Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Europe German Gunshops

Howdy all. . . . . I'm going to be traveling on a Rhine river cruise later this year. Starting in Italy and finishing up in Amsterdam. I'll be stopping at places like Strasbourg, Cologne, Heidelberg, Rudshein, etc. etc. If there are such things as gunshops and or general outdoors emporiums (i. e. cabelas or something similar) that I could visit while the girls are visiting the Christmas markets, i'd like to know about them. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.





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The 2 big retailers of outdoor/hunting gear are Kettner’s and Franconia Jagd.

The Franconia stores are great, if your a Euro hunting buff take lots of money. Their loden wool hunting clothes are wonderful, take your wife as they have a wonderful outdoor clothing for her. I pickup muzzle covers for my drillings, slings for narrow Euro swivels, and quick release leashes for my bird dogs.

Watch for the high house shooting house in the forest along the rivers. Some of the people on our river boat kind of got nervous when they heard shots not realizing that it was hunting season.

Went to several gunshops when stationed in Germany. Some of the most beautiful guns I've ever seen, but not allowed to touch.

Whilst I understand the reasons I just find it weird.

Lots of money is an understatement.

The Franconia I went to had a year-end liquidation sale. I bought a Ruger 77/22 Hornet with a few scratches for 300 Euro. That was a few years before Ruger started screwing in those barrels. I never could get it to shoot well.

I was stationed in Heidelberg and although I do remember a gun shop near the Haupstrasse, I could't tell you where or what it was called. That was 15-18 years ago.

Why is that? I found every gunshop in Europe I visited to be quite friendly and allowed me to handle anything I wanted. I wish I could remember the store near Landstuhl that I went to all the time. It was well stocked for everything from small game to Africa, as well as all sorts of competitive target shooting. Loved all the great stutzens.

Rod and gun club? Yes, they would let you handle guns. Bought a Anschutz there. The German ones I went to wouldn’t let me handle anything. Oddly enough, I remember one German store had a NIB savage 99 clip model

No, actual German shops. Never had any problem handling whatever I wanted. Maybe different times and locations. Was there 2003-2008. I even visited several high end shops in Paris and could handle whatever I wanted.