German 16/16/9.3x72R Drilling

I've had this thing for a couple of years and I've shot about a hundred rounds through the shotgun barrels. The shotgun barrels are choked Imp. Cylinder and Modified. I finally got some ammo for the rifle barrel about a month ago and I got a chance to shoot it this afternoon. At $3.00 per round I won't be shooting it a lot. The rear sight flips up and I started out at 50 yards and fired two shots to make sure it was on the paper. I backed up to 75 and fired two more then 100 and fired three shots. All the shots were high. At 100 yards it was about a foot high. I was putting it up but decided to try it with the rear sight folded down. Three shots went into 3 3/4" and were dead center. Here's the target:
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Here's the rear sight up and down. The notch in the rear sight is tiny:
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The front sight isn't much better. It's only about a 1/16" high.
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Some more picture of it:
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The makers name is not on it but the barrels are stamped Fluss Stahl and Krupp Essen. It also has multiple German proof marks and inspection stamps on the barrel flats. It's got a cartridge trap in the butt that hold four rounds.
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What's amazing to me is that they are able to get two shotgun barrels and a rifle barrel into a package that only weighs 6 lb 6 oz. I was also surprised at the recoil, only 10 rounds fired and I've got a sore shoulder. Those metal butt plates are not very forgiving. I plan to shoot it a few more times and then try to poke a hole in a bambi with it.

Nice gun. You're the first person I've ever talked to, or typed to, that actually owned one of them and shot it. I've admired them at the gunshows for years.

Sweet drilling. I have always wanted one.

Fluss Stahl means it is mild steel; Krupp was a major arms mfg. in Essen, Germany. With more inspection I could tell you where it was put together. All in all it is a firearm which is no longer made and probably too valuable to fire. Just my opinion, worth what you paid for it . I or others can go through the proof marks for more localization but the barrels I can tell you are from Krupp. And as far as the recoil goes, it was intended to go on the hunt, take whatever game presented itself as opportunity, then be put back on the rack. So the original owner probably didn't expect to fire it more than 2 -8 times per season! A very nice piece to have in the safe.

I would love to know more of the history of it. I'll get some photos of all the proof marks and post them. I won't be shooting it a lot. Especially with the price of the ammo. I hate the idea of sticking it in a safe and never shooting it. I really enjoy shooting my old ones. I've got an 1886 Winchester made in 1891 and chambered in .40-82 that's in pieces in front of me right now. I'm giving it a good cleaning and inspection. I plan to hunt with it this year to.

A beautiful gun. Are you sure the chambers are 2-3/4". Euopeans chamber the 16 ga 2-9/16". It can cause extreme stress on the gun if fired with 2-3/4" shells in a 2-9/16" chamber. Doing so will cause the petal crimped shells to open into the bore and the shot and wad column has to be squeezed through the tightened neck of the shell, spiking pressures. Just trying to help you.

Doug

Here are some pictures of the proof marks and the little that I have been able to figure out from the book that I have.
First is the left barrel. It has crown over S (German shotgun proof), crown over W (German choked barrel mark), the constriction on this barrel is between modified and full, crown over U (German inspector mark). I think the mark in the center of the bird symbols is a V which would indicate an Austro-Hungarian Prague proof mark used from 1891 to 1899. [img][/img]

Next is the right barrel. It has the crown over S and crown over U along with the bird symbols.[img][/img]


Last is the rifle barrel. It has a crown over U and a crown over G (German rifle proof) along with the bird symbols. The numbers on it are 118/35. I'm guessing that this might be some metric numbers for the bullet and powder charge weights. The rifle barrel is also stamped with the caliber, 9.3x72. I hope ya'll can correct me if this is wrong. I would love to know who made if you can determine that from any of these markings.

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Perhaps my good friend HoferUtzer can help with the proof marks- Uwe, ?

At the time it was made there were no 2-3/4" 16 ga shotgun shells, in Europe or America.

Doug

I figured it was short chambered. I've got several other SxS's that are short chambered also. I've read several articles over the years regarding shooting short chambered guns with the longer shells. There are opinions from never ever do it to it doesn't matter and everything in between. The best article I've found was in the June-July 05 Handloader that explained why it wasn't a problem. In this article a Winchester employee used the companies strain gauges to test a short chambered 16 ga. The increase in pressure was negligible. After reading that article I decided to go ahead and shoot mine. They are all in good condition and have tight actions. All of them have fluid steel barrels. I won't shoot damascus barrels.

so nice!