Carl Walther | |
|---|---|
| Born | Carl Wilhelm Freund Walther 22 November 1858 |
| Died | 9 July 1915 (aged 56) |
| Occupation | gunsmith, industrialist |
| Spouse | Minna Georgine Pickert |
Carl Wilhelm Freund Walther (22 November 1858 – 9 July 1915) was a German gunsmith from Zella-Mehlis, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 1886, Walther founded the firm of Carl Walther GmbH.
Carl Walther's father, August Theodor Albert Walther, was a brass and iron caster. His mother, Rosalie Wilhelmine Amalie Pistor, came from the gunsmith family of Pistor, William Pistor's daughter. Carl Walther studied under gunsmith Willibald Barthelmes and later under Albin Schneider. Walther worked for the Jopp company in Zella-Mehlis, making Mauser rifles. In the fall of 1886, Walther opened his gunshop in Zella-Mehlis. Walther soon hired additional workers to meet the demand for the sporting rifles he made. In 1888, Walther married Minna Georgine Pickert, the daughter of the revolver manufacturer Christian Friedrich Pickert, and they had five sons. [1] In 1903, after three of his sons entered the firm, the focus turned to the production of pistols. [2] In 1908, Carl Walther, together with Fritz Walther, his eldest son, designed and produced the first usable German self-loading pistol. [3] Fritz Walther took over the management of the firm after his father's death in 1915.
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
| Biographical dictionaries | |
  | This German engineer, inventor or industrial designer biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
The Gewehr 43 or Karabiner 43 is a 7.92×57mm Mauser caliber semi-automatic rifle developed by Germany during World War II. The design was based on that of the earlier G41(W), but incorporated an improved short-stroke piston gas system similar to that of the Soviet SVT-40. It was manufactured using innovative mass-production techniques.
Suhl is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, 110 kilometres NE of Würzburg and 130 kilometres N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella-Mehlis, Suhl forms the largest urban area in the Thuringian Forest with a population of 46,000. The region around Suhl is marked by up to 1,000-meter-high mountains, including Thuringia's highest peak, the Großer Beerberg, approximately 5 kilometres NE of the city centre.
Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen, or simply known as Walther, is a German firearm manufacturer, and a subsidiary of the PW Group. Founded by Carl Walther in 1886, the company has manufactured firearms and air guns at its facility in Germany for more than 100 years. Walther Arms, Inc. is the United States Walther business unit and is based in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The Gewehr 41, commonly known as the G41(W) or G41(M), denoting the manufacturer, is a battle rifle manufactured and used by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was largely superseded by the Gewehr 43, which incorporated a more reliable method of operation.
A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very high level of craftsmanship, requiring the skills of a top-level machinist, a very skilled woodworker, and even an engineer. Gunsmiths perform factory-level repairs and renovations to restore a well-used or deteriorated firearms to new condition. They may make alterations to adapt sporting guns to better fit the individual shooter that may require extensive modifications to the firearm's stocks and metal parts. Repairs and redesigns may require fabrication and fitting of unavailable parts and assemblies constructed by smiths themselves. Gunsmiths may also renew metal finishes or apply decorative carvings or engravings to guns. Many gun shops offer gunsmithing service on the premises.
The Walther PP series pistols are blowback-operated semi-automatic pistols, developed by the German arms manufacturer Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen.
Henry Deringer was an American gunsmith. He is best known for inventing and giving his name to the derringer pistol.
Weihrauch & Weihrauch GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of target and sporting air rifles, air pistols, cartridge rifles and pistols. In North America, they are often distributed under the Beeman brand name.
The Walther P38 is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol that was developed by Carl Walther GmbH as the service pistol of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II. It was intended to replace the costly Luger P08, the production of which was scheduled to end in 1942.
Hugo Schmeisser was a German developer of 20th century infantry weapons.
The MP35 was a submachine gun used by the Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS and German police both before and during World War II. It was developed in the early 1930s by Emil Bergmann and manufactured at the Bergmann company in Suhl.
Zella-Mehlis is a town in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated in the Thuringian Forest, 5 km north of Suhl, and 20 km east of Meiningen. The town of Zella-Mehlis is the site of the original Walther Arms and J.G. Anschütz weapons factories. They remained there until the Soviets occupied eastern Germany at the end of World War II. The former municipality Benshausen was merged into Zella-Mehlis in January 2019.
The Walther Model 1936 Olympia II is a single action semi-automatic handgun manufactured by Walther. The first version was the M1925, formally known as the Automatic Walther Sport Pistol cal. 22 LR, and was introduced in 1925. It was followed by the M1932, the Olympia Pistole I, and used to good effect in the 1932 Olympic Games. The final development Walther made was the M1936 Olympia II that won five Gold Medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and effectively ended the Olympic reign of the Colt Woodsman Target model. The pistol continued to be manufactured up until 1944, but no major changes were made during the war. In 1952 the pistol was reintroduced under license by Hämmerli-Walther. In 1957 Smith & Wesson introduced the Model 41, based on the Olympia-Pistole. The Norinco TT Olympia is a Chinese copy of the Walther M1936 Hunter made sometime after 1980. Most variants were chambered for the .22 Long Rifle but the Schnellfeuer version used the .22 short, produced to equip the German team for the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 for the rapid fire events. The Olympia pistol is a fixed barrel, internal hammer, open-topped slide design and had a large contoured wooden grip which extended well below the bottom of the butt frame causing the necessity of the magazine bottom plate to be fitted with a wooden block extension. Once World War II started, the need for weapons quickly shifted from competition and sport to the military, thus Olympia production slowed.
Manurhin is a trademark used by Chapuis Armes since 1998. It is used to designate the Manurhin MR73 revolver family, manufactured at Saint-Bonnet-le-Château, France.
Ziegenhahn & Sohn Jagdwaffen e.K. is a German arms manufacturing company. It was founded in 1911 and is located in Benshausen.
Johann Heinrich Ehrhardt, also spelled Erhardt, was a German locomotive manufacturer and inventor.
The Langenhan pistol, officially known as the F.L. Selbstlader Cal. 7,65, is a German pistol, designed by Friedrich Langehan and used by German military men, and the police during World War I. The design of the pistol is also similar to the design of FN M1900 pistol. About 55,000 pistols were produced.
C.G. Haenel is a German weapon manufacturer located in Suhl, Germany.
Keppeler – Technische Entwicklungen GmbH is a German firearms manufacturer which produces rifles for ISSF 300 m rifle competition, hunting matches as well as bullpup sniper rifles.
The Walther Model 8 was a 6.35mm single-action pocket pistol manufactured by Carl Walther CmbH between 1920 and 1940. It was fed by an 8-round magazine and chambered in .25 ACP. The Model 8 is a blowback pistol with a concealed hammer and has several design features that were innovative for Walther, including fewer parts and an easier disassembly.
