One thing about doing this blog which I occasionally find amusing is the comments from the 'trolls', the disgruntled, mostly spiteful, gun critiques who hide behind alias email address's. Every comment on the site has to be approved and I appreciate all the ones we get. Todays post on the Mauser rifles generated a comment I found particularly amusing, it was from Baron Radu von Goldman and read "theres no rifle in history that can compare to mauser m98 there english thiefs like jeffrey rigby holland&holland purdey westley richard have all stolen german rifles and cartridges since early 1900, now you tell me whats english?" The answer by the way is everything except the action!
So in response, as I cannot respond (to the alias email) on the merits of the Mauser vs Lee Enfield I thought I would take a few pictures of Germany's most respected maker Hartmann & Weiss's products.
As always fabulous guns and rifles, built with pride in Germany on the Boss & Co. over and under system which was of course designed and perfected by the firm in England..
Now you tell me what's English, Baron Radu!
Hartmann & Weiss .375 Bolt Action Take Down, .375 Over Under Rifle and 20g Shotgun.
Hartmann & Weiss .375 Over and Under Rifle and a Boss & Co. .500 3" Over Under.
Hartmann & Weiss 20g Over and Under and a Boss & Co. 28g Over Under.
NB. If you click on an image it will enlarge in a new window.
Simon Clode on March 10, 2016 at 7:50 pm
It is the same set up but a bigger action with more reinforcement. Boss file it into the shape and Hartmann have put bolsters like a Holland. The Holland Royal bolsters were added when the pressures of the cartridges increased.
Gregg on March 10, 2016 at 6:57 pm
Great guns!
Do you know if H&W or Boss modify their OUs in any ways to account for the increased pressures generated by the rifle loads?
Or do they use the same setup they’re using on their OU shotguns?
Thanks
Gregg
Radu Baron Von G. on March 12, 2016 at 12:21 am
Simon,
I am Radu, I use that (almost) alias, I have a fairly large hunting page on FB and I have nothing but the deepest respect for your as a person, the blog and spectacular images and knowledge here. I have no clue what impostor choses to pose on my ‘nom de plume’ throwing insults around. There is no cleaner proof other than me featuring your rifles and pictures in my FB page in the most polite and in fact as pure promotion to you. No doubt there will always be arguments but that sort of literary incapacity to express an argument or an opinion would never be something I would say. Much like a surprise would probably be to you if another Simon Clode showed up floating on social media and English gunmakers and ransacked you in front of people you have nothing but respect for. We have common friends and my email address is (given and removed for privacy. Simon) if it is of any use to you for contact.
I hope this gets clarified and since I had never got a chance to thank you for the years of joy I silently get from watching your blog, reading great knowledge and enjoying the insanely beautiful gun photography, I hope this chance is as good as any.
Thank you and whether this gets clarified or not in your eyes, please continue doing what you do, The Explora remains the finest gun blog there ever was on the Internet. Do not lose any sleep over trolls.
Sincerely and with outmost respect,
Radu, the fairly real ‘Baron’
Radu Baron Von G. on March 12, 2016 at 1:49 am
I assure you I have not wrote that and someone else is posting slander on my name. I shoot and I respect gunmakers tremendously, naturalized American I am but also a great Anglophile and a lover of both English craftsmen and English sportsmen. In fact many are my friends and I have walked some of the finest gun vaults in London. I shoot around the world and I promote both sport and gun, and never do I talk of someone in the manner above. Simon Clode and Westley Richards have been an inspiration for years to me, silently I watch this blog and I consider it to be the absolute best in the world of its kind. With that being said I hope this ‘clone troll’ gets exposed or ignored and my ‘nom de plume’ not in any way gets associated with him or her.
Rule Britannia,
Radu
Mims Reed on March 11, 2016 at 5:57 pm
I am glad I own one of those mixed breed Hartman and Weiss / Westley Richards bolt rifles in 505 Gibbs. I bought it from and American.
Better tomorrows,
Mims