Ferlach’s Finest

The unique offerings of Karl Hauptmann Jagdwaffen

From our March/April 2025 issue

My introduction to Ferlach gunmaking happened when I was 14. I stepped into a small gunshop near Winona, Minnesota, and spied an over/under that looked totally out of place on the rack. I now know that the unusual 12-bore—with its three-piece forearm, cheekpiece, swivels and waterfowl-themed deep-relief engraving—really wasn’t that unusual and likely had been cobbled together by a guild member in Ferlach, Austria.

It wasn’t until last spring, more than 40 years after that smalltown-gunroom visit, that my interest in Ferlach gunmaking took a serious turn. Thanks to an invitation from Francis Lombardi, owner of Foxtrot/Francis Lombardi Fine Firearms, in Elbridge, New York, I traveled to Austria to visit Gerd Hauptmann, the third-generation owner of Karl Hauptmann GmbH Jagdwaffen. In early May I flew from New York to Venice, climbed into a rented Fiat PHEV and headed northeast.

That night I stayed in the fairy-tale town of Lake Bled, Slovenia, and the next day traveled into the Karawanks mountain range, eventually driving through the steep, 4,500-foot-high Loibl Pass and into Austria. From there I descended into the municipality of Ferlach, a small city/large town of 7,200 residents at the southern edge of Austria’s least-populated state, Carinthia. As I snaked down the mountains, the Austrian-alpine aesthetics emerged, with charming mountain homes and tidy farms dotting the landscape.

Since 2017, Francis Lombardi has been Hauptmann’s exclusive agent in the US. Lombardi has built a distinctive business focused on bringing high-grade guns from Europe to American buyers. The connection between Lombardi and Hauptmann began when Lombardi was in Ferlach on a gun-buying trip and knocked on the front door at Bahnhofstraße 5. When the door opened, he announced, “Hi, I’m Francis.”

Gerd Hauptmann has focused on producing guns that are both exceptionally well made and artistic.

“Hi, I’m Gerd,” the gunmaker smiled in response. And the rest, as they say, is history. Each year the pair now delivers approximately eight (out of the company’s annual production of 20) high-end, often-bespoke guns to eager American clients. I instinctively almost wrote “double guns,” but in the case of Hauptmann, that couldn’t be more reductive. Some of the guns are beautifully made bolt rifles built on the Mauser K98 action, including the company’s proprietary line of Slim Line Bolt Action Rifles. Others are single-shot rifles (Kipplaufbüchse), double rifles (Doppelbüchse), combination guns ranging from shotgun-rifle O/Us (Bockbüchsflinte) to big-and-small-caliber-rifle O/Us (Gerd’s grandfather originated this idea along with the name: Bergstutzen, or mountain rifle), Drillings (Doppelbüchsdrilling), and over/under (Bockdoppelflinte) and side-by-side (Querflinte) shotguns. I’d come to see all of these guns, but increasingly Hauptmann has become known for profoundly elegant—and strikingly svelte—three-barreled shotguns and rifles. (Gerd refers to them as Schrotdrilling.) This last offering, the company’s side-by-side-by-side boxlock, has garnered international attention and accolades.

In answer to the commonly asked questions . . . . How heavy is the triple? About 6½ pounds. Is the gun barrel-heavy? Ever so slightly. Does it look and feel odd? Surprisingly not. Who buys it? Mostly American wingshooters, especially quail and dove hunters, with the triple rifle having special appeal for European-style, driven-wild-boar shooting. How expensive is it? As they say, if you have to ask . . . . And, yes, there is often a waiting list. It certainly is a curious gun—and one you’re not likely to see in person—but the same goes for most of the company’s unique production.

Gerd’s great-grandfather, Georg Hauptmann, worked for famed Ferlach gunmaker Franz Sodia and, as was the case with many workers, produced some guns on the side and under his own name. Gerd’s grandfather, Karl Hauptmann I, founded the eponymous company in 1939 after leaving his job making engines when the Steyr factory was retooled to make engines for the war effort. Twenty-five years later, Gerd’s father—Karl Hauptman II—would take over the company. And in 2005 Gerd, having taken a keen interest in gunmaking (and with his older brother Karl III not interested in the family business), took the reins and ushered in a new era of innovation and elegance.

Hauptmann’s unique blend of tradition and innovation is evident in every one of the company’s guns, from its sidelock side-by-sides (top) to its boxlock three-barreled shotguns.

“In many ways nothing has changed in Ferlach,” Hauptmann told me, “but in other ways everything has changed. Even though my father produced his first triple rifle in 1994, he was more focused on the old Ferlach style. And for years this town became the biggest copy shop on Earth. Companies here copied the Belgians, while others looked to Suhl, in Germany. We had a huge guild and an important trade school. Between the 1950s and 1970s, we had nearly 30 gun companies working here. Franz Sodia alone had 100 employees and produced 200 guns a year. Now all the companies in Ferlach don’t produce that many guns a year combined. And while the companies sourced parts from many different vendors, they were fiercely independent and private. You kept your plans to yourself. That part really hasn’t changed.”

