Introduction
By Dietrich Apel
If you plan a trip to Europe and like German hunting guns, you will most likely wonder what you can see and include when planning your trip. This section might help you to plan intelligently and not waste a lot of time just to get to the places you want to visit. A good road map and our suggestions can help you do this. Don’t forget that Germany, although a small country with shorter distances than you would consider at home, that even on the highly rated “Autobahn” where in certain sections there are no speed limits, traffic jams take place all the time. All too well do I remember one bus tour with members of the German Gun Collectors Association. We were approaching a major tourist area in bumper to bumper traffic. The bus driver constantly heard traffic reports and warnings and decided to leave the Autobahn and go on regular roads to our destination. He knew the roads and you will not. Plan your stops in advance and limit your choices.
Before you go on to another area, consider all the other attractions nearby. During the last tour for members of the GGCA we stayed over a week in one hotel in Suhl and saw all attractions in Suhl and vicinity, Zella-Mehlis, Gotha, Coburg and Gleichamberg, and from my view this was the best and final tour I planned and guided.
If for instance you want to see the most beautiful part of the Rhine river valley between Koblenz and Mainz, consider a stop over at the Military Arms Museum in Koblenz, even if sporting arms are of more interest to you.
If you plan to visit the Prechtl Company in Birkenau, you may want to also stay in Heidelberg, a beautiful old University town.
If you want to drive to Italy, plan a stopover in Ferlach, the Austrian gun making center, because it is close to the Austrian border. Along the way you can visit Vienna and the Springer stores and Steyr and the gun factory.
By bringing up the places of interest in your computer, you should mark down the opening hours of museums and other places of interest.
On the guided tours we had made reservations in smaller hotels that are so much more charming. You can stay in the most modern hotels in your home country, but in Germany do what the Germans do. To mind comes a hotel in Oberndorf on the Nekar River where the Mauser factory was located and the Mauser Museum is still an attraction worth stopping for. Everybody who had stayed at the “Waterfall Hotel” in Oberndorf had high praise for it.
If you hope that you can get a factory tour, you can ask by Email, but don’t be surprised if you can’t get it.
When you want to visit a custom gun maker, please consider that especially for them time is money, Asking them by Email before you leave would be in order. If the word retail store is added to their listing, you would have to ask for their hours.
Even if you have no plans to visit Europe, you might enjoy reading about the places where your gun was made and enjoy one of the virtual tours we are preparing.
We are beginning these in Suhl where the most hunting guns were made. Others will follow, and we hope that you will return.
Click on any of the following to see more about Suhl.
Gemütlichkeit is a page dedicated to the people who have been very generous with their time and knowledge and I recognize their hospitality.
Suhl- Die Welt Der Waffe by Paul Wolf & Erich Haenel is a small book published in 1925 about the City and it’s surrounding landmarks and the Weapons industry there. This book was found in Dietrich Apel’s possesions and may have belonged to his grandfather Franz Jäger of Suhl.
The Suhl Museum Tour is a collection of photographs showing the displays inside the Suhl Waffen Museum.
The Firearms Museum in Suhl is an article about the history and formation of the Museum.
Suhl Gunmakers School is a brief photographic tour of the School.
Homes and Shops of Gunmakers in Suhl will show you the remaining homes and shops with a map to show their location.
Points of interest in Suhl is a photographic tour of other points of interest in and around Suhl.
