|
This time I stopped at the Hartmann & Weiss exhibit booth and really studied the guns. For years I had been aware of this gunmaker, but hadn’t spent time at prior SCI conventions to explore and savor their artistry. I knew of their reputation for perfection of design execution. Their takedown rifles, for example, maintain telescopic “zero” after disassembly and re-assembly. I had always been entranced by their case coloring. Done by St. Ledger in Birmingham, shimmering and luminescent, it reminds me of parrot fish on a coral reef darting in and out of the sunlight.
I first read about Hartmann & Weiss years ago in Marco Nobili’s elegant book, Fine European Gunmakers. The photographs were lush and the text minimal, which suited me just fine because the photographs best present the stunning aesthetics, the astonishing array of engraving styles and the maker’s broad spectrum of models, ranging from traditional European shapes and angles to classic British bolt rifles and shotguns.
In the fall of 2006 I met world-class engraver Alain Lovenberg at the Grand Masters Engraving Symposium sponsored by the Glendo Corporation in Emporia, Kansas.
Alain is one of the premier engravers for Hartmann & Weiss. Meeting him again at the 2007 SCI convention inspired me to write this article. Alain took from the glass case a bolt rifle with a set of five barrels that he engraved. The action glistened, the engraving stirred the soul and the barrels were polished to a blue, mirror sheen. The stock didn’t merely fit the barrels, it embraced them.
The famous English gun writer Gough Thomas coined a word, eumatic, to express the transcendent, indeed, almost spiritual relationship between the human being and a fine object. Gough defined the relationship this way:
“It expresses the quality in a manually operated device whereby it is totally correlated to the human being who has to use it. There is no doubt of the pleasure to be derived from using some mechanical implement or device that has been designed on the best somatic principles. There is an aesthetic quality in smooth, sweet action, responsive to easy control that recalls a bridle – wise horse with easy paces, as opposed to a hard-mouthed brute that seems always to be traveling downhill.”
Holding a Hartmann & Weiss gun causes the eumatic sense to cascade down on the person like a waterfall.
European Tradition and English Classic
Otto and Gerhard sat with me at their booth during the 2008 convention and explained the designs of some guns. I happened to be admiring a jewel-like Hagn single-shot rifle that boasted a lustrous stock, so Gerhard took the time to educate me on their falling-block guns. There are two different styles of falling block actions, the Hagn and the Heeren, both designed more than one hundred and twenty years ago. The Heeren is the shortest falling-block action. Its trigger is located where the action ends and the forward part of the trigger action drops down. On the Hagn action, the trigger is farther back on the action, the action is longer and the rear of the trigger action drops down.
Hartmann & Weiss bolt rifles feature their own Mauser 98-type actions, large bolsters, elegant non-obtrusive claw mounts and alluring St. Ledger case hardening. Although they resemble London’s best bolt dangerous game rifles, many rifles were adorned with lavishly engraved trigger guards and floor plates and sumptuous gold inlay.
For those who have followed my articles in this magazine, you may conclude, accurately, that I am drawn most strongly to the shotgun, particularly those of classic form. Thus, I was enamored by their side-by-side shotguns based on the Beesely/Purdey actions. Frederick Beesley invented a spring-cocked self-opening hammerless action that he patented in 1880 and promptly sold to Purdey. Considered one of the best hammerless actions ever devised, the main springs are compressed by front lifters only when the barrels are on the gun and closed. The flawless quality of these Hartmann & Weiss guns shone like beacons.
Of course, Hartmann and Weiss will build a Beesely action, a Holland action, a Boss action or whatever you request. In fact, to be candid, if I could have my choice, if there is one gun that causes me to think about second and third mortgages and skipping a few college tuition payments, it is the Hartmann & Weiss classic Boss over/under in 20 bore with thirty-inch barrels.
The stock on this Boss gun glows as if from an inner light and the rose and scroll engraving is so subtle and understated on the case-hardened action it is like dark powdered sugar sprinkled on a Linzer Torte. Exquisitely balanced, the gun seems to move more from thought than from muscle. This Boss action gun truly tip-toes into the Promised Land of perfection.
Fate, Fortune and Finding a Home
Their stories are incredible. Otto Weiss was born in East Germany. His father was a gunmaker during the Communist regime; and thus Otto was not allowed to attend school because his father was considered a “capitalist.” He started his apprenticeship at age 14 in Suhl, his family’s area. Realizing astutely that his future as a factory worker was as bleak as the Communist ideology, he escaped from East Germany in 1958. He worked two years in Switzerland, learning general gun-making skills and developing a passion for English guns.
Attracted to the English gun trade like iron filings to a magnet, Otto engineered his acceptance to James Purdey & Sons in 1960. In 1964 he took a job in Hamburg where he met Gerhard Hartmann. “I am a Hamburger,” Otto chuckled during my visit at the 2008 convention. He formed a partnership with Gerhard and Peter Nelson, another Purdey man. In 1965 they began making guns in their little Hamburg shop. Nelson left the firm after eighteen years to set up his own shop.
Gerhard had trained in Ferlach, Austria and then worked at Krieghoff. He describes his father as a ‘perfectionist,’ which inspired him to produce the best possible guns. “It’s in our blood,” he told me. He extended his hands to me. They were thick and rough, the hands of a worker.
The Hartmann & Weiss philosophy was to continuously make incremental improvements to existing patents because major improvements were not needed to produce world-class guns. If no historical drawings of an old gun existed, they created their own and then reproduced the parts perfectly. All components are made by the firm in Hamburg or in their machine shop in nearby Kiel except the rough tubes for the chopper lump barrels, which they buy.
The firm has invested heavily in computer-controlled design and milling machines that produce cuttings and tolerances worthy of NASA spacecraft specifications. Despite rising labor costs, they have not compromised on quality. As a consequence of their obsessive attention to detail and unwavering standards, the quality and craftsmanship of the nine-person firm are unsurpassed. Their love for fine guns is energized by their respect for tradition. Although the firm may be viewed as restating and refining the past, it is certainly slashing forward with the highest quality and most sophisticated aesthetics and design solutions.
With humility and respect, Otto and Gerhard expressed their appreciation for Safari Club International and for their customers. “They allow us to do what we love. We are lucky.” I hope so, but those few who own these stunning guns are fortunate also.
For more information: www.hartmannundweiss.de and
email: hartmannundweiss@t-online.de
|
