doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Heym rifle date of manufacture

Hi. I'm new to the form and recently acquired a Heym single shot rifle.The barrel comes from Suhl and is dated February 1945, A cerosafe casting of the chamber shows it to be chambered for the 7X75R Von Hofe.The action looks pre war and has no markings except "Bruder Heym". Does anyone know when Heym marked their rifles as the Heym brothers as opposed to the more common Wilhelm Heym? Does anyone know a source for 7X75R brass or ammo?
Otto

Development of the 7x75R Vom Hofe Super Express began in 1957. The parent case is 9.3x74R.

With kind regards,
Jani

Are you sure there aren't any marks on the underside of the tube? A lot happened in 1945 but there may have been a calibre stamp. Is the stamp "Gebr�der Heym"? Bruno & Richard Heym were at the helm by the start of WWII. Folklore has it that the design of the 7x75R E.August Vom Hofe commenced in 1939.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

COW lists the 7X75 R VHE as circa 1939 and I have a pre war Meffert drilling rechambered for that cartridge.
I've rechecked the action markings and yes the action is marked "GEBRUDER HEYM" and "SUHL". It also has the serial number and the eagle over N and the eagle over J marks.
The barrel has the date 245, an eagle over N, and the Suhl proof house mark. No caliber or load data.
Do you know if the Heym brothers marked their rifles "Gebruder Heym" during the war? I thought that the action was pre war and that the eagle over J was added when the rifle was rebarreled in 1945 but maybe it isn't a pre war action.
Otto

I'll have to check to see if I have a copy of the "Cartridges of the World" but I suggest they verify their sources and produce a couple of rounds of ammo with the 7X75R Vom Hofe headstamp. Sources give that 1 lot of 1000 rounds were produced by DWM in 1942 and shipped to some fella in Stuttgart. All had the parent headstamp 9.3X74R. Walter Gehmann acquired the Vom Hofe firm, which Ernst August Vom Hofe had hung his shingle out in either the late 1920s or very early 1930s, in 1955/1956 and completed the development of the 7X75R Vom Hofe for tipping weapons. There was a 7X73 from the 1930s which I think was for a Hofmann rifle. There has been some talk of an elusive 7X76.5 Vom Hofe Super Express Rand/with a rim from the period.

There were several firms with the name Heym in Suhl and Fredrich Wilhelm & Gebr�der Heym being 2 of them. I'm sure they were related but Gebr�der Heym arrived much later on the scene, possibly between the turn of the 20th century & WWI. Gebr�der Heym made many of the Geha longarms and didn't survive WWII.

Are the Eagle proofs those with the wide wingspan?

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I do not trust COW much with European cartridges.
Here is some information extracted from jagderleben.de:

1931: 7x73 Hofe-Mann Super Express
Early 1930s: 6x61.5 Hofe-Mann Express; ammo by DWM, arms by Funk, Suhl
1937: 5.6x61 Vom Hofe Super Express
1945:Vom Hofe dies on May 4
1956: Walter Gehmann takes over "Vom Hofe"
1941: Gehmann starts 7x66 Super Express
1954: Gehmann goes on with 7x66 SE development
1957: Gehmann starts working on 7mm rimmed; first version used 8x75R Behr necked down
Early 1960s: 8x75R Vom Hofe Super Express finalized, using 9.3x74R parent case.

With kind regards,
Jani

Very nice effort Jani. I may have created some confusion as usual so let me restate that yes there were 7X75R Vom Hofe Super Express cartridges with Walter Gehmann's name on the headstamp post 1958. But if the 7X75R Vom Hofe SE was available pre-WWII let's see some cases without Walter Gehmann's name on them. The 7X66 Vom Hofe SE was yet another example with a design phase commencing in the late 1930s. This period found Wilhelm Brenneke, Walter Gehmann & Ernst August Vom Hofe all chummy and deep in cartridge development. By the time of the U.S. of A.'s entry into WWII, sporting cartridge development, and possible production, at DWM was terminated while the 3 cartridge amigos fell out of love. Walter Gehmann waited them out with Ernst August Vom Hofe passing this world in 1945 while Wilhelm Brenneke tarried around to 1951. Shorty thereafter, the former DWM employee Walter Gehmann mounted an attempt to acquire the Vom Hofe firm and complete the cartridge development cycle on the 5.6X61 and 61R, 7X66 Vom Hofe, 7X75R Vom Hofe and others I'm sure.

Those in the know have conveyed to me that the Gebr�der Heym tipping weapon of question more than likely began life as a 7X65R and post 1957 was altered to the speedy 7X75R. There appears to be something inherent in the 7X75R Vom Hofe SE design that allowed the change from the 7X65R without compromising the integrity of the chamber. Of course much of this is dependent on the supplied verbiage and not on proofmark images.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

"COTW" contains many mistakes, especially regarding German cartridges.
The Dynamit Nobel (former RWS) reloading book "Wiederladen" writes about the 7x75R SE v.H.:
"The cartridge was announced by Walter Gehmann (who had taken over the vom Hofe firm in 1955) in the year 1958, however Ernst August v. Hofe had already experimented with the cartridge shortly before the war and he also brought ammunition into trade."

If the chamber of that particular rifle has been reamed from 7x65R to 7x75R at a later time, in Germany the rifle would have been subject to a re-proof, and should show the according proof marks.

Regards,
fuhrmann

Thanks to all who have responded to my question.
Raimey. The eagle proof marks on the action,both the eagle over N and eagle over J,have the wide wingspan.
Does anyone know the dates that Gebruder Heym produced rifles? Could he have produced the action in 1944-1945 along with the barrel?
Otto

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