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Louis Hellfritzsch of Berlin I believe fancied pistols more than longarms but although I'm not sure of his window of operation, he was active from at least the mid 1890s till circa WWI. Yes, the longarm is bound by 1893 - 1912 & I'd hazard a guess it is closer to 1900 than any other date.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Gartenmeister,
I suspect a little heavier 38cal cast bullets would work even better than the 148gr.There is a 3 part article on loading the 9.3x72R(and different case lengths by extrapolation)in old German Gun Collectors Assn. publications.If you are a member, you can obtain copies at a club discount.If you are not a member, maybe you should join, you seem to share the interest.
Mike

Hello Gartenmeister,

Congratulations for the drilling. Nice! Congratulations also for the photos � I really appreciate nicely taken photos.

Regarding dating of your gun I totally agree with Raimey:



Well, the spelling of the name �Hellfritzsch might be the key to date the gun more exactly. I�m aware of some Hellfritzsch patents relating to pistols of the time frame 1899 to 1901, where his name is written with the �z� (like on your drilling). In later times (due to a reform of German grammar) he changed the writing of his last name without the �z�.

I�m in possession of a manual for the Roth-Sauer pistol having an ink stamp of Hellfritsch on the cover:



I know positively, that this is the address of Louis Hellfritzsch and Hellfritsch, respectively.

Well, the Roth-Sauer came out not before 1905.

So, as a rough ballpark estimation, your gun was made between 1893 and �. 1905, maybe 1906.

Best regards

Martin
P.S.: if you like to have an imagination how his shop may have looked like: go to google maps, type in

Berlin, Tempelhofer Ufer 10

and use the street view option. It is still the building of the time (not destroyed in WWII).