Daryl,
While Richard F. ("Dick") Schaefer was William R. Schaefer's second son (John Frederick ("Rudolph") Schaefer being the first), and he was formally trained by his father as a gun maker, the production date of your hammer gun may not jive with the Richard Schaefer being the "maker" - i.e., Dick would have been awfully young at the time. I'm not sure what to make of the disconnect. I can conjur up some explanations, but I'd be guessing.
LeFusil,
While I believe many Lindner-made guns were simply retailed by others in the US, I believe others were completed/finished in the US to some degree. I should probably replace the word "many" to "most" in the previous sentence as Schoverling, Daly, & Gales (SD&G) was the biggest seller of Lindner-sourced guns. I don't believe SD&G finished any Daly guns in the US.
I do think other US-based "makers" actually did complete/finish Lindner-sourced guns (action/barrels). Specifically, IMO William R. Schaefer & Son did more than retail already completed guns. Michael Petrov and I traded lots of emails on this topic and that is the conclusion we came to. Depending on the time frame, W.R. Schaefer employed 4-7 (mostly German) gunsmiths/gunmakers (according to Census records) so he certainly had the capability. Period periodicals refer to the large workshop and the company workmen "making guns."
When I sit period-similar Daly and Schaefer & Son guns next to each other, there are some subtle differences. While this might be the natural variation in the gun making, there were subtle differences in the stocking and other minor features to convince me that some work had been done in the US on the Lindner-source barrels and actions. Any of course, the earlier Schaefer hammer guns were "made" in the US.
The existing literature on William R. Schaefer is very thin. I have had a two-part article sitting at 70% completion for about three years. I need to get off my butt and finish it. Schaefers are some of favorite guns.
Ken
Last edited by Ken Georgi; 04/20/18 01:38 PM.
