doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Best books on German doubles?

I'm looking for a good book or two on German doubles, both pre- and post-War. Do you guys have any you'd recommend?

I don't know why, but I have a hankering for a shotgun built like a very small piece of personal artillery, complete with cheekpiece and sling. Kind of disgusting, I know...

Now that you are out of the closet on this, it becomes much easier. My personal piece of artillery is 16ga with 29 1/2" barrels and weighs an unbearable 5lbs 10 including the cheekpiece and sling swivels. I hardly ever see the cheekpiece while swinging on quail and the engraving on the sidelocks and trigger guard are not heavy either. The sling goes on whenever needed on a long trudge but comes off otherwise.

That's exactly what I want!

The trouble I'm running into is that the guns seem to either command a premium for a well known name (Merkel, Sauer, Simson, etcetera), or they're unsigned entirely. The unsigned ones seem to go very cheaply, so they're attractive from that perspective. But, I also don't want to end up with a piece of junk. Given that I don't run across such guns at my local shop, examining the gun and buying on its apparent merits is a little complicated.

Basically, I'm looking for a primer on how to judge unsigned guns without being able to physically touch them. I know that's always tough, but I'd like to stack the odds in my favor as much as possible. I'd also like to learn about the German gun business at the same time.

Newsletters from German Firearms or Gun Association (can't remember the name but they have a website) is likely the best source. Google or Bing name Norbert Klups he has couple out there one on drillings and one on double rifles. I learned couple of things by flipping through pages of drilling tome at local Borders Books. I didn't know they made some with bronze actions which were French grayed.

You can find an extensive list here:
http://www.germanguns.com/books.html

Klupps book on drillings is very good.

Also read a lot of posts by Raimey, Jani and others here:
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=9&page=1

Pete

I wholeheartedly disagree! This book is rather superficial and often completely wrong on older guns.
But, John Walter's "Rifles of the World" is even worse when it comes to continental guns.

I'm not sure of the references but John Walter is for the most part spot on.

You'd probably have to divide the search in time periods. If I were looking for a quality German longarm, I'd want upper and lower scears, tubes by one of the Kelber boys, knitted by Robert Schlegelmich pre-1924 and engraving by either Hugo Kolb or Fritz Heimbeck. I can't say that the time period that both Kolb and the Kelber boys were engaged actually overlapped. So being more realistic maybe tubes knitted and profiled by Robert Schlegelmilch but here we might also be looking at a Daly.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

This list is out of date but a few good ones here.

Deuts ARMS OF THE WORLD - 1911 DBI Books, 1972 FN Soft Cover
che Waffen und Muntionsfabriken: German Weapons and Ammunition Manufacturing Plants: Catalog of Ammunition Gun Digest Chicago ca 1960
Genschow, Gustav & Co. Hamburg, 1929 catalog AKA "GECO"
Frank, George catalog AKA "WUM" Waffen und Munitions (Guns & Ammo)
Kettner, Eduard Jagdwaffenkunde - Ein Lehrbuch f�r J�ger und Waffenfreunde M�hlheim Okahandja 1984. 192
Kind, Albrech catalog AKA "AKAH" 1926 Germany
Koch, George, Die Jagdgewhere der Gegenwart, Weimar 1891
Lampel, Walter / Mahrholdt, Richard Waffen - Lexikon - F�r J�ger und Sch�tzen Mchn. Mayer 1965
Lampel, Walter Richard Mahrholdt: Waffenlexikon f�r J�ger und Sch�tzen. BLV, M�nchen 1981.
Mundt, Karl DIE WELT DER WAFFE-Suhl 1925
Mahrholdt, Richard. Handbuch fur Waffenfreunde Innsbruck 1929
Mahrholdt, Richard. WAFFENLEXIKON: FUR JAGER UND SCHUTZEN. Munchen, Mayer, 1937
Mahrholdt, Richard. WAFFENLEXIKON: FUR JAGER UND SCHUTZEN. Munchen, Mayer, 1952
Matschoss, Dr. E.C. 50 Jahre Deutsche Waffen-und-Munitionsfabriken, Aktiengesellschaft Berlin 1939
Popp, H. Waffenkunde und Schiesslehre f�r J�ger Neumann-Neudamm, Melsungen, 1979.
Sell, Albert Die Maschinelle Gewehrfabrikation Suhl, 1927
Zeiske, Wolfgang Waffe und Schusz Deutscher Bauern Verlag Np, (Berlin) (1956)