doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Darne Shotgun from the Suhl Gunmaker's Library

Check out this Darne I just put up for sale. It came from the city of Suhl's gunmaker's reference source: Gunbroker Auction # 458012356

Interesting gun.

Wonder if it was a War Trophy from the May 1940 effort?



Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Germany occupied France from May, 1940 to December 1944. If the 341 is indicative of a proof date of March, 1941, then this gun was built during that time.

I think it was built earlier in France & for some reason(compliance?) passed thru the Suhl proofhouse in 1941.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Germans were nothing if not thorough on the documentation. No matter how the gun came to be in Germany, it undoubtedly had to go through proof. Thanks for the catch on the Suhl proof. I'm not as up to speed on proofs as I should be.

Those are not complete Suhl proofmarks as the eagle/N mark is missing. The gun merely Shows the date and the Suhl proofhouse identification stamp. I suspect it was merely sent to the proofhouse to check if the French proofs were valid. As they were, the Suhl proofhouse did not deem a reproof necessary and merely put their mark and date on for confirmation.

A better picture was provided on the German guns forum. Most likely this gun was confiscated from a French citizen when Germany invaded France. The Germans demanded the surrender of all civilian owned weapons, and it has been documented that at least 10,000 such confiscated weapons were sold to German citizens as late as 1943. Most likely this gun was one of those captured firearms, and it made it back to Germany. I would guess that the Suhl city collection manager sent the gun through the Suhl proof house. Being captured again in 1945 is how it wound up in this country. I have little hope that the original French owner can ever be identified.

Yep, a war trophy's war trophy. I'll be the German who acquired it didn't fancy the action so he made a donation.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Here is one of my Manufrance Ideals that went through the same Proof House the same month. I estimate the gun was built around 1900 or so.




I recall reading that all firearms brought into the Third Reich were required to be reproofed. I can't recall where I read this.