I finaly received my prewar Gebrüder Merkel O/U double rifle from Germany today. Proof marks on action are Crown/U and Eagle, but funny thing is that I cannot find proof marks on barrels. Is it possible that they are hidden under wood fences? What I do see on barrels includes Merkel factory inscriptions, 8x57 J.R., BÖHLER STAHL, serial number, plus some letters.
Serial number is 21849, what year would that be?
Thanks,
Jani
Hello all,
Here is a photo of said Merkel that Jani sent:
JC
Well, a friend was here today and he did find a proof mark on the barrels: a badly struck eagle, actually only about 1/4 of the eagle as found on the receiver.
Still no visible date, so I'm eager to hear from gentlemen who might have a dated pre-war Merkel in similar serial number range.
Thanks in advance for any clue about dating my Merkel described above.
Kind regards,
Jani
You may find there are proof marks under the two narrow "strips" of wood above the usual forearm, that make up the "three piece" forearm. I guess that's what you term "wood fences." Yes, try there.
I made a quick Gebr. Merkel serial number - year of production research and here are the results:
10000 circa 1920
15654 8/1927
17012 1929
18914 3/1931
21849 1935 (Added by montenegrin - Febr. 9, 2009)
34874 12/1951
36582 12/1952
40496 1956
48181 1958
59826 1/1964
71829 1969
77667 1971
107321 5/1987
So my "educated guess" is that my Merkel #21849 was probably made in 1933 or 1934.
-Jani
P.S.: Thanks for posting the picture, JC - and I trust you had a nice birthday party!
Jani:
I had also deduced 1933 using an invoice in 1926 for 14XXX and guessing Suhler Waffenwerk made an average of 1000 per year. I would say the data stamp would be on the lower tube. In a few of his Merkel articles, Mr. Apel of GGCA(
http://www.germanguns.com ) mentions a Mrs. Weiss at Merkel who provides him with the work order info and specifics.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
ChiefShotguns, I don't dare to remove the wood myself as the screws are perfect and my ability is far from it. Will leave this to an experienced gunsmith when the time comes.
Raimey, I did send an email with serial number to Merkel and they might forward it to Mrs Weiss. Anyway I expect their answer this coming week.
With kind regards,
Jani
Monte,
Hope they find your gun records in Suhl (it looks very nice by the way).
For some reason the factory does not have the records of side by side production so others may want to take note.
Best,
C.
Jani,
If you can manage, I would love to see more photos of this gun. We don't get to see them very often.
Pete
C.,
Thank you for your kind words and good wishes. If I get some useful info from Suhl I will report here of course.
Pete,
This is my only photo at the moment but will try to get some more in the near future (after registration, etc.).
BTW According to old catalogs from 1930s my Merkel is model 222E.
With kind regards,
Jani
A lady from Merkel answered my email today saying that my rifle was made in 1935. She also said that it is Model 221E.
So the pace of production was a bit slower during the depression years I guess.
- Jani
Thanks Jani for the info which will give us some ground truth/correction in guessing a Merkel O/U date. This would be just short of an inquiry to Merkel to get the actual info.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
Hi Everyone I'm new on this forum, I just bought a Merkel sxs the serial number is 746053. It was made in 1975 and sent to Sweden. If anyone is interested I went to the Merkel web site and contacted there support to get that info.
They are very nice and I received the response in just a few days.
Proofmarks are easier to find on a Merkel sxs. No 3 piece forend to remove. They will include a date number/code on guns made after WWI.