Thank you Carcano,
I appreciate your taking the time to post such detailed information, and giving your opinions about my rifle.
So my questions continue: 1. Who built the rifle? ... 2. When was it made?
1. Mostly likely the firm of August Schüler, at that time already under the real or even nominal direction of Richard. No other realistic candidate. The barrel maker can be found out, and maybe one of our usual suspects :-* in the various fora could help in this quest. Axel? Raimey? Mike Ford? Algmule? Hendrik? Lancaster? Also, the "U with rhombus" signet is one that I must have seen at one time. This too can be deciphered eventually.
2. Time frame (FRAME) of the proof stamp can be more reliably guessed by my betters. Probably as an "after, but before" frame.
3. It would be worth the sweat of the noblemen (German idiom) to compile all the posted photos of various Schüler rifles on the 'Net, in their respective proprietary chamberings, over the last 25 years or so, including their serial numbers, and then to compare them, and try to establish patterns and/or changes. Catalogues and advertisements can also help a bit, but only a *BIT*, since they very frequently illustrate but intent and dream. (
"Yes, we *could* possibly produce this gun in this calibre if enough people were really interested...").
4. I have no idea what happened with (or to) Harald Wolf's collected sources and archival materials on Schüler, after his death 2019, but I sincerely hope some aficionado has eventually taken care of them... hope he does not hover over them like Smaug (Fafnir for Wagnerians).
Carcano
