doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - W. Förster - E. Barthelmes Z-M - SB & Co.-Liège

Not sure if anyone has an true interest but there are always sidebar conversations ongoing & I thought this W. Foerster to be of interest as the frame is Austrian, tubes are Belgian and proofs are German and then sold in Berlin. I guess no different than today and all about the Benjamins......
















These pattern welded tubes were of course imported in the rough from the talented mechanics Liège, Belgium by Samuel Buckley & Company, who were for the most part importer / exporter and had an office in Liège, Belgium. They had to have an office in Germany too. Then the tubes were completed by Büchsenmacher Emil Barthelmes of Zella Sankt Blasii. My guess would be the W. Foerster sourced a gesteck / parts kit from Ferlach, Austria & the tubes from Liège, Belguim, then had Emil Barthelmes finish everything, send it thru the Zella-Mehlis proof facility & ship it to him. Just like the Liège mechanics, the Zella - Mehlis mechanics were looked down up by the Suhl gunmaking centre & the Z-M mechanics always worked for cheaper rates like the Liège mechanics. So a Berlin retailer like Förster would source the kits, then have it built in Z-M to pad his bottom $(dollar). The longarm was subjected to an additional voluntary proof, which looks to be pretty stout, and an additional fee was paid for the voluntary proof. Maybe Dr. Hause can perform the powder Calculus on it?



Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Yesterday was a day that this sporting weapons marks quest pretty much came full circle. The fella that provided me with my 1st German Combo had his son stop the car on the side of the road(where you typically can find me) to chat a moment. He has 89 years and is deaf as a post but had some device, sort of headset that he could hear a bit. I hadn't seen him in say 20+ years and really didn't know if he was still with us. We had made a trade on said Combo as a partial payment for some services I had rendered. He had acquired it from a friend in an Alabama Hunt Club. Turns out it was a donor and the springs were removed for a 16-65 over 8X57R/360 I believe. But this it THE Combo that sparked the flame into researching European Sporting Arms that has brought me this far. I decided last night to pen him a letter of Thanks for the initial contribution and hopefully he can still read as he cannot hear(Heavy Artillery or similar) and will not wear hearing aides.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse