After leaving the Zeller company, Hans Stamm went looking for work at major gun manufacturers like WF Bern and SIG. He ended up hired in 1907 by a company caller Saurer. This was an automotive firm looking to open a weapons division, with hopes of winning the upcoming trials for a new Swiss military rifle. To that end, Stamm and his team of 8 develop a quite nice straight-pull rifle.
The rifle goes through a series of military trials ending in 1913 – even after formal adoption of the K11/G11 system. There don’t appear to have been any technical problems with the Stamm-Saurer, but it was beaten by a more familiar rifle from WF Bern. It doesn’t appear to have helped things that the owner of Saurer was not really interested in making any changes to the rifle, nor willing to license production to a military arsenal.
When Saurer finally gives up on Swiss adoption they do try to make some international sales, but without avail. The outbreak of World War One really hinders marketing efforts for a new (and expensive) rifle system, as countries moved to expand production of proven existing rifles instead of pursuing new designs.
Many thanks to the Swiss Shooting Museum in Bern for giving me access to these two very rare rifles to film for you! The museum is free to the public, and definitely worth visiting if you are in Bern – although it is closed for renovation until autumn 2025:
https://www.schuetzenmuseum.ch/en/
Stamm-Zeller 1902 video:
Read the full article here
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