Hi friends,

as I posted before, I want to share some pictures and impressions with you...
In that thread: Ivans .450 Heym in the restauration prozess...

The CEO of Heym is an good friend of me, we travel together, go out for hunts and shooting, etc.
He is a true Gentleman and rifle-expert.

The first time I meet Ivan in Germany, in march 2011. We are out for an good German restaurant near the Frankfurt airport and had an quick meeting.

Ivan bring us the gun in an old box and I was shock about the condition. Later he told me the "Hippo-Sambesi-Story" and I was fascinated...

Some months later I had contact with him via e-mail and we planed to write some articles, pp. (Witch we have done in the past).

I must say Ivan is a true gentleman, an true hunter and (as we say in Germany) ein Naturbursche.
:-)

He is more an wildlife-nature-man as an technical-weapon-man.
He has an great knowledege about Africa, the animals and more.

He is good in guideing and in storytelling and writing also. Also he is an great photographer with an good feeling for an great photo (witch is often more important as an expensive equipment.)

In the next months they had the .450 Safari in the factory.

The gun was in bad condition, no more blue on the barrel, deep scratches in the wood, every screw was turned over, pp.

In the first moment the workers are "shocked" to see an Heym gun in this condition...

...later on the workers in the factory heard the story, that the rifle was in the Sambesi and Ivan searched for it for days, that Ivan used the rifle very often (more than 1.000 shoots) in the last 10 years and so one...

They liked the story.

So nearly every worker, the most of them are hunters, all are sport shooters, looks every week to the gun and see how the works goes...

So they become a special relationship to the gun...

Here you can see the barrels from behind.
Only pure steel, no more blue.

The barrels at the end.

I have forgott:

In the Moment they come with that gun in the factory, they go to the shooting range and test the gun.

Even after the tourtore, the gun has an great feeling, every part (from trigger to saftey) works correct and the accuracy was great.

So it was only an "beauty problem".
:-)

Here you can the Basküle (german word) in half unrestaurated (top) and restaurated (buttom). This is an very complicated steel work and you need people witch have more than 2 years of experience to do that correct.

Here you can see, as we say in Germany:
Es stehen keine Schrauben mehr auf Strich.

The crews are all incorrect and must be replaced. (I think this comes, after Ivans found the rifle in the river... He has to dry and clean up all parts and has -of course- not the correct gunsmith tools.)

Then you have an wood, witch is deep scrached, the wood-masters has some old tricks, to bring it back.

It its an long prcedure witch takes weeks, 5 and more. Dayly you have to work for 20 minutes at the wood and then wait "over night" and then start again...

Here you can see the stock in the middle of that process, the most scratches are gone...

(The old cap at the end was later on replaced.)

Some months later, Ivan comes to Germany again.

I was his driver, personal assistant, "bodyguard", translator, photographer, etc. (and I hope an "little friend" also) in the next three days.

We had some great days here, goes out, shoot, speak, reataurants in the evening, pp.

As I sayed before, Ivan is an great man to have on your side, allways an interessting conversation...
And not allways about hunting.
:-)

Ivan in the factory at the barrel archive.

Ivan at the barrel correction machine.

I had written an separeted thread two years before with more infos about Ivan vist to Germany. If you have interessed, please search for this...

The works must make three "special night shifts" to get the rifle correct ready...

The Heym CEO makes an little ceremonie to give the complete restaurated rifle back to Ivan.

Ivan was more than happy, to hold his gun back in his hands...

I post now some photos of the complete .450 Heym Safari.

Alle Schrauben stehen wieder auf Strich.
So wie die deutschen Büchsenmacher-Meister das vor hunderten von Jahren festgelegt haben.

Gentleman,

I hope you like that little story...
(And sorry for my bad school-english).

Best wishes to the USA and I wish you all an relaxed sunday.

Thanks Frank! Great pictures and a great story!

Congratulations to Heym and Ivan on a superb rifle!

Its amazing to see what can be done when the talent and motivation to do it is present.

Absolutely wonderful from start to finish.

Excellent, excellent, excellent!

The rifle in its un-restored condition was at the Dallas show a couple years ago. I wish I had a full photo to show the "before and after"....quite an amazing transformation.

GREAT story, thanks for the pictures!

DM

It's ready for another 10 years of Ivan

Some serious craftsmanship, both in the original build and the restoration.

And Frank, your English is far better than my German, even after three years in Mannheim

Beautiful work. Thanks for posting the process. Very interesting.

Thanks, for posting... great story, great pictures!!!

Thanks for sharing. Nice to see what can be done with such a weathered gun.

Amazing restoration! Thanks for sharing!

I loved hearing the story and seeing pics again!!

Beautiful work and thank you very much for posting it, Herr Doktor.

How long was the rifle in the water?