Feinwerkbau History No.1

[caspar25]

I'm always surprised by such preconceived ideas.
Like this one:
History No.1. of Feinwerkbau-
Not in accordance with MLAIC ???
Or disappears from the market because not good.
Here's what happened:
Feinwerkbau has probably stopped production and distribution by 2019.
And prices have been rising ever since.
In Germany there is a big portal "egun" where you can watch the price development very well.
In 2018 you could buy the History Nr.1 with luck for 700-800 € from the dealers.
On egun the prices are now between 1550 and 1200 €.
Why the production was stopped is not to be explored.
Various telephone calls always led to the same result: "What - we have stopped the production?
Manager-not to reach.
Nevertheless a very good weapon.
An obituary

 

[Zonie]

For those who don't know, a Feinwerkbau No 1 is an underhammer target pistol.

 

[Barry Strickland]

I thought I would give some information you might find useful. The underhammer action was patented in the US by Fordyce Ruggles in 1826 it was also the first percussion gun patented. It was produced by many manufacturing firms both small and large.
I have two books on underhammer firearms in my personal library. The latest “Early American Underhammer Firearms” by Nicholas L. Chandler, ISBN: 1-931464-46-4. This book is concerned with the makers of Ruggles type firearms produced between the years 1826 & 1840.
The second book is “Underhammer Guns” By Herschel C. Logan, L. C. Catalog Card No. 60-7973 printed by The Telegraph Press in 1960. This older book covers a wider spectrum of the underhammer guns manufactured in the US and elsewhere.
The simple design of the actions enabled both large concerns and small shops to manufacture the firearms very inexpensively with a limited amount of machinery. They included full stocked shotguns, rifles, buggy rifles, pocket rifles, pistols and target versions of the rifled versions. The quality varied from the masters to the poor. The lower quality was the “Saturday Night Specials” of the era.
The underhammer pistols were without a doubt the most manufactured style of pistol in the US prior to the industrial revolution creating a very successful revolver.
I will include just one picture of the many different styles of underhammer pistols being produced.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Feinserbau ist gut!

So sad they are not making guns anymore. :’(

 

[caspar25]

This is not quite true, Feinwerkbau continues to produce sporting weapons, only not the the History No.1.
Yesterday I had phoned them to order a spare part for my No.1 and asked them again why the production was stopped.
"not economical" I got as answer ???

 

[caspar25]

I thought I would give some information you might find useful. The underhammer action was patented in the US by Fordyce Ruggles in 1826 it was also the first percussion gun patented. It was produced by many manufacturing firms both small and large.
I have two books on underhammer firearms in my personal library. The latest “Early American Underhammer Firearms” by Nicholas L. Chandler, ISBN: 1-931464-46-4. This book is concerned with the makers of Ruggles type firearms produced between the years 1826 & 1840.
The second book is “Underhammer Guns” By Herschel C. Logan, L. C. Catalog Card No. 60-7973 printed by The Telegraph Press in 1960. This older book covers a wider spectrum of the underhammer guns manufactured in the US and elsewhere.
The simple design of the actions enabled both large concerns and small shops to manufacture the firearms very inexpensively with a limited amount of machinery. They included full stocked shotguns, rifles, buggy rifles, pocket rifles, pistols and target versions of the rifled versions. The quality varied from the masters to the poor. The lower quality was the “Saturday Night Specials” of the era.
The underhammer pistols were without a doubt the most manufactured style of pistol in the US prior to the industrial revolution creating a very successful revolver.
I will include just one picture of the many different styles of underhammer pistols being produced. View attachment 26460

good idea the two books I just ordered

 

[caspar25]

For those who don't know, a Feinwerkbau No 1 is an underhammer target pistol.

 

[FishDFly]

Barry, thanks for the book information, will have to find them.

fdf

 

[Barry Strickland]

Caspar, I am glad to hear you found them both.
fdf, If you are not aware Chandlers book covers a relatively short period of time of the Ruggles type underhammers. The color pictures are beautiful.
Logans Underhammer Guns covers a much broader arena of time and place. The black and white photos are good but the pen and ink drawings of the lock workings are superb. If I could only have one of the two books I would recommend Logan's book. Good luck on finding it though, it is not commonly available.
Barry

 

[caspar25]

Thank you for your further comments.
Both books have been offered for sale several times in the USA,
even on ebay;
59,-€ resp. 39,-€ unfortunately the sellers in unison want 69,-€ for shipping.
I found one in England and the other by a German dealer.

 

[caspar25]

 

[dd832]

Andreas Baumkircher is also retiring as of May 1st 2020 from the gunsmith business - http://www.baumkircher.at/index.php/en/?rCH=2
So that only leaves Dedinski making custom underhammer weapons. We don't see many Dedinski or Artax guns here in the U.S.

Here's a couple of photos of my Baumkircher .36 caliber underhammer pistol -


Mike