Peter Hofer from Austrian town Ferlach is one of the most famous piece-work gunsmiths. All his artworks – they cannot be called otherwise - are really unique. First of all the customer’s needs are taken into consideration, then exclusive design is made, including individual elements, characteristic only of Peter Hofer’s guns and owing to which each gun of his may be regarded as an invention. The final chord in this marvelous gun symphony is its unexcelled engraving. To make all wooden parts the master uses 90-year Caucasian nut-tree, but the essential feature is that he can integrate all these constituents naturally and skillfully into one single unit.

      Peter Hofer makes guns of over three hundred various combinations of calibers of barrels, from .22 Hornet through .700 NE, to the largest hunting caliber «four bore», rifles with a hinged frame, carbines, combines double-barrel guns with vertical and horizontal barrels, tees with different combinations of barrels, four-barrel guns and even five-barrel guns, as well as pairs and sets of several guns. Replaceable barrels further expand the unique technical palette. Individual tailor-made guns of specific designs are worth mentioning.

      Fitting the wood to the metal in Hofer’s guns is so accurate, that there is an impressions that the wood naturally converts into metal. Peter Hofer’s workshop engravers’ mastery is simply unrivalled, they have created a gun, having the engraving with approximately eight thousand strokes per square centimeter; this engraving is made under 40-fold stereo microscope. It is said that creation of one of the guns took over twenty thousand working hours.

      Selection of engraving techniques depends on the country, where the customer comes from. The technique of «high-density metal selection», i.e. creation of a bas-relief, is popular in Germany and Russia. This is the technique, where the parts of the gun are covered with raised, relief sculptures of animals and birds

      In Italy and England the most popular techniques are «Bulino» and «Bruttini». The design comprises thousands of the finest dots and strokes, which make up a complete halftone picture, looking like a black-and-white photo.

      In comparison with the raised engraving, where the visual effect is reached through the plastics and volume, «Bulino» technique uses variations in the density, depth and angle of the tiniest strokes. The quality of engravings on Hofer’s guns is considered unique and unexcelled. Moreover, to intensify the artistic effect Peter Hofer often applies pads made of precious metals of different shades.

      Hofer never repeats, giving life only to individual works of arms art.