Information on Robert Nerke, Wurzen?

[Penultimate]

Can anyone tell me more about a gunsmith that signed his work "R Nerke, Wurzen" or provide examples of his work? All I have found at present is a single claim that he opened his gunmaking/smithing shop in Wurzen about 1899 and retired (perhaps turning his business over to his son) about 1930.

[Axel E]

Robert Nerke, Lindenstrasse / Goeringstrasse 2, Wurzen in Saxonia, opened his shop in 1899. Last mentioned 1935. Son Erich Nerke became master in 1941 only, but had worked at his father's since 1925. There was also an Oswald Nerke in Grossenhain, Saxonia, mentioned pre-WW1.
"A gunsmith who signed his work" - Most often guns signed by country gunsmithes like the Nerkes were merely retailed by them, but made for them by the Suhl, Zella-Mehlis or even Liege guntrade.

[Penultimate]

Thank you Axel for your always astonishing wealth of knowledge. I had suspected a third party source for a falling block stalking rifle so marked and now on its way to me but had been unable to find a like pattern among Suhl pieces. "Zella-Mehlis" brought up pictures that caused me to discover the action is most certainly an "Ideal" I suspect marks thusfar unavailable to me will reveal its origin.

The big remaining mystery is caliber as the source could not make heads or tails of anything other than "7.6 mm." I am resigned to an 8.15X46R with a tight bore, but am surely hoping for a 7.6x51R.

[Axel E]

Please, post photos of your new rifle's action and of all markings under the barrel. You have to take off the foreend.
A quirk of the German proofmarks that confuses people now, both Americans and German. Up to 1939 the proofhouses stamped the classic caliber. That is, neither the groove nor bullet diameter, nor part of the cartridge designation, but the bore/land diameter of the barrel. Even popular metric cartridges are not named for the bullet diameter. but for the land diameter of the barrels. F.I. everyone knows the bullet diameters of "7mm" cartridges is .284", "6.5mm" .264", but .284" is exactly 7.2 mm, .264" is 6.7mm. "7.62 mm" cartridges use .308" = 7.82 mm bullets.