Did all of Kettners in Germany close or was it just certain stores?........DJ

I think they went into receivership. They came out again under new management (owners of Blaser, Mauser etc) and are now fully functional. Some stores were sold off, catalog is somewhat smaller this year, but I have not noticed too much difference as far as the "important" stuff such as guns and reloading components go. According to the articles appearing at the time of their trouble, they had attempted to branch heavily into clothing to make up for lost sales in guns etc. Apparently that was what caused the heavy losses.
- mike

Some were closed before they get in trouble.
Some were sold to Frankonia during the trouble.

If you want more info use: http://www.kettner.de/filialen_start.htm
and choose the country you want to see the shops.

May be some competitors of Mauser and Blaser you will not get anymore in the Kettner shops. There are some rumors. But lets see.

Best regards

Will they still sell "Elch" brand clothing? And how would you compard "Elch" to "Rascher"?.....DJ

Yes, I think the "Elch" (moose) brand clothing is still available - as a matter of fact, I think the Elch stuff is Kettner's branding of all sorts of clothing that they buy as cheaply as possible from God knows how many sources. There may be good value to be had in some Elch items, I just have not found any of them yet. On the contrary, I got disappointed quite a few times - guess I am a slow learner...

If you want to buy cheaper European hunting clothing, you are probably better served over at Frankonia, who generally has better low range brands than Kettner. Or try out the usually very good "Deerhunter" brand - which can be found through many suppliers, Frankonia included (Kettner?).

Rascher is quite up market, I have not personally owned any of their stuff, but some of it is supposed to be good.
- mike

I loved Frankonia Jagd. My 2 Rascher coates are why American Hunters shouldn't walk into there with a credit card. .....DJ