1937 International Hunting Exhibition in Berlin : weapons, ammo, optics

[Guillaume d'Orange]

Hi all,
I got an interesting booklet for Christmas.
It describes rifles, shotguns and optics displayed at the international hunting exhibition of 1937 in Berlin (« Internationale Jagd-Austellung »).

Weapons, ammo and optics had a special exhibition (Sonder-schau or Sonderschau) within the exhibition. Handguns were also displayed and shooting ranges were built next to the exhibition halls.

There are many things to say about the makers, models and calibers displayed. Here is an overview.
All comments welcome.

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

Optics

 

[Fal Grunt]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

I wonder if you were to take the time and look through some period newspapers if you could find some pictures?

 

[Mikegermany]

Thats even in germany an hard to find one- looking for around 10 years for an exemplar or even full scan. Congrats!!!!!!

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

I wonder if you were to take the time and look through some period newspapers if you could find some pictures?

Unfortunately, the booklet has no pictures and I don't own period newspapers or John Speed's book about Mauser sporters.

There's this site showing Mauser "Modell B" or type B rifles:

The Mauser Sporter - Mauser 98-08 and Other Sporting Rifles

Mauser hunting rifles as made before and after World War I are among the finest weapons produced. Mauser sporters were made in a wide range of calibers.

sportsmansvintagepress.com

Calibers used are interesting:
6.5x54
7x57
7x64
8x60
8x57 J : used in the Remo Modell 1936, means that the ammo was available/sold to hunters.
10,75x68 : has disappeared in Europe

You may have noticed that a Krieghoff semi-auto rifle was displayed.

I found a pic of an example sold by Julia/Morphys: https://jamesdjulia.com/item/lot-31...eghoff-semi-automatic-rifle-with-scope-53227/



It was chambered in 8x60 and could hold 4 cartridges.
I assume it was the most innovative rifle of the "Sonderschau".

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

I forgot to post this page with a Mauser Modell K/type K and a Remo Modell 1936 in 8x57 J

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

Thats even in germany an hard to find one- looking for around 10 years for an exemplar or even full scan. Congrats!!!!!!

You're welcome. If you're looking for a piece of info, don't hesitate to PM me.

I assume you own a copy of the catalog:



or of the album "Waidwerk der Welt":



Are there interesting pics of rifles and optics in those books ?

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

Another detail I overlooked. The « Sonderschau » took place in Wannsee, not in Charlottenburg which was the location of the main exhibition:



Edit: my previous statement is wrong, the "Sonderschau" was in Charlottenburg (Halle II), but it looks like you could go to the facilities and shooting ranges of the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Handfeuerwaffen in Wannsee.

The facilities (rebuilt) and the institute still exist today :

Deutsche Versuchs- und Prüfanstalt für Jagd- und Sportwaffen - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The shooting competitions of the 1936 Olympics were held there

 

[Fal Grunt]

Jon Speed sent some pictures from the “Waidwerk Der Welk” Book I will post later this evening.

 

[Fal Grunt]

Here is the 1938 book on 1937 hunting convention. What is cool is Hermann Göring personally signed some of these books as he was the driver of this project. Most Göring signatures were done with a Stamp. Sadly there are few arms or scope pics but hundreds of show related pics.



The Mauser letter to person who attended show and at Mauser stand asked for some materials on .22 and hunting rifles so Mr. Gutheinz the Mauser rep got his contact and sent him this letter. Only 500 of these huge books were printed and weighed about 10 pounds, Jon



Thanks Jon for sharing these! I saw a very high priced copy of this book on ebay if anyone is really interested. Touch too much for me as generalized as it is, but it would be REALLY cool to flip through!

 

[Mikegermany]

I am in the lucky situation to own "Waidwerk der Welt" and also the Katalog of 1937 hunting exhib in origin, thats why i am looking for the "Waffe Munition Optik des Jägers" for completing........

 

[Mikegermany]

The Mauser letter

It is astonishing that there is an additional handwritten reference to the successes with Mauser rifles in the bottom left, they tried real hard to get attention.

 

[Mikegermany]

The facilities (rebuilt) and the institute still exist today

The DEVA ( with shooting range pp9 is now located in Buke / Westfalen:
The Berlin Wannsee shooting range was used after 1945 by the allied forces, today used by government and private.

 

[Mikegermany]

I assume it was the most innovative rifle of the "Sonderschau".

But never was an economic success for Krieghoff, High-priced in production and not an "wtb" for traditional german hunters at this time.

 

[Mikegermany]

8x57 J : used in the Remo Modell 1936, means that the ammo was available/sold to hunters.

The 8x57J (.318(!!)) was standard at this time in hunting rifles and one of the most used cartridge, even in boltaction and combinated (8x57IR) rifles.

 

[Mikegermany]

Optics

Interesting is point 3 + 5 in the Zeiss section- describing the "Leicht" Modell Zielvier/Zielsechs, this are the types with "rail" underneath and alloy tube.

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

Here is the 1938 book on 1937 hunting convention. What is cool is Hermann Göring personally signed some of these books as he was the driver of this project. Most Göring signatures were done with a Stamp. Sadly there are few arms or scope pics but hundreds of show related pics.
View attachment 424228View attachment 424229View attachment 424230
View attachment 424227View attachment 424226

The Mauser letter to person who attended show and at Mauser stand asked for some materials on .22 and hunting rifles so Mr. Gutheinz the Mauser rep got his contact and sent him this letter. Only 500 of these huge books were printed and weighed about 10 pounds, Jon

View attachment 424233View attachment 424232View attachment 424231

Thanks Jon for sharing these! I saw a very high priced copy of this book on ebay if anyone is really interested. Touch too much for me as generalized as it is, but it would be REALLY cool to flip through!

Thank you very much and thanks to Jon.
That's what I feared about the book : few pics of rifles.
The letter is cool : the sticker indicates the Mauser stand was in Hall 2 where all the weapons and optics were shown. Not surprising. One can only imagine that all the other big manufacturers had their own stand : bSw, JPSauer, Walther, Merkel, Krieghoff, etc.

One last note: the greetings sentence "mit deuschen Schützengruss" is quite funny, the translation could "with German shooter's greetings".
There was a letter enclosed in my booklet, the greetings were a plain "HH".

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

But never was an economic success for Krieghoff, High-priced in production and not an "wtb" for traditional german hunters at this time.

Interesting. Are there more details about this rifle in the book "Heinrich Krieghoff. Geschichte einer deutschen Waffenfabrik, Suhler Zeit" ? I don't have a copy, but planned to find one.

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

The 8x57J (.318(!!)) was standard at this time in hunting rifles and one of the most used cartridge, even in boltaction and combinated (8x57IR) rifles.

Thanks for this info. I forgot about .318 and .323 (S ball). I assume 8x57JS was forbidden then in hunting rifles. Today, I saw the proofmark of an 8x57JR drilling and the diameter indicated was 7.8mm (not 7.92mm).
One can forget loading these old rifles with JS/JRS modern ammo.