I bought a beautiful Linder Daly Diamond Quality 12 gauge in an online auction. Absolutely beautiful gun. The metal is in very nice condition. The engraving is outstanding. The wood has been refinished and the finish has some flaking. But still a very nice, very attractive shooter.

I took it out yesterday, along with ten year old Molly and two year old Jazzy. I had paws on the ground about 11AM. We moved twelve to fifteen individual coveys. I lost count. We had bagged the fifteen bird limit at about 4:45pm. Just me and the dogs. Joe Wood has too much character to skip obligations in order to go hunting. So I was by myself. I notice that rascals like me get to hunt a lot more than the guys with character. Did not lose a single bird. Molly and Jazzy deserve the credit. Both made near miraculous finds and retrieves of running downed birds.



I think this is the best engraved gun that I ever owned. I took the picture this is edited from yesterday while on the hunt.




Took this shot about 3:30PM.



This is the same picture as above but with Molly whoa'd into posing with the birds.



Jazzy with a hen she pointed and retrieved:






I would appreciate any information Lindnerophiles here can give me on the gun. I assume it was made before WWI.

Took this picture in the field yesterday:


I took this one in the basement tonight:



Molly retrieving a bob. That is my orange cap behind her, dropped as a mark for the downed bird.


I wish I had gotten more pictures of the dogs in action, pointing and so on. But the birds were very challenging. Sometimes they ran and the dogs were constantly relocating. Sometimes the dog would go on point and the birds would flush forty yards away from me. Hard to be the dog handler, gunner, and photographer when in pursuit of such ill mannered bobs.





Buddy hurt his knee and was sentenced to the crate for a month by the veterinarian. He had served about three weeks. The morning of the hunt this is what I found when I went to check on him. He did that on the maximum dose of doggy tranquilizers.








You can see the screw on the bottom tang is out of time:




The gun weighs six pounds, eight ounces. The 28" steel barrels are choked cylinder and 13/1000ths. The chambers have been lengthened to 2-3/4". I think the barrel blacking is original but the blacked barrel flats cause me doubt. The stock dimensions are 14 x 1-3/4 x 3 x 3/8 castoff. POW grip. My doublegun mentor Joe Wood (also my shooting student) tells me the nipple on the end of the POW grip would originally have been horn. It is now brass. The checkering is very fine and very good but pointed, not flat, so it has been recut. Good job of it. The wood has others mars and dents of course. The gun has side clips, ejectors, intercepting seers and cocking indicators.

Absolutely a wonderful gun. Mr. Lindner was a wizard.

I would sure appreciate an estimated date of manufacture, a decoding of the proof marks, anything at all. Thanks.

I'm leaving again in the morning for the birdlease. I can only half sleep the night before a quail hunt.

Best,

Mike

Mike that is a lovely looking gun. And nice to see you are putting it to good use. I picked one up a couple months ago from a dealer in Eastern Canada, 12 gauge Diamond Quality 30" full and full.

When I took delivery I was interested to find out it's no quail gun. 7 pounds 8 ounces and choked .048/.048, although before I weighed it I would have guessed it was under 7 pounds. Beautifully balanced feel. It's for reaching out there when the quarry is out of range for all the rest of my guns. There are a few things I need to get done before next fall....had a broken ejector rod, barrels need bluing, wood needs refinish, but all in all I'm very happy with it.

As you note, the quality of workmanship is amazing. BTW, mine still has the little horn nipple on the grip. But I am missing the tip of the forend. Can you post a closeup of your forend tip?

Hey it wasn't Bubby's fault, there was an explosion and he was nearly killed!

I failed to mention that the left ejector on mine fires when it shouldn't and the gun is slightly off face. Going to send it off to gunsmith after season.

Best,

Mike

Really nice looking double Mike and as usual, some fine pictures.

Okay, that really made me laugh!!!

Thanks Rudy. HA Lindner, Steve Jobs and Al Gore deserve all the credit.

James what are the stock dimensions of your Daly?

Those chokes are the same as my Fox HE. Yours would be a wonderful gun for pass shooting Mourning Dove.

AM-

In the second pic my attention was drawn not to the engraving, but the clean, sharp slots on the pins/screws. Delightful looking smokepole.

That is an absolutely lovely shotgun. Nice dogs too, you are a lucky man

The 'U' with a Crown, 1891 - 1939 represents “Untersuchung” equals “view”. Definitive proof and definitive proof on guns in final state together with crowned B (8). Was replaced 1912 by no 17 for Nitro proof, but was still valid until 1939 as final black powder proof.


The 'W' 1891-1945, proof on choked barrel

The 'S' 1891-1945 Proof of smoothbore barrels


Best I can do Mike, beautiful Linder!!!

Great gun, great story, great dogs, great guy! Mike? Diane and Flash say "hey"....

Your new shotgun is beautiful Mike. The engraving is fantastic. And I understand that fiddleback grain is not nearly so common in English walnut as it is in black walnut, so that was a nice bonus. I think I'd consider replacing the brass grip cap with one made of horn as the original was. I have one Syracuse Lefever that has the fairly rare horn grip cap on a semi-pistol grip stock, and it is a nice touch.

