I have one of these GDR guns in 16 gauge. It is marked as a "Simson", but I guess it really does not make much difference what name is on it. I had the chokes opened to sk1/sk2 and it carries and shoots well. I enjoy it and don't worry too much about pushing through the brush or getting a little rain on it. It also has the Q1 stamp - though I'm not certain how much weight that actually carries as far as quality.
I've never owned a German shotgun other than this J.P. Sauer, but I've owned a whole bunch of old American, Spanish, and Japanese shotguns and this Italian Charles Daly Bernardelli import from 1959.
The build quality of my Superior Export Quality Sauer is second to none of a field grade gun, from A.H. Fox, L.C. Smith, Ithaca, Lefever, Parker, AyA, Browning Miroku, or that Bernardelli made about the same period in Italy. In some ways the East German gun is better, in the bolting and hand fitting of wood to metal. The engraving on the German gun isn't up with some, but it's not bad, just simple and sparse. The checkering on the wood is good, but not something like you'd see on an A.H. Fox or Lefever from the glory days.
The Germans who made the communist era guns didn't quit being Germans, just because they lost the war. They continued making the same excellent quality Anson and Deeley boxlock with a Greener type crossbolt as they had for over forty years before the Russians took over Suhl.
And if they stamped the 1 coming out of a circle on the lug, it had to pass a German quality inspection by some old gray haired master of the craft.
