I have found a nice falling block rifle from the above mentioned manufacturer.

It is a full stock rifle in 30-06 cal. It has a quarter rib and sure is a nice one!!

Tried to Google but couldnt find much!

Anuone with a bit more knowledge??

regards

Jim

Many of those were on Heeren actions&were wonderfully done-nice find.i had 3 actions in the white,wish i had them back.BEST,kim

Well I havn´t bought it but it sure is nice!

A bit over my pricerange at the moment and the woodwork is not so good IMHO!!

Jim

If it is Heeren action, you can recognize it because the trigger guard, which serves as the lever to open the action, is hinged at the back and is pulled down in front. This is a very strong action but has weak extraction. Maybe forty years ago I tried out two Glaser heerens, in .220 Swift and .30'06, beatiful rifles. Had a very hard time extracting empties, had to kick the levers with my shoed foot.

Hmm! Can´t remember but I think it was hinged in the front but I´ll have to check that.

See if I can get some pics and post!

Thanks!

Jim

Here's one I had my grubby hands on a while back. think it was a 7x57mm.

THUD!!

OK! I´m back again!!

What a beauty!! Engraving looks outstanding!
And I can tell you wore gloves when you fondled with it!

Guess it came with a hefty pricetag too??!!

The one I saw was flame hardened and the action appeared to me much more "round". Not as square angels as on this one.

Anyone knows when these babies were produced?

Very little info on the web to be found.

Jim

Thats a Heeren all right+pre war Zeiss??4X Zielvier so gun must be prewar or early post-war.they were available from Waffen-Franconia in late 70's.Might check their catalog.they were ~$400 then not engraved.how much is yours?30-06 might be an extraction problem. saw one too in 244H&H-begging for trouble.saw one on a smaller action,full length stock in 7X57R.another one i should have bought for$650.classic&lovely.

Oops,sorry thought richjs was yours.can you get a pic?

KimR!

I found the gun at my gundealer´s and got curious about it cause I´ve never seen anything like it in real life before.
And when I couldn´t find any info on the Web it started up my curiosity.

Not gonna buy it though!! I have other projects to finance first. And 30-06 in a rifle like that is just boring!! Even though the caliber is fine!

But I´ll try to get som pics!!

Jim

Was at the gunshop today and it is a Heeren action!

Its not as nice as the one above but I woudn´t mind owning it!! The trigger was set quite hard and opening the action for reloading was a bit rough!!

It has a Zeiss Z 1,25-4 mounted in a low clawmount.

But it comes with a price offcourse! In US fund around 5000 dollar! IMHO a bit too much!!

Jim

Jim,have you a recent waffen-franconia catalog,do they still sell them? the 7X57R i saw was smooth as glass-lots of polishing on all the bits&pieces.one in 9.3X74R wound be a screamer given todays interest.BEST,kim

Jim,the trigger is a single set-push forward to set-then should be a few oz.to fire

KimR!

I don´t know if Franconia selles them any more?? I´ll see if I can find out.
Tried the trigger mechanism and it sure needs some work!! It is raw as .. well you know!!!

But with 5000 USD or 30000 Norwegian kronor it is way of my league!! I´d rather spend those money on another double or maybe a Sako Safar1 with a nice European scope!! But that´s me!!

But a nice rifle it is! For sure!!

Jim

I just happened across this thread, and it seems to offer potential for an entertaining discussion of some gun trivia...

The Glaser Waffenhandel used to be the #1 address in Switzerland. They had a very international clientele, who simply walked into the shop (while visiting Zurich) and either bought an existing gun or ordered custom. The custom part of the business was quite extensive, so it is not unusual to run into these guns - even in far-flung corners of the World. My current gunsmith made his apprenticeship as a stock maker with Glaser.

Alas, those days are practically over. Hardly anybody pays for custom any longer. Not only have the custom guns risen dramatically in price with rising labour costs, but gunownership has lost a lot of its previous social status. There are still custom guns built in Switzerland (e.g. the guy who builds all the thumbhole stocks for the Blaser "Success" model. he developed that stock, and Blaser contracted him to build it for them), but although the Glaser shop still exists (new location, though), they are no longer a primary address for custom work.

The Heeren guns are quite popular in Switzerland. The brother in law of my girlfriend shoots one in 7.5x55. One of the raeson for the popularity of this particular rifle in Switzerland, is that one canton (state) of Switzerland, Graubünden, only allows single shot rifles to be used for hunting. So it quite common to run into these guns in calibers such as the 10.3x60R - the accepted minimum for hunting in Graubünden.

The Heeren action is not only particular, because the mechanism for the falling block hinges in the back of the triggerguard, the trigger also has a mechanism that allows the action only to be cocked when a lever is pushed. If memory serves, you have to push the lever behind the trigger forward - this distinguishes it from a set trigger, where only the trigger mechanism is set, as opposed to the main spring being cocked. I'm not quite sure if the main spring is totally or only partially uncocked before this operation, but it is considered a safety feature here.

If you want to find more information about these guns - including a lot of pictures, look for "Heerenbüchse" in Google. It will turn up a bunch of hits.

Here are some pictures from one of the sites hit - the pictures are linked directly from this site, so I don't know how long the links will stay available. Notice the cocking lever on the back of the trigger...

Notice also the flaring grip. This is known as a "Kaisergriff" (Emperor's grip) in German...







- mike

Here's the picture I saved:

I've always admired the Heeren, but there's rumors the inherently weak extraction is often a problem. I suspect this actually depends on the chambering chosen.

They are pretty nifty guns, aren't they. For me, they represent a different approach to gunmaking. Less utilitarian than a bolt action, say. Sadly, probably also less practical in many ways.
- mike

What would be the odds of getting just an action?

If I'm not mistaken they are still made. I just don't know by whom, nor at what price....

- mike

P.S. with a bit of investigation, I came up with at least one manufacturer of the Heeren actions:

Waffen Furtschegger
Schubertstraße 15
A-6330 Kufstein
Austria
+43 (05372) 64396

They have an internet page, but it is not ready for use. I talked to a woman over the phone, and she confirmed they built Heeren guns and actions. She did not know whether actions were sold separately. But I thought it was a first step in any event...

Mike,
Thanks I will give them a call. If I could get an action for $1500 ish that would make it quite a bit cheaper than building a custom M10 Dakota or a Hagn.

Hell with the damn Canadian loonie beating the dollar by a penny the Hagn is pretty expensive right now.

I know of three makers of Heeren style actions.

1) Ziegenhahn

2) Dorleac & Dorleac, their Approche model

3) Vaussenat, the V98 is a modified Heeren: it has a cocking safety, (if I recall)