, I can't recall running into many drillings using an underlever.

It was, how can I say it, very "streamlined". Thinking about it, I can't recall running into many dreilings using an underlever.

Um, the Austrians held with that Lefacheux Platform until the 1920 @ least. Much like the French Hunters, they were most difficult to convert......

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

That integration of alloys into the weapons platform by Meffert looks to be under a D.R.G.M. in 1909/1910 >> Leichtmetallen im Waffenbau<< or light metals in weapons construction. This would have been under management of Bruno, Justin & Richard or some combination thereof......


Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Too, there may be a unique story / history with Meffert's Radialstahlläufe or Radial Steel tubes. Meffert may have been the sole outlet for Ehrhardt's Rheinmetall vessel steel process. Akin to the Sauer - Krupp relationship, Meffert may have had a similar scenario with Ehrhardt / Rheinmetall and that may have been a typical pairing in Suhl. Much more research needs to be in this area.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

When I say it was an underlever I mean a push down lever under the triggerguard. It was hammerless and had 3 cocking pin indicators on the back that tapered into the tang. I had a Purdey hammer double that was a Jones and have a Husqvarna hammer Cape that is a Lefacheux. It was like this https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/-203425FB95