Grunig & Elmiger Target Rifle

[Ben Denise]

Hi all,

I've recently come into possession of a Grunig rifle that appears to be from the 1980's. It apparently once belonged to Andrew Tucker, though I have no way of verifying that.

I can't find much info online about Grunig's. I have emailed them, but so far no response. Does anyone have any idea on where I might get more info? I did think about contacting Mr Tucker's family, but not sure where to start with that.

[Alpha1]

They have a facebook page
Grunig+Elmiger AG

[Ben Denise]

Thanks for that. Haven't used Facebook in years but will see if my account is still live.

[rox]

I can't find much info online about Grunig's.

If you are ever near the showroom in Malters it is well worth a visit. The spacious marble-lined showroom is a palatial edifice to firearms; the leather Chesterfields and freshly ground coffee will help to revive you after noticing the eye-watering prices.

The Grunig agency in the UK was held by John Powell of Reigate until his death. With the growth and success of Grunig rimfire there are now several UK online shooting traders with links to Grunig, but Grunig are also easy to deal with direct for parts. In my experience (mainly with ST200s) Grunig have been excellent at supplying parts, responding rapidly and shipping very quickly (hardly surprising, given the extent of Grunig use around the world at World Championships and Olympics).

The first 2 digits of the serial number will give you the year of manufacture (from memory, you add 1 to the value of the first 2 digits, or was it subtract 1? ; I can't remember, but either way you will know +/- 1 year). I had a round action Grunig since 1987. I sold it to a friend perhaps 10 years ago, and when we tested it together I thought: "this thing shoots every bit as well as the newer Grunigs I replaced it with". The rifle is now used by his son, who is a gunsmith I work with and an exceptionally talented shooter.

The round actions were still being made fairly recently, even though they had technically been superseded by the ST200 and subsequently the FT300 actions. They probably fell out of favour when 3-lug and 4-lug designs were being marketed, but the old 2-lug Grunig is an excellent action and can be had for real bargain prices today. Generally they use an Anschutz trigger, which is pretty good - not *quite* up to the standard of the Grunig-designed triggers on the ST200 and later, but close, and probably the best of the era by far. Mounting iron sights is a little awkward due to the 45 degree dovetail, requiring an adapter block or specially made mounting. When they were sold in TR format they were normally mated with one of the excellent 'Brindles' sights from John Light with an appropriate base/mount. The actions are usually drilled and tapped for a 'scope rail. The bedding lug was usually the tombstone design frequently seen on Swiss rifles like Tanners. Some have variations or were later modified. The tombstone adds a little extra machining when re-barrelling. When setting headspace the machinist should be aware of the slight compression that the tombstone will undergo under tightening. Because of the material removal for the tombstone there is less (sometimes very little) parallel to hold in the lathe, which particularly limits the ease and possibility to move the chamber forward to find fresh metal.

[Pippin89]

Try the Stirton forum. Much more focused on that style of shooting and I would put money on people in there knowing Andrew Tucker personally.

[Ben Denise]

Thank you Rox and Pippin, very helpful. :)