Gewehr 71 Soemmerda

[Telperion]

Hi all,

this is a Gew 71 I could purchase some time ago. It's all matching and has retained a lot of its original finish, with exception of the bands, though, that have been cleaned for some reason.

It was issued to the "2. Kurhessisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 82", a unit that, until 1866, was called the „2. Kurfürstliche-Hessischen Infanterie-Regiments Landgraf Wilhelm“.
The latter had been founded in 1687 and has seen service in the American War of Independance between 1776 and 1783.

Well, the biggest "issue" is of course the plug in the barrel. There are a number (a very small number, that is!) of those guns on the market; those deactivated this way had been allegedly in East German Museums where the government had them drilled so that the East German population could not use them in an uprising.
After the reunification, the big German firm Frankonia bought them, plugged them so that blanks could be fired and sold them on the collector market. These modifications seen here are by far the best and most unobtrusive ones you ever will encounter. The times those were made are long gone ....
If German collectors here know more about this, please let me know! Any new info is welcome!

T

 

[Telperion]

2:

 

[cj556]

You probably already know this but Sommerda is one of the rarer makers of the 71 & is very desirable.

 

[Telperion]

when I saw this old blighter for sale I almost fell from my chair ...

Guess what was my next thought ....

btw. better pic (courtesy of Hermann Historica, München)

 

[chrisftk]

Great find B! Aside from the DDR "modifications" is as solid as they come. Congrats!

Dreyse didnt make these for long (1874-1876 if memory serves). Their assigned inspection team was pulled in 1876 and production ceased. We've got a number in the SN study, but these had a pretty abyssmal survival rate, like most non Amberg 71. Definitely comparable rarity to the British contract NAA production and the IG 71 produced by the Suhl Consortium.

This one took me a while to find too. I received an unsolicited offer of one recently and was proud to add it. I'll post it up when I have some time.

 

[Sir Mortimer]

Regarding the deactivation: This isn't a "DDR mod", but a (West) German conversion into a so-called "Salutgewehr". The DDR simply drilled holes in the barrel itself and left them open (photos of this "modification" are shown in Storz, Dieter German Military Rifles. Volume 1: From the Werder Rifle to the M/71.84 Rifle).

But what is a "Salut" conversion exactly? Basically, it's a german conversion of a live firearm into an "Alarm gun", firing either older, more powerful 8mm or the current 9mm pistol blanks via adaptors. They were interesting for people who wanted to have an intact as possible gun (regular "deacs" had their bolt face gound down at 45° and the firing pin hole welded shut in addition to the "Salut" deactivation) that was still functional regarding manipulation and as much intact as possible.

The earlier "Salut" conversion were done by drilling and plugging the chamber itself in the front (only leaving enough space to fit the blank round!) and drilling 6 caliber-sized holes or a slit of comparable length into the barrel. Otherwise the rifle was left intact. The drilling was mostly done under the handguard or rear sight areas. You need to take off the rear sight spring to see the holes/slit in case of the Gewehr 71. Newer/later "Salut" conversions (~2010s onwards) additionally plugged the barrel in the front by welding in a hardened steel rod.
After having those deactivation steps done by a gunsmith, they were sent to the german BKA (Bundeskriminalamt; the german equivalent of the FBI/ATF), where they received the rhomboid-shaped stamp with "BKA" and a number under it to show conformity with the deactivation laws. In general, this conversion was done to repeating rifles, only in very rare cases to (ex-)fully automatic rifles/machine guns/machine pistols.

If you wanted to "fire" the Salut rifle, you'd have to take off the rear sight spring and/or the handguard (depending on where the gunsmith made the holes), take out the bolt, load the blank round in the adaptor, feed both by hand into the extractor and then put the bolt back into the gun. Loading directly from the magazine like a live gun doesn't work with the 2cm long adaptor.

Big firms (like Frankonia, Hege or Orion, to name few) had in peak times in the mid 1980s some gunsmiths doing nothing but "Salut" conversions. That's how big the demand was back then for these things. IIRC, those conversions were done from ~1970s to 2021. After September 1st, 2021, the german gun law had officially implemented an EU firearms directive: Salut rifles were now treated by law like the original "category" the live gun came from, making it effectively subject to strict requirements that needed to be fulfilled, despite them not being able to ever fire a live round again. Before that, they were free to be bought at the age of 18+ without any requirements. This directive basically killed off the previously (somewhat) lucrative "Salut" market in Germany for historically and/or technically interested persons that didn't want the years long paperwork/time/money hassle to own a live rifle. The modified rifles also didn't require a gun safe for storage, only a "lockable cabinet".

 

[Telperion]

Thank you, that is a very accurate description of the "Salut"-guns. With such a "Salut"-gun, you could indeed acquire a firearm that was as much intact as possible.

Here in this case, it was the DDR that did the principal damage by drilling the hole. What Frankonia did was somehow ingenious: they convinced the BKA that the guns modified that way were in fact destroyed and not usable as a firearm any more. BUT, as they weren't deactivated properly according to the German gun law, they made sure that a simple plug was sufficient even in the eye of the BKA and that there had not to be drilled any holes in the barrel any more. With the plug, a live round couldn't be loaded (which was possible before and dangerous therefore) and the gas of the blanks could escape through the muzzle with the barrel being long enough and wide in diameter. AND NOW, with the consent of the BKA, they could mark them accordingly and sell them on the market to anyone who was over 18 and could afford them. All those Gewehre and Jägerbüchsen 71 etc. were never cheap.

You can still buy Salutgewehre today, but it's a helluva hassle; tons of papers to be filled out, it's expensive and takes ages. I've been working on one for over a year now. But as soon as I got it, I hope you'll agree that it's worth it!

T

 

[Sir Mortimer]

Interesting to know that in the case of DDR Gew71s it was handled this way! Are you german, too? I assume from your presentation and working on getting the paperwork that you have "Altbesitz"?! And yes, the authorities are overwhelmed with unnecessary additional work due to this regulation, despite none of those historical "firearms" being relevant in any crimes in Germany.

 

[Loewe]

I updated the research thread with these new detail, and a link to this thread, HH (2018) only used one picture and the briefest of text. Very rare rifle as others have said, really extraordinary as trends show. Great job on these pictures B! (good to have another knowledgeable German collector here too!)