Is there a chance that this is an older rifle with a newer barrel installed.
Here is a picture of some proof marks on the side of the action.
Mike

I subsume the .22 small-bore history in Germany:

In 1896 there was founded a Flobert-Schutzenbund in the region of Frankfurt and Offenbach (in the west and middle of Germany). They shot with Flobert-6mm-rifles and small-bore-rifle looking like the target rifles. Beginning of the century they changed their name to "Mitteldeutscher Schützenbund" and shot probably only with .22 small-bore rifles. And those rifles seemed to have only the target rifle style with a big cheek-piece and with German double trigger. There were some hundred shooters who used such rifle in that region. I guess all the parts and probably the whole rifles came from factories in Thuringia (Suhl, Zella, Mehlis, St. Blasii) and were sold by gunsmiths in that mentioned region in Mitteldeutschland.

When the main movement of small-bore rifles started in Germany between 1908 and 1914, they used the international style of small-bore rifles, which was usable for three-position-competitions and without double trigger.

Then WWI stopped all efforts on small-bore rifle-shooting. When they started again round 1920 with .22 shooting, they changed to bolt action rifles and some dropping block rifles - but all of them with single trigger and sportive stock. Only some manufacturers offered the so-called "free-rifle" for other competitions, which had the target rifle style.

                     Biggi.  

With those two pics I cannot tell anything. You should show some proofmarks or if you know the maker.

                     Biggi. 

Biggi,
There are no marks of any kind on my gun, inside or out. Not even a serial number. Under the barrel it's stamped "foreign action no number" and it's barrel #281 so, I'm going to say that it was rebarreled after WW1 so, I would have to say that it was made before WW1 and brought back here after WW1 to be rebarreled because of the low numbered barrel.

Would it fit into that time period? 

Frank

It's my belief that this rifle was reworked to fit the 10 lb small bore class. The barrel is 1 1/16 round by George Titherington of Stockton, CA and is only 20" long. I shoot it with a barrel weight attached to the muzzle. The butt plate was ground (to take the hooks off) and polished and I think it may have had a Tyrolian cheek piece that was reshaped to the contour that it has now. Only the parts that are pictured are original to the rifle. The fore stock and hanger for it are American made, too.

Frank

One other thing is that the action is of the same "system" as my German CF rifle. You can find a full pic of both on the first or second page of the picture thread. The breech block is hinged on the lever and slides up into the frame. It may be a System Buchel but, I really don't know.

Frank

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reply #6

The Small bore (22 rf) matches were a big thing here in the 30's through the 60's and Americans have always tried to build something better than the other guy has. Titherington was one of the TOP barrel maker back in those days and his barrels were in high demand. The butt plate was diffidently modified to meet the rules (no hooked butt plates) and the action is of very high quality. I think someone was trying to put a rifle together that he thought would be better that the others that he shot with. We Americans like custom EVERYTHING.

Frank