doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Otto Reif Suhl

From time to time the name Otto Reif Suhl surfaces as a waffenh�ndler on sporting weapons. Seems there is little info less what Mr. Apel has penned in some of GGCA's publications. Most of these examples surface in Russia which tends to support that Otto Reif was selling wares with his named stamped on them to Russian officers post WWII. By 1952 he was run out on a rail from Suhl. I don't believe we will see an example here in the U.S. of A. but I guess it is possible. Some like the following have surfaced recently & it piqued my interest on just who was Otto Reif. From an empirical stance, when you look at the marks on Otto Reif Suhl examples they always wear Simson marks. So I guess there's a clue. So I dug deeper and yes used car salesman Otto Reif worked for the auto arm of Simson & Company right after WWI if not in 1920. Seems there was some issue with accidents in Simson vehicles and liability fingers were pointing and the issue may have been attributed to tyre blow-outs. Anyway by Sept. 1924 Otto Reif found himself around such an incident & he may have resolved it himself. At this time or a little later he became a director in the Simon & Company auto arm and he is labeled as Autoh�ndler. By 1930 he is involved in a criminal suite dealing with autos and it may be here that he loss his car dealership privileges. But, but he resurfaces in 1934/1934 and it may be he was a waffenh�ndler which lasts till about 1952. My crystal ball tells me that he siphoned off components or sporting weapons in the white from Simson & Company as the firm is hijacked. Who would miss a few thousand components??? About this time or a little later in 1945 I think he teamed up with Edgar Strempel for his wares or he sourced Edgar Strempel, who post WWII seemed to have an inside track to Simson & Company components as many of his examples wear Simson type touchmarks. I haven't seen a sufficient number of marks on either Otto Reifs or Edgar Strempel's wares to confirm this, but the data is leaning that way.




1946 Otto Reif








cneu 3aka3(site won't accept characters) or special order on Krupp 3 Ringe tubes

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I failed to mention that Otto Reif along with Hugo Vonderlind look to have been race-car drivers either in Simson autos or sponsored by Simson & Company.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Well, it would not be surprising if someone in the employ of the Simsons were to take advantage of the Nazi policy of expropriating Jews. How much you want to bet Mr. Reif did that sort of thing? He'd probably have been hailed by the then-government as something of a national-racial hero for doing it. Mr. Reif seems a bunter Hund at best and more likely a real rogue. No wonder they ran him out of town.

As to the guns sent back to Mother Russia pictured here, I have to say they look a little too bourgeois for any Real Soviet officer to risk having made. Too nice, too foreign. Something the NKVD would be on the lookout for, particularly during the late days of Stalin.

The second picture from the top shows the words "Holland - Holland" in the top rim of the sidelock, just above the dogs and in gold. What gives?

This is another one of those posts where I'm brought to remember and regret the departure of Geno. I'm sure he would have had some good info to add to the discussion. I'm hoping our other Russian friends do....

the text reads spetz. zakaz

which translates as 'special order'
as far as I can make out

Holland&Holland probably indicates that these are H&H type Sidelocks

regrads from England
G�nter
NRA Life 1974

Thanks for the input guys and from the H&H advertising, I too would guess it notes H&H type locks. Regarding ole Otto Reif, I can't seem to find exactly what he was doing from 1934 to WWII. He did register a firm but I do not know it's function for now. With his used car salesman talent he was able to capitalize on the situation post WWII. I would like to clarify that all of his frames I have seen wear Simson touchmarks but not all the tubesets.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Another Otto Reif example from 1947 - 12, 16 & 20 bore and I think one of the 20 bore tubes is rifled




H&H must have been an advertising ploy.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Where do you find this stuff?

It comes to me in my dreams.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Ah, I just stumble on it looking for something else.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Looks as if in 1924 a trio of Suhl racecar drivers(Simson?) could be found in Richard Bauer, Fritz Jung & Otto Reif. In the same year Fritz Jung arrived 1st in a race from Saalfeld to Hohen Eiche but on the return trip or some other leg he had a fatal crash & the racers were cancelled for the year, if I understand the situation as it occurred. I'm curious how Otto Reif went from director at the Simson auto manufacturer/racecar driver to used car salesman to waffenh�ndler of some interesting sporting weapon examples.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse