Hammerli marked Taurus PT99 oddity.

[Len]

I just picked up a beater Taurus PT99 in a trade, started to field strip it for cleaning and noticed some odd Hammerli markings. (I know who Hammerli of Switzerland is).
I searched and only found one other mention of this with no picture.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5180607#post5180607

Anyone ever heard of such a thing, a Hammerli/Taurus?

[Army]

Shot in the dark...

Perhaps imported into Switzerland and proofed by Hammerli, then found its way here?

[hapevo]

I have some SIG/Hammerli/Sauer literature from 1987 that lists the Tauras revolvers, "Sold only in Western Germany and Switzerland". That is the only reference I come up with for Hammerli/Taurus in my old SIG materials.

As Army said above, must be an import thing to those two countries. Kinda of interesting.

[Len]

Great info hapevo, thanks.

[QuarterBoreGunner]

Shot in the dark...

Perhaps imported into Switzerland and proofed by Hammerli, then found its way here?

Check the frame and barrel for Euro proof marks. Back in the late 90's I had a S&W 686 that was exported for sale in Europe that was never sold and then re-crossed the Atlantic and sold to me. The thing was covered in European proof marks as a condition of its importation for sale to Europe. Pretty cool conversation piece.

Look for these:

[Len]

[WootSauce]

That's German. Same markings on German made HK's (I think and hope I'm right)

EDIT: So to sum it up, (and this is a guess) I think its a Taurus imported by Hammerli into Germany, Proofed in Ulm Germany, made in 1989

[WootSauce]

"One of the most often asked questions about HK firearms comes shortly after the proud new owner brings his prized new HK home, and starts looking closely at the gun. There are a number of unfamiliar symbols on the guns that I will explain here.

In the above example, the Chantilly import P7M8 has a serial number of 86912. Simple enough. What about the other symbols? What is the funny character with the 'N' under it? What does 'IE' mean? What is the symbol next to the 'IE'?

The character with the 'N' under it is an eagle with spread wings. This is called the 'Bundesadler' and roughly translated means 'federal eagle." It is used on many German federal insignia. The 'N' stands for "Nitrozellulose" (Neetro-tselluloze) or "Nitrocellulose" in English. This is a universal symbol found on German firearms that use modern nitrocellulose based propellants. The 'IE' is the date code. More on that in a minute.

The symbol to the right of the date code is a stag horn. It is the symbol of a particular proof house, located in Ulm, Germany. German firearms are sent to proof houses before sale, for inspection and quality control. This is much like a 'UL' listing for American small appliances. There are other proof houses, for example, in Kiel and Hannover, Germany, but HK uses the Ulm proof house exclusively. Here is a link to the Beschussamt Ulm web page: (In German)"

http://www.hkpro.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=137:the-symbols-on-hk-firearms&catid=4:special-topics&Itemid=5

[WootSauce]

and if they use the same date codes

"The date coding system is very simple too. It gets tricky when you start talking about non-proofed products like firearm magazines, but the general rule is thus:"

A B C D E F G H I K
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

[SilverTauron]

Speculating, but i'd guess that gun was originally imported to Germany as the other posters stated, then was purchased by a US Service member who then brought the gun to the States on a PCS.

[hapevo]

Speculating, but i'd guess that gun was originally imported to Germany as the other posters stated, then was purchased by a US Service member who then brought the gun to the States on a PCS.

That would be my guess. I have had a couple Sigs, P220 9mm and SSG3000, that had no US import markings/rollmarks that were brought in to the US by a US Service member. I do find it interesting the Hammerli - Taurus connection. At one time the Sig P210 was sold under the Hammerli name and was marked so on the pistol with no SIG markings.

[Bigtwin]

Interesting markings and history of the gun and where it has been. Glad you posted that.

But......



How does she shoot?

[Len]

Its a great shooter, accurate and reliable with the 100 rounds I put through it.
I have read these pistols are hit and miss, they work or they dont.