As Hauptmann built his version of the company, he blazed his own trail. He saw opportunity by making guns that were not only exceptionally well made, but also artistic. As an example, Hauptmann has recently designed and completed an extraordinary four-gun set—each gun dedicated to a different species of duck. The 12-bore pays homage to the mallard, the 16 to the falcated duck, the 20 to the mandarin duck and the 28 to the Baikal teal. All the parts for the guns—locks, stocks and barrels—are manufactured through exclusive relationships with experts in all areas of gunmaking. Some of the finishing is also commissioned. Want stunning bone-and-charcoal case coloring? Hauptmann has a man for that. Engraved game scenes? He knows the guy. Rose & scroll? That’s someone else. And multiple times a year he makes the five-hour drive to Creative Art, in Brescia, Italy, to find some of the most inventive engraving, including enamel appliques, found anywhere.

Even the company’s trunk cases (or for the duck-themed set a remarkable standing walnut case with four separate doors that spin on a lazy-Susan-style base) are crafted by go-to partners. It takes a village filled with world-class craftspeople—each deeply committed to building the finest and most original guns on the planet—to make every Hauptmann masterpiece.

Hauptmann utilizes craftsmen throughout the Ferlach community to produce everything from gun parts to trunk cases. (Courtesy of Karl Hauptmann Jagdwaffen)

As Hauptmann’s vision has grown, so has his customer base. He now sends guns all over the world, with customers from Malaysia to Midland, Texas, intrigued by his unique blend of tradition and innovation. Hauptmann saw potential in his father’s first triple-barreled rifle and worked tirelessly to create not only a functional shotgun version, but also a beautiful one. Eventually he figured it out, ushering in a new era for Hauptmann guns and for Ferlach as well.

“I focused on the three-barrel shotgun for a Bulgarian friend,” he said. “I started with the .410. It’s built on a boxlock action that was an amalgam of different styles. It features three separate locks. The first guns had three triggers and selective ejectors. It was so tricky that I received a patent on it, but I decided to simplify it. The design now uses a single trigger. Pull it once, and the center barrel fires, followed by the right and then the left. My single-trigger model was inspired by the Abbiatico & Salvinelli .410 Quattro. You can’t invent everything!” In truth, even the three-barreled shotgun had its origins a century ago when Boss and John Dickson & Son made three-barreled guns. (Boss naturally produced a sidelock version, while Dickson made a sidelever, round-body 16 x 16 x 16 aptly named the “Holy Grail.”) But Hauptmann’s lithe version has a modernist style that is unmistakably his own.

The shop is staffed by three gunmakers who fit and finish the company’s guns and rifles.

As we sat in Hauptmann’s office talking about what was—with an understandable degree of wistfulness—and what he imagines for the future, Ferlach’s 400-year gunmaking history and its uncertain future converged. Through one of the office windows we could observe the interior of Hauptmann’s remarkably tidy shop, which probably measures no more than 1,200 square feet. Much as you’d expect from an Austrian maker, the workspace is logical, well-organized and humbly authentic. Every tool fits a specific purpose—all the way down to a pedal-operated lathe that has been spinning for generations. The shop is staffed by three expert gunmakers, each contributing to the firm’s legacy—fitting and finishing guns destined for different parts of the globe.

Hauptmann is one of just a handful of gunmakers that are still operating in Ferlach.

Exiting the shop, you can head down one street that eventually leads to the headquarters of mega-manufacturer Glock (founded by Gaston Glock in 1963), which sells more than 1 million handguns annually in the US alone. Head down another street past the former workshops of Josef Just and Franz Sodia, and you’ll see more of the remaining Ferlach gunmakers, each crafting its own stunning guns. There is Johann Fanzoj, which has just built a stunning new state-of-the-art factory. There is Ludwig Borovnik and Peter Hofer, with their bespoke guns sitting in some of the world’s most prestigious gunrooms. Drive a bit out of town, and you’ll find Hausmann & Co., founded just a handful of years ago and run by three young partners. All of these companies embody the living legacy of an industry that shaped the world, each finding its own way forward.

The stocked action, forend and barrels of one of Hauptmann’s three-barreled rifles. (Courtesy of Karl Hauptmann Jagdwaffen)

What the future holds for the Ferlach gun trade is anyone’s guess—one subject to the vagaries of aging makers, collectors’ tastes, trade restrictions and a shrinking number of craftspeople and artisans predisposed to dirty their hands instead of gluing their eyes to screens. I’m glad I made the trip when I did, witnessing something rare and special and enduring. But in other ways it exists in a delicate ecosystem holding unique and short-lived species. Just like Austria’s iconic edelweiss, the small white blossom that symbolizes devotion, I hope that makers like Hauptmann continue to bloom.