A tour of Hartmann & Weiss

12 September 2009, 04:47

The wife and I recently got back from a tour of Europe and one of our stops was Hamburg, Germany, home of the sporting firearms maker, Hartmann & Weiss. For those of you who haven't heard of them, here's a good article.

The "factory" is very unassuming and is located in a residential area on a street lined with homes. Aside from the subtle signage, the only giveaway that you're in the presence of one of Europe's finest firearms makers is the monster cape buffalo skull perched above what was the house's garage. Mr. Weiss was kind enough to give me a tour of the entire premises so here are some pics I thought I'd share.

From the street.

The reception area.

A handful of drop-dead gorgeous rifles and shotguns on display; most awaiting delivery to their lucky owners.

The attention to detail is really amazing.

The work area is on both floors and almost everything is done in-house (that's raw Turkish walnut under the moose antlers).

Me with a 505 Gibbs.

Though I probably won't ever own a rifle from such a premium maker, after seeing in person just how much work goes into a single rifle or shotgun, I will say that they are worth every penny. These are as much works of art as they are firearms. Thanks for looking.

12 September 2009, 06:18

fla3006

Welcome to the Forum. Great report, great pictures, great guns. Thanks!

12 September 2009, 06:29

FAST996

What a nice trip and you have made my day..Wow!

Thank you

12 September 2009, 06:39

D Humbarger

Welcome to AR. Thank you for sharing the photos. AWESOME!

12 September 2009, 07:35

Biebs

Hartmann & Weiss....one of the absolute best!

12 September 2009, 08:00

N E 450 No2

Welcome to AR.

Great pictures.

12 September 2009, 08:17

JBrown

Wow! Thanks for posting those photos.

I thought that was an interesting way to display those elephant tusks. I wonder how many people missed them all together.

Jason

"You're not hard-core, unless you live hard-core."
_______________________

Hunting in Africa is an adventure. The number of variables involved preclude the possibility of a perfect hunt. Some problems will arise. How you decide to handle them will determine how much you enjoy your hunt.

Just tell yourself, "it's all part of the adventure." Remember, if Robert Ruark had gotten upset every time problems with Harry
Selby's flat bed truck delayed the safari, Horn of the Hunter would have read like an indictment of Selby. But Ruark rolled with the punches, poured some gin, and enjoyed the adventure.

-Jason Brown

12 September 2009, 11:01

RIP

Yep, that snow camo ivory stock blends in with the wall paint so well it is almost invisible.

12 September 2009, 12:31

Chisana

I've handled some H&W stuff in Jerry Fisher's shop, but after reading this thread I may need to go back a review my whole program.

12 September 2009, 12:35

bigdoggy700

What a great set of pictures. Those guns are drop dead gorgous! The white stocked gun on the left end of the rack is interesting. Ivory stock?? Welcome aboard.

12 September 2009, 15:30

Rusty

Thanks for sharing! Awesome!

Rusty
We Band of Brothers!
DRSS, NRA & SCI Life Member
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12 September 2009, 18:44

degoins

Welcome and thanks for sharing!!!

13 September 2009, 02:52

450/400

I wish that had been my first post...

13 September 2009, 06:35

goshoot

Great photos. Interesting that they are in a residential area. I wish my next door neighbor was a maker of fine guns.

13 September 2009, 06:42

JBrown

quote:
Originally posted by bigdoggy700:
What a great set of pictures. Those guns are drop dead gorgous! The white stocked gun on the left end of the rack is interesting. Ivory stock?? Welcome aboard.

I figured the white stock was some type of "fitting stock".

The ivory that I was referring to is on the top of the display case in picture #3. How many of you missed them the first time through?

13 September 2009, 06:52

<Mike McGuire>

quote:
Originally posted by JBrown:

I figured the white stock was some type of "fitting stock".

I have seen some pictures of H&W guns and from those pictures a white stock could be possible

A lot of Europeans seem to like guns that make the Wby custom shop with a blank cheque look moderate

Check this

http://www.hoferwaffen.com/hofer_52s.php?id=1&lang=en

13 September 2009, 06:59

Roland1

Great work - great pictures - Congrats with your nice trip.

Roland

15 September 2009, 16:57

Will

Thanks for the pics.

You must be mistaken as that looks more like a 243 Win. than a 505 Gibbs.

-------------------------------
Will / Once you've been amongst them, there is no such thing as too much gun.
---------------------------------------
and, God Bless John Wayne. NRA Benefactor, GOA, NAGR
_________________________

"Elephant and Elephant Guns" $99 shipped.
“Hunting Africa's Dangerous Game" $20 shipped.

red.dirt.elephant@gmail.com
_________________________

If anything be of note, let it be he was once an elephant hunter, hoping to wind up where elephant hunters go.

15 September 2009, 17:11

mstarling

Welcome!

I must say ... that's one heckova first post

Thank you.

15 September 2009, 18:59

MHC_TX

I can't wait to see your second post!

16 September 2009, 04:02

Michael Robinson

Great post!

Danke!

16 September 2009, 04:26

StormsGSP

Helluva first post!

-----------------------------------------
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. -Henry David Thoreau, Walden

16 September 2009, 19:09

Timan

Superb!!

16 September 2009, 20:01

Trax

Great stuff, I consider them the best of the BigBuck Makers.
Otto is good to talk to,... JerryFisher told me of atime they were hunting together when Otto got clean run over-flattened by a bear,
that just kept right on running after the fact like nothing had happened....

17 September 2009, 08:10

hundensport

Glad you enjoyed the pics, fellas. The AR forum is a fantastic resource; I've been enjoying the big bore and safari experience vicariously through it for a while. I'm glad to finally contribute to it!

To Will, I asked Mr. Weiss if he could hand me a big bore for a photo and he handed that one to me saying he thought it was a Gibbs. The fact that it had a barrel band, express sights and felt like it weighed twice what my Vanguard 308 does didn't make me doubt him. From the barrel size though, it doesn't look like a Gibbs. Whatever it was, it was so very sweeeet.

17 September 2009, 16:24

Will

Hey, I have express sights on my 30-06!!

Still looks too big for a 505 but maybe another Gibbs.

04 November 2009, 14:48

arend

the white stock on the rifle is not made of plastic.

it is

mammoth ivory.

this is not BS i have this from a very good source.

best regards

arend

05 November 2009, 09:28

akalinin

I can't imagine how much that would cost!

06 November 2009, 02:21

jaegerfrank

A very nice posting. Especially tempting are the double rifles on the Boss principle, would be nice to have more detail here. However a 505 with a such a big Zeiss scope is simply not doable, amazing that H&W adressed that customer wish.