Schultz & Larsen
Schultz & Larsen is a Danish rifle and silencer manufacturer that originally was located in the city of Otterup, but as of 1994 have been located in the town of Rask Mølle in the mid East of Jutland near Horsens. Manufacture is split between two sites in the locale.
The company was founded in 1919 by Hans Christian Schultz (1864–1937) and Niels Larsen (1889–1969). Following the Treaty of Versailles plenty of German machinery was sold abroad for scrap. Schultz and Larsen acquired a suitable set for manufacturing rifles and started producing small caliber target rifles. The company also acted as an important sub contractor to Theodor Bergmann's German company, among other things they produced the MP35 submachinegun and the gun barrels to the MG 15 machine gun.
After WW2 the production switched to mainly hunting rifles, and a range of target rifles based on M98 Mauser actions, initially using components from Kar 98k rifles left behind in Denmark by German occupying forces. Schultz and Larsen of Denmark also made target rifle conversions of captured Kar 98ks. Early versions, the M52 and M58, were made for service-style target shooting, and used shortened, polished and refurbished Kar 98k stocks combined with new heavy target-weight .30-06 or 6.5×55mm barrels as required. Later versions had new target stocks fitted and were available in .30-06, 6.5×55mm and 7.62×51mm NATO, and generally resemble the Norwegian Kongsberg Mauser M59, except there was no upper handguard or cleaning rod.[1] The actions had the German markings removed, were refinished in grey phosphate, and new serial numbers and proof marks applied.
High quality Schultz and Larsen barrels contributed to the development of the British Swing target rifle: "George Swenson had personally acquired the UK concession for Schultz & Larsen products, having known the brothers Larsen for some years. It was in fact the excellence of this firm's cut-rifled barrels, and their capability to extract maximum accuracy from sometimes very indifferent Radway Green government 7.62 NATO ammunition, largely due to the research carried out mainly by George and myself (not to mention help from Wally Middleton, then director of Radway Green) between 1968 and 1970, that helped launch the SWING model Sin 71 Rifle".[2]
While Schultz & Larsen is a very small company, it has focused on high quality weapons and components.
References
- ↑ Book of Rifles by W. H. Smith and Joseph E. Smith, 1975, ISBN 978-99936-18-14-0
- ↑ http://www.topcorp1.com/swing/swing.html
- Schultz & Larsen, Margit Egdal (ed.), Devantier, 2007 (in Danish).