J.P. Sauer & Sohn posted on their social media pages photos of a custom S404 rifle themed after a … tractor! The S404 “Fendt 1050 Vario” rifle is made in collaboration with the German tractor manufacturer Fendt. The rifle will be sold at the Auctronia auction house.

The tractor …

… and the rifle.

Here is the company’s description of this project gun, or as Sauer calls it Themenwaffe (theme weapon):

How can one best support the commitment of hunters and farmers to a healthy environment and biodiversity? This question has been answered by Fendt and J.P. Sauer & Sohn in a unique way never attempted before by any gunmaker – ever. In close cooperation with Germany’s oldest gunmaker, the longtime agricultural machine manufacturer from Marktoberndorf in the Allgäu has created a so-called theme rifle based on Germany’s Number 1 large tractor transposed to the most sophisticated hunting rifle in the world.

We hereby introduce the S 404 “Fendt 1050 Vario”, a completely new interpretation of the meaning of the word “customized” as it applies to the gunmaker’s art. Small game animals are the ones who will profit the most from this one-of-a-kind project since this shootable Fendt “Diesel horse” is a donation that will be auctioned off with the help of Frankonia Jagd’s online auction house Auctronia (www.auctronia.de/sauer-fendt) to benefit the German Hunting Association’s (DJV) project “Network Open Fields Biosphere”.

As you will see in the following set of images, every part of this rifle is made to resemble the Fendt 1050 Vario tractor – from the overall color scheme to the shape and texture of different parts.

The forearm, cheeck pad and grip insert are designed to resemble the tire tread pattern of the tractor.

The front portion of the forearm looks like the hood of the tractor

The dimples on the bolt are machined to make it look similar to the exhaust pipe of the tractor.

The magazine floorplate color and miniature acorn nuts look like the tractor’s wheels.

S404 Fendt 1050 Vario rifle also has a custom themed case

By the time of writing this article, the highest bid for this lot was €7,800 (roughly $8,850). It will be auctioned until the end of July. Once the rifle is sold, I’ll update this article with the final price.

Images from www.sauer.de

UPDATE (8/2/2019): The rifle was sold for €30,050 which is about $33,300.