Art:
Yes, kuduae is Axel. I don't think he is onboard for the "S" in a lozenge being Schilling's forge mark and I don't know if anyone knows what the "Crown" over "F"(fraktur) beside the load data is. It sure would have been nice to interview say Peter Weiss, proofmaster at Zella-Mehlis, in the late 1960s or 1970 to answer all the questions. There's a school of though out there that as PeteM has suggested that these marks were only know between craftsman-proofmaster-firearms merchant and the end user really didn't give a tinker's damn about the whole lot as long as the powder ignited and the ejecta went out the end of the tube. All craftsmen eventually became firearms merchants if they lived to a ripe old age. So to have enough unknowns for the equations, such as the individual tasks in making an example, we need an example actually made or finished by a specific craftsman and the work order. So we know the maker, we know the subcontractors and we have the marks. Sounds simple, huh? Fredrik Franzen has access to some work orders, specifically Merkel, which is a start. We know most of the players but I still think there are a few floating out there that haven't been discovered. But that's what makes it a passion.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
