The history of the old gunmaking town of Suhl was never limited to traditional break barrel guns. Merkel and its preference for hunting rifles played a special role here. Nevertheless in the reengineering phase at the turn of the millennium Merkel developed repeating and self-loading hunting guns - widely esteemed precision engineering masterpieces. The Suhl manufactory drew on many sources and experts in the process. But the Suhl qualities were never forgotten. Many of the concepts on which the actions were based originated in the city of Suhl.