need help identifying bolt-action pistol

[ddeanjohnson]

As explained in my first post on this forum, yesterday, I have recently been developing an interest in old German pistols, both single shots and revolvers. But my ignorance is vast, and I so far I have only a few basic reference books, which have left me scratching my head on several pistols (pistols I have actually acquired, and others that I have my eye on). I recently acquired the single-shot, bolt-action pistol shown below. It has the "BUG" proofmarks, and is marked 5.3 mm. I have fired .22 Shorts in it. A .22 LR cartridge fits in the chamber but I have not fired any, and do not intend to. I would appreciate any help in identifying the manufacturer and the approximate time/place of manufacture of this pistol.

D. Dean Johnson

[Axel E]

Again, these pistols were made in vast numbers by the Zella-Mehlis guntrade for a lot of wholesalers and export houses. They were made for a very long time with some changes in external shape, but essentially the same design. I found them first shown in the AKAH 1908 catalog, but they may be even older:

I have last noticed such pistols in 1960s catalogs, then made by Anschuetz, who had fled from Zella-Mehlis to Ulm in west Germany. 5.3mm stand for the bore diameter, correct for a .22 after rifling. These pistols were nominally chambered for the 6mm Flobert cartridge aka .22BB cap, as rifled single shots for this cartridge with a barrel of at least 20 cm = 8" were legally not firearms in Germany until the 1960s. They could be bought and used without a licence. As you already noted, their chambers werecut quite generously, so most of them swallow even .22LRs. But I would not use modern high speed loads. Mauser was never involved in their deign and making, any bolt-action was then called "Mauser".