??? for anyone familiar with German rifles...

daven

Well-Known Member
Can someone tell me what makes a rifle a "Stutzen"? Is it just the shorter barrel/overall length with the full length stock? Or, is there more to it than that? Saw several on a drive hunt today and really liked the short/handy length...

Thanks. Dave
 
My understanding is that a stutzen type rifle is stocked the full length of the barrel, if that makes sense.

Novice
 
STUTZEN Rifle mmm A Millarty rifle cut down or altered for civilian use , i,e, in German Cut clip doc ,,, well Be
 
Guess so.... Seems to be just the easier handling (short) type rifle... Easier to maneuver in dense areas and compact stands/blinds (I been googling :) )..
Seems the normal length is 1 meter +/- an inch.... Just wondering if there was some other difference....

Thanks.
 
German, wikepedia describes a stutzen as a short hunting rifle. Usually with full stock.
Can someone tell me what makes a rifle a "Stutzen"? Is it just the shorter barrel/overall length with the full length stock? Or, is there more to it than that? Saw several on a drive hunt today and really liked the short/handy length...

Thanks. Dave
 
Origins of the word stutzen, I don't speak German but I was told by a gun maker some years ago who makes quite a few of these rifles that stutzen means shooting. Doesn't stutzenfest translate as shooting festival or is that just a made up word.

I have just looked on the google translate page and it says the word means support or back up, which would tie in with idea of a short rifle perhaps used by support units in an army who would have been issued with the shorter carbine. Or does it refer to a weapon carried say by a tracker who wanted a shorter rifle that would only be fired at short range? Incidentally the gunsmith at the time was building a stutzen with a longish barrel (24" or so) in .270win that he showed us. So perhaps it was meant that the barrel is supported along its entire length??

I think that most of us regard a stutzen as a short barrelled rifle where the stock extends all the way to the muzzle. I believe the Americans often refer to such a stock as a Mannlicher stock after the company which made many rifles in this style.

Dalua how does your hunting dictionary describe the word Kipplauf. I take it to mean a single shot break action rifle.
 
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Origins of the word stutzen, I don't speak German but I was told by a gun maker some years ago who makes quite a few of these rifles that stutzen means shooting. Doesn't stutzenfest translate as shooting festival or is that just a made up word.

I have just looked on the google translate page and it says the word means support or back up, which would tie in with idea of a short rifle perhaps used by support units in an army who would have been issued with the shorter carbine. Or does it refer to a weapon carried say by a tracker who wanted a shorter rifle that would only be fired at short range? Incidentally the gunsmith at the time was building a stutzen with a longish barrel (24" or so) in .270win that he showed us. So perhaps it was meant that the barrel is supported along its entire length??

I think that most of us regard a stutzen as a short barrelled rifle where the stock extends all the way to the muzzle. I believe the Americans often refer to such a stock as a Mannlicher stock after the company which made many rifles in this style.

Dalua how does your hunting dictionary describe the word Kipplauf. I take it to mean a single shot break action rifle.

That could be the whole deal right there and it's as much (or more) the type of stock than the length... That's something that aggravates the hell outta me with the German language... One word can mean different things depending on the subject.....
 
The verb "stutzen" means "to clip/cut" (foliage, hair etc.)

Schiessen would be shooting

Der Lauf is barrel so Kipplauf should translate to "tilting barrel" (or is the right word "tipping"?)
 
I thought the German word for short was kutz as in 9mm Kurtz (.380acp, or 9mm corto in Spanish)?
 
Stutzen, means, as said making smaller, shorter, like cutting the hedges. (Hecke stutzen)
Stuetzen or stutzen with the two dots on the u means to support or a support in mechanical or financial sense.

Berg Stutzen is a over/under double barrelled rifle with two calibres. Mostly larger cal in the bottom barrel to reduce load on action.

edi
 
That could be the whole deal right there and it's as much (or more) the type of stock than the length... That's something that aggravates the hell outta me with the German language... One word can mean different things depending on the subject.....

It refers to the whole package: a short rifle with a full-length stock. Blaser's single shot or Kipplauf rifle for example is sold in a variant with a full-length stock with they refer to as "stutzen". My own Steyr Mannlicher Classic full stock is mechanically exactly the same as the Classic Mountain version, it's the stock that tilts it into "stutzen" territory. You're missing the main point though, which is that they handle brilliantly and look beautiful. I think some of the older ones have barrels supported along the length, but certainly mine has a free-floating barrel, which means that you can only get away with using proper high-quality, well-seasoned wood for the stock to avoir warping. People say that they lose zero after several shots and so on, but in my experience it's me that loses the zero, not the rifle...

As for the German language, I find it to be a great one, but it's made more interesting by the fact that everhwere has its' own dialect. "Hochdeutsch" or standard German is for foreigners.
 
It refers to the whole package: a short rifle with a full-length stock. Blaser's single shot or Kipplauf rifle for example is sold in a variant with a full-length stock with they refer to as "stutzen". My own Steyr Mannlicher Classic full stock is mechanically exactly the same as the Classic Mountain version, it's the stock that tilts it into "stutzen" territory. You're missing the main point though, which is that they handle brilliantly and look beautiful. I think some of the older ones have barrels supported along the length, but certainly mine has a free-floating barrel, which means that you can only get away with using proper high-quality, well-seasoned wood for the stock to avoir warping. People say that they lose zero after several shots and so on, but in my experience it's me that loses the zero, not the rifle...

As for the German language, I find it to be a great one, but it's made more interesting by the fact that everhwere has its' own dialect. "Hochdeutsch" or standard German is for foreigners.

The town folks in the next town (a mile away) have a different dialect. I get along better with the southern Bavaria language because they talk slower (sems like anyway)... Some of the dialect kills me, but it's easy to pick up.... Some areas around here, I just tune out conversations because I can't follow 3 or more folks all talking in a different dialect....
 
Walter Frevert disagrees. He says that a Stutzen is a relatively short rifle.
I'm sure he wouldn't disagree that most of them are full-stocked, just like the Blaser you mention.

Correct. It does not have to have a fill length mannlicher stock! Its basically a carbine. They came about years ago when long rifles were cut down in the military for manoeuvrability. A short barrel Winchester 94 could also be considered a Stutzen. An M1 garand is not a stutzen but the 30 carbine and shortened versions of the M14 are.

Another criteria is that it must be of a calibre, in which the powder can sufficiently burn in the shortened barrel, such as .308 and 7x57. So you can't just chop 10 inches off your 338 Lapua and call it a stutzen.
 
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