VENUS WAFFENWERKE Oskar Will
Model
Mars 115
VENUS WAFFENWERKE Oskar Will
There were four German companies, in name, involved in the manufacture of barrels for the Finnish contracts.
Three of these companies were located in Zella-Mehlis, Germany. The companies were Venus Waffenfabrik, Oscar Will, and Wilhelm Foss. Interestingly these three companies were widely known for their air rifle production in post World War I Germany.
A brief history and description of the relationship was provided in a collector’s publication about air rifles.
The Oscar Will Co. subsequently sold out to Wilhelm Foss in 1921 and the company name was eventually changed to Venuswaffenwerk (Venus Weapons Works). Finnish sources identify this company as Venus Waffenfabrik (Venus Weapons Factory).
So while these companies were known by three names during the early 1920’s, they were in reality only one enterprise by the mid 1920’s. Two of these companies often appear in Finnish and American publications as one-Venus Waffenfabrik- Oscar Will. The third German company involved in production of barrels for Finland was Romrwerke AG (AG being the German abbreviation for a public company) of Suhl, Germany. Romerwerke AG was well regarded for its small arms production already, specifically at this time for it’s .22 caliber semi-automatic pistols. The towns of Zella-Mehlis (home of the merged Will/Foss conglomerate now named Venuswaffenwerk) and Suhl are only about ten miles apart in the district of Thuringia in central Germany, and about 30 miles southwest of Erfurt- the town famous for production of the Mauser rifle. This area of Germany is world famous for it’s top quality steel production and for it’s high quality weapons production capabilities which would extensively arm the German army in both World Wars.
Model MARS 86
Model MARS 100
Model MARS 115
