doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Johann Springer's Erben last gun - by F. Neuberger

Johann Springer's Erben translates to John Springer's heirs.
Once upon a time there has been a Viennese gunmaker whose guns
and rifles built between the wars were on a par with anything
else built in old Europe.Their customers were the aristos and the grand bourgeoisie of central and eastern Europe. By 1945
this customerset did not exist anymore. There emerged in recent
years 2 Springer weapons in US which may exemplify it. The biggest Springer customer has been the Polish Lubomirsky
arissto clan ordering a total of 34. One of them has been mayor
of Warsaw whose double rifle came on the US market recently.
Unfortunately he made a letal misjudgement on the benevolence
of the Gestapo/SS at the time of the invasion in 1939 .
Another has been count Josip Bombelles from a balkan country
in the southeast of Europe, whose nr. 1 of his trio emerged
in recent years in US. He has been a high-level diplomat and
politican, unfortunately on the wrong political side which
could be fatal in these countries. He survived an assassination
attempt, finally deported to and killed in the concentration/
death camp of Jasenovac in 1942.
The new customers of Springer from 1945 have been the officers
of the occupation forces to Austria (Russian, American).
With the state treaty in 1955 these folks returned to their
countries and Springer had to shut down the production of his
de-luxe weapons.
So what happened to the workshop people.
Hans Piffl, their Werkmeister (foreman/workshop manager) from
1939 on, left in 1954 and took over the gunshop of
"M�llers Witwe" in the provincial spa-town of Baden.He later
changed the shopname to "Hans Piffl" and finally sold
his gunshop in 1964 upon his retirement.
Herbert Winkler, their junior engraver, left already
beginning of the 1950's due to missing work and got a job in the electro-industry. He continued as freelance engraver
until his death few years ago.
Hans Jiricek, their stocker, left and started to work for
Piffl until finally becoming freelance stocker on his own.
No-name guns are a fascinating element of the collectors scene. I mean with it either a gun without any name on it
or with an unknown name. I recall a Belgian sidelock in
an English auction with an outstanding piece of rose-bouquet engraving. The disassembly brought the answer with the
engravers name "Smeets".
There emerged a "no-name Piffl" sidelock ejector recently
in Austria which I bought. Not knowing who Piffl was, I have to admit that I have been puzzled. Because the gun had all the typical elements of a classical Springer .
It's the slender toplever, the form of the triggerguard shaped along a "Springer-egg" mould and above all Springer's inhouse
engraving a-la-Matzinger.
(Matzinger is for Springer what Lukas is for Purdey and
Sumner for Boss)
It has Belgian barrels with Viennese proofmarks dated 1963.
A question to Hans Jiricek brought the enlightement as he told that Piffl has been the Werkmeister when he joined Springer
in 1944.
So what do we have: A sidelock ejector built in the best
tradition of the house of Springer, built by their
ex-Werkmeister, engraved by their ex-engraver (with his
hidden initials as signature) and stocked by their ex-stocker
and according an insider from parts left over.
De jure a Piffl, de facto the last Springer, years after
they ceased their production .

Photos :

Hans Piffl-Werkmeister from 1939 to 1954
He has been a Springer trained gunsmith.
The photo shows members of the Springer crew attending
a "Gewerbe-Festzug" (trade-corso) in 1928.
Hans Piffl is second from right, with apron, holding
a barreled-action in the white.
(Photo courtesy J. Springer's Erben)
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50429

Hans Piffl order to Hans Jiricek
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50370

Herbert Winkler - engraver
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50368

Herbert Winkler - at work
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50369

Hans Jiricek - stocker
A descendant of a Czech (location Racice) immigrant to Vienna
at the end of the 19th century.
Aged 85, still active, the living anti-thesis to
the early-retirement mainstream of the public sector.
Austria's Red Bull Empire (formula one racing cars, energy
drink, stratospheren jump) has a retro-livestyle magazine
"Servus". Their scouting cowboys finally detected
Hans Jiricek and he was featuring in one of their papers.
When I met him and congratulated him to his new stardom he answered that the article is a curse as people curiously were flooding his workshop to chat or bringing guns for repair.
He simply commented "ich komme mehr zu keiner Arbeit".
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50367

Piffl(Springer) sidelock ejector gun
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50371
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50372
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50374

Springer egg-mould
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50430

That's interesting and thanks for posting. I once had several Springer black hardbound catalogs. In them were copies of letters to and from Holland and Holland describing various business between the two. I wish I had them back, now that I might have more understanding.

Felix, I only by now found this interesting story. Very interesting and an amazing gun. Congratulation! Do you still know the issue of "Servus" with the stocker story...?

Cheers,
Gunwolf

Well, I think I just find it:

Servus in Stadt & Land 04/2014

Thanks and cheers,
Gunwolf