Lets take a look back into the well-known past:
I was born in the Austrian city of Graz right in the middle of the fifties
I was born in the Austrian city of Graz right in the middle of the fifties
Already in early years I knew what my future profession would be, to become a gunsmith. In 1970 I started as an apprentice in the Austrian city of Ferlach well known for it´s master gunsmiths and school for gun makers. Arriving in the year 1973 I graduated as an able gunmaker. The following years I worked as gun maker at the company “Juch” in Ferlach.To improve and hone my gun maker skills I decided to go on the “Walze”,meaning to go abroad and study under different master gunsmiths and Companies Like W&O Dittman, (Germany). Nemrod S.A. Moulhouse (France). J:J Sipp Strassbourg (France). And Iffli-Kettner, Metz (France) .
In the year 1980 I returned to Ferlach to prepare for my Master gunsmith examination and graduated as Master gunsmith in 1982. After graduation I worked from 1982 until 1987 as a workshop manager at Grünig&Elmiger AG, Malters (Switzerland). During that time, I got most of my repair and tuning skills for the following famous brands; Smith & Wesson, Anschütz, Valmet, Feinwerkbau, Tikka und Parker-Hale. Also the education and training of our apprentices where one of my responsibilities.
From the year 1987 until 2001 I work at Ertle Erzinger AG (Cham Switzerland. At first as Managing Director and after a while I overtook the ownership. During those years I specialized in the developing and production of high quality muzzleloader/blackpowder firearms for competitive use. Which are worldwide distributed among competitive shots and collectors. I am proud to say that numerous National and International championships have been won by my products.
Once in the new millennium, I was employed from 2001 2003 as a workshop manager for the company "Glaser" (Zurich / Winterthur). From 2003 to 2006 I worked as a store manager for "Waffenhaus Schneider", Interlaken (CH), active and responsible for just about everything, from the sophisticated repairs, executing its orders, sales, and the apprentice education.
In 2006 I returned to Austria as a workshop manager at "Steyr-Mannlicher", involved in building the new "Europe Shooting Center Wiener Neustadt" -factory site and service center. Besides that, I was active in advising the sales and development of in-house manufactured products.
In 2010, I ventured once again the path to independence because of my experience, my skills, and my proven track record, I trust myself to a future life as my own master.
MAJOR AWARDS AND QUALIFICATIONS:
- Institution of Honor in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria
- Master Gunsmith
- Apprentice trainer examination in Austria and Switzerland, Swiss - and Austrian hunting license
- MS Office
- CAD-Inventor 10
- Languages
- English (fluent in spoken and written)
- French (good spoken and written)
- Craft courses at "Smith & Wesson", "Steyr Taurus", "FWB", "Anschütz", "Diana", "Valmet" etc.
- Trained Scope repairer ("Schmid & Bender")
- Multiple Austrian champion in pistol shooting (muzzleloader)
- Silver medalist, World championship for rifle (muzzleloader)
- Swiss Champion in the long-range shooting (1000 yd)