Fabulous One-Shot Thomas Heuberg Rifle For Sale

There is something audacious about the very frame of this rifle. It is probably best described as a carbine, in my view. It is a squat, slab-sided, truncated beast of a single-barrel, falling-block big-game killer in .450/400 (3”).

Made by Thomas Heuberg in Mosbach, Germany, it is purposeful, uncompromising and beautifully made. It provides the hunter with a very capable cartridge, a quick to the shoulder, snap-shooting, close-range weapon and one shot.

Now, that is sporting.

The action is based on Martin Hagn’s design for a falling-block. Hagn learned his rifle-smithing skills at the Ferlach Gunsmith School before working for Griffin & Howe in the mid-1960s and then for Hartmann & Weiss.

Thomas Heuberg favours this action, which he modified, and has chambered it for the classic, 1902-launched, Jeffery cartridge; the .450/400 (3”) Nitro Express.

Heuberg operates from the small German village of Mosbach, in Baden-Wuerttemburg. Unusually for a rifle-maker, he began his career as an engraver, adding other skills as the years passed.

In 1996, having graduated in gun-smithing from Suhl, he set up in business on his own account. He makes every part of his rifles in-house, using state-of-the art machines and traditional hand-work, as best suited to each job. The chance to become the owner of one of Heuberg’s impressive hand-built rifles comes along rarely. This example is in almost new condition and it feels ready to go hunting.

It has the feel of a close-cover stalking rifle. The short barrel is ideal for traversing wooded country and avoiding the snags from overhanging vegetation. Sling eyes provide the option of shouldering the rifle on a long walk but it is up-close it feels likely to do its best work.

At just 41” overall length, weight sits between the hands and the teeter-totter point is mid-chamber. This gives it a very mobile character, moving from hip to shoulder with easy smoothness, then sitting steady at aim. The 24” barrel feels shorter than it would on a magazine rifle. The 14” length of pull helps promote a snag-free mount and feels ideal to my six-foot frame.

A Trijicon red-dot makes for fast target acquisition and instinctive shooting. In all, an exciting prospect for hunting larger quarry and engaging it at close range.

The .450-/400 (3”) NE is a very capable cartridge and was once widely favoured in Africa and India as a dangerous game cartridge. It originated in 1899 when Cordite replaced black powder in the old 3 ¼” brass .450 case. Jeffery improved it by shortening the case, moving the neck forward and increasing the thickness of the rim. This made it more stable and effectively modernized it.

Today’s aficionados of this grand old cartridge consider the optimal load to be a 400-grain Woodleigh bullet propelled at 2,134 fps. With that, it is legal and possible to hunt any animal in Africa and will deal equally comfortably with big bears, moose and boar, if required to.

The build-quality is first class. Pretty but not ostentatious wood, a nicely shaped, elongated pistol-grip, with steel grip-cap, ergonomic lever to operate the falling block, perfectly in-let sling eyes, a big, rounded, ebony finial to the forepart and colour-case-hardening to all steel parts except to deeply blued barrel. Gold-inlaid lettering lifts the austere finish and the chequer is well executed and the right side of fine-cut to be considered practical for a rifle that may get wet and dirty.

The falling-block action makes for a super-balanced rifle and is quick and easy to load. The non-auto safe helps speed up the firing cycle if rapid shooting is necessary but the beauty of this single-plane-of-sight, simple, brutally chunky carbine is its purity.

Stalk-in close and make that one exquisite opportunity tell, as you squeeze the case-hardened trigger and the muzzle jumps to the report. If you have done your part well, that should signal the end of the matter.

Rifles like this are few and far between. Heuberg offers something different and rather wonderful.

This rifle is available now from Westley Richards. For full specifications and price click here.