I am attempting to determine history and value for this old gun. It was brought back from Germany in 1945:
Basic info as follows:
Recently, a friend of mine ask me about a rifle she inherited from her Dad. She is not interested in selling this rifle but is more interested in its history. She thinks her Dad brought it back from WWII in 1945. I have never seen anything like this and cannot find a single shred of information on the weapon. The only markings are the 'serial' number on the butt plate and the name "R. Schroeder Halle a/s" on the top of the barrel at the breach. It has 4 barrels; one apparent shotgun, smooth bore about .410; two side by side rifled barrels approx. .30 maybe a bit larger; and a small rifled barrel on top around .22. I have not miked these barrels, only observed and approximated the caliber. I am including several pictures and would very much like any information you might have on this interesting piece. Other than being a bit dirty (60+ years in a leather case) it is in remarkable shape and has nice engraving all over.
If the size of these photos is too large please let me know and I will try and reduce them a bit.




Any information as to history and/or current value would be greatly appreciated.

Mr. Marx:

What a beauty. It looks like something F. Neuber might have made and I think Grundig may have peddled a similar drilling. Schroeder was probably a firearms merchant and his name and location was roll stamped on the top rib. But if you would remove the forend and take some photo of the marks on the underside of the tubes, more info might be provided. If you would post in the 1st or 4rd forum, you might have more exposure and answers.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

It seems that many of the vierlings were Austrian, we might see Zella Mehlis proof marks. Drillings were much more common and many were German, as well as Austrian.

The vierling was probably peddled out of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halle,_Saxony-Anhalt . I also expect to see German tubes and either Austrian or Bohemian marks, if any. Actually Carl Gruendig of Dresden peddled a very similar, but toplever, Schienen Vierling with schienen meaning rib where the small calibre rifle is located and was an off-season plinking round. And this is the 2nd one I've seen being a hammer schienen vierling with pivoting hammerheads. GGCA( http://www.germanguns.com ) might be interesting in seeing it.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Just for a matter of interest - my native language, Afrikaans, is in some instances very close to German. The word "Vierling" is also used in Afrikaans, and means quadruplet, probably referring to the fact that this rifle has 4 barrels

Yes and I think we lifted the term "Cape Gun" from ya'll which in Germany or Europe is a buchsflinten/buechsflinte. And drillings of course are named for the 3 barrels or triplet set of barrels.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I don't see vierlings very often, but don't recall ever seeing one with three rifle barrels before. Perhaps they are more common (if you can use that term on very limited production items) than I am aware. Just as double rifle drillings seem to be a small percentage of the drilling population, I suspect triple rifle vierlings are similarly low production portion of the vierling population.

This is a very nice piece that would be a great attention getting display item!

Working on memory here but years ago, probably at least 15 or so, before I had any interest in drillings and the like, I remember being at a gun show in Danbury, CT and seeing a Dural bodied 5 barreled gun. It had the SxS shotgun barrels, a large CF cartridge below, and smaller CF on top and a shorter .22RF barrel tucked in on the right side between the shotgun and lower CF rifle.

Would this be a "fünfling"?