The pic of Buddy is priceless. Somehow, he just had to know he wasn't going to get to go bird hunting because of his knee.

Not sure if there was a variation in the grip cap. What are the initials forward on the underside of the left tube? This example will be about the midpoint of production of the 2nd series. The platform w/ belts & braces, tube steel, wood, adornment by Fritz Heimbeck, etc., all being unmatched & unparalled... There may have been 2 generations of Fritz Heimbeck's tap, tap, tap adornment. Do note that on the underside of the left tube it appears that Excelsior was stamped in reverse prior to being applied proper.
Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Mike, the stock measurements on mine are LOP 14 1/4", DAC 1 3/8" and DAH 2 1/4".

Overall weight is 7 pounds 8 ounces, 30" barrels are 3 pounds, 10 oz. Chambers are 2 5/8"

CJO is convinced the gun is entirely original.

What a beauty!!!

That is fine "English" double made in one of the German states. It's nice to see someone using fine sample of John Mann's favorite brand. If I recall correctly he owned rights to the Lindner name. I remember those "crossed swords" posts very well. It seems like yesterday, but in reality it was several years ago.

That is a fine looking gun, Mike. Knockout engraving. I think I'd leave the brass finial exactly how you found it, put the gun back on face, fix or disable the ejectors, after the the left ejector is repaired (disabled ejectors won't break, and the next guy can put the springs back in them, if he likes) and call it the best gun for hunting that you own.
I couldn't own more than one dog, especially a dog with similar bloodlines to the one I own. She is a force to be reckoned with, on a daily basis. Looking at that pillow makes me wonder if buddy and my Setter, Louise, had a common ancester with a similar attitude?



"But, there were BIRDS on the other side of that sewage lagoon!!!!"

Thanks for the pictures. Merry Christmas.

Best,
Ted

+1 Beautiful double, dogs, pictures of Linder and story too. Must be a banner quail year down in Texas. Thanks for posting.

NB

Going thru the graffiti forward on the tubes, I can't determine the tubeset number not the tubeset knitter initials but the tubes were brought to a state of completion by master Witten tube steel mechanic Werner Gottgetreu and below that is Lindner's quality control mark of HAL over crossed sidearms, which was engaged after the new proof rules. A guess was that it was completed circa 1905:

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=446068&page=1

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Mike,
Just think how much better it would have been, if the gun had had been 16ga.
Mike.

Very nice gun! The only HAL I ever owned was not a diamond grade. Believe the experts here ID'd it as a 185 grade--the 185 being its cost long about WWI time. Lightest 2 1/2" 12 bore I've ever owned, at under 5 3/4#.

Steve Barnett has a 16ga beauty on his list.

Only thing of interest I can pick up from the proofmarks, which appear to be typical for that era, is that as a 13/1, your gun is slightly underbored. Not at all atypical for German guns.

If you have the proper screwdriver, you can probably time it correctly by removing it, adding a bit of blue Loctite, and putting it back in at the 12 o'clock position.

That isn't a good fix, Larry.

The screw goes into wood and has a job to do, which, it won't be doing in the 12:00 position. Better, without the use of blue Locktite, would be a shaving of cut, but not dry elm, wound around the threads near the start of the screw, to take up the slack and leave the screw tight in it's final timed position.
I'd use a drop of varnish when I reassembled it, not blue Locktite.

I don't think this gun deserves a halfway fix.


Best,
Ted

Heck of a NICE Gun, Mike.... And what a delight to have acquired it in a year (season) when you can put it to good use......

My kudos to you and your Shooting Skills for mastering those stock dimensions.....If appears that Joe may indeed be mentoring you now....

My Old Man's frequent admonition of "Heads up Son" would certainly apply here....

Hope the anticipated Bird hunt is progressing well......I'm just in from a bout with the Late season Doves, taking the Dogs out this afternoon for a Bobwhite chase.... Great day here, Got to get the Horse up and the collars charged....

Good Shooting to You......

Mike,
Beautiful gun. I have some nice guns, but one of the few I have a hankering to own is a Linder Daly. Love that engraving. I shudder to think what a gun of that quality would cost today. A 30" 16 gauge would be just the ticket for me. Enjoy.
Regards,
Jeff

Jeesus,
those Lindner Dalys are some kind of Gun,eh?
Totally awesome..nice one
franc

Nice hunt. Beautiful shotgun. Nice weight for a 28" barreled 12ga Lindner. I have two 16ga Lindners but would like to find a 12ga such as yours.

Beautiful gun, dogs and great day afield. Gil

Now that's keeper! Those Lindner Daly's are special shotguns.

Mike, that gun is absolutely stunning!!! I've always lusted after one of the high grade Daly's in 16ga. A wand at less than 6lbs (on average that is). Your lucky to have her!

Stay well!

Greg

Willoughby McCabe has a nice Lindner Diamond now...

My little 16 gauge Diamond grade Lindner Daly some years ago, hunting with AmarilloMike. Same hand engraved it as his. Mine will date to about 1890 or 1892.

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Notice what appears to be traces of a gold wash. I've wondered if all the engraving was so treated when made. Don't think I'd like it if so.