My wife and I are planning a trip to Austria and I gotr to thinking about making a detour to Ferlach. Does anyone know whether it's possible to visit some of the Ferlach gunmakers without an appointment, ie do they have retail stores like the famous British makers?

Ah, Stu, I tried the websearch myself - it turned up what looked like a promising link:

Link to Ferlacher Gunsmiths

[ 05-06-2003, 18:03: Message edited by: mho ]

Stu C
I guess the best way would be to contact a few gunmakers and ask. Austrians are often very friendly, I'm not sure how their English is, but I guess you have to learn som German

Most gun makers in Ferlach only have guns and not billions of "much needed" clothes and other crap that the brittish gun makers have.

Ferlach and unter Ferlach is not soo far from the Slovenian border and it's really nice

Good luck and have a great time
/ JOHAN

[ 05-06-2003, 20:38: Message edited by: JOHAN ]

My wife and I were in Ferlach this past December. We only visited Johan Fanzoj Company (sponsored chamois hunt we were on), but I expect the other gunmakers would also love to see you. I expect they all have retail shops attached to their shops and you will have a fine time looking through their used and new firearms and maybe get a tour. We stayed at a bed & breakfast -very good- called Krauses. Hunted in the Malta valley which has beautiful scenery/waterfalls.

I was in Ferlach many times. Most gunmakers have retail stores and I was permitted to see their workshops as well. And do not miss their gunmaking museum! Most everything is walking distance. Time permitting, I would also recommend visiting gunmaker Streitmeier in St. Paul (maybe an hour drive to the east). He makes best guns for Frankonia in his one man shop and is quite a character. And by all means try to visit nearby Slovenia, famous for its countryside, hospitality, and good food (not to mention good hunting opportunities).
With kind regards,
montenegrin

Thanks for the info. We're planning to drive from Zurich to Venice, and then cut up through Slovenia to Ferlach. Would you recommend contacting these gunmakers first, or do you think a drop-in visit would be fine? Also my German is about good enough for orderibng at a restaurant and getting directions. Is this going to be a big handicap?