Haenel - Mannlicher 9 X 57 Mauser

Long ago, the Sears-Roebuck catalog was the original wish book, and in those halcyon days before the Great War, the catalog carried page after page of guns – long guns, short guns, rifles, shotguns, handguns – American made and imports of just about every description. Between 1905, roughly, and 1914, one of the most expensive rifles found in the Sears catalog was known, variously, as the Haenel-Mannlicher or simply the C.G. Haenel (pronounced HY-nul). It was a bolt-action sporter imported from Germany. It cost half as much again as a Winchester ’86, and it was the rifle to carry if you had pretentions to style.

- Terry Wieland

Although no one pays much attention to it now, there was a lively business in sporting bolt actions before the Great War. Today we tend to think of that period as belonging only to the Mauser 98, the very first iterations of the sporting Springfield and maybe the Mannlicher-Schönauer. In fact, European gunmakers began sporterizing military bolt rifles almost as soon as they appeared in the 1880s, and many of their creations were exported to the U.S.

Some of these old rifles are not only beautifully made, as only a one-man German shop could do it, but are fascinating for any student of the bolt action. A few years ago, a rifle popped up on Gun Broker, described as a Mannlicher, which caused me to take a look. As it turned out, it wasn’t a Mannlicher at all, but that didn’t matter; I put in a bid, got the rifle and have been congratulating myself ever since.

The mistaken description was hardly the dealer’s fault. It does look like a Mannlicher, superficially, and after I got it I spent weeks trying to identify the action. Even today, I am not absolutely sure how it began life. What I am sure of is that it’s a beautiful rifle. I named it Marlene, as in Dietrich, and several of my gun-loving acquaintances lust after it.

Here is what I know for sure: The rifle was built by C.G. Haenel, an old German gunmaking company in Suhl. It was almost certainly imported to the U.S. around 1910 and is a typical German stalking rifle of the period. It has a sporter stock with a cheekpiece; a 21-inch, half-octagonal barrel with a full-length rib; is chambered for the 9x57 Mauser; and is built on what, at first glance, appears to be a Commission 1888 rifle action. As was the German preference of the day, the rifle is fitted with double-set triggers.