doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Need some info on an old merkel shotgun

D0n't see any indication of underbolting (no slots in barrel lugs); just the Kerstner top bolt. It looks like a Merkel 200e to me. I agree with Larry bumping his price a bit from 1500. I gave that for a very nice 12 ga with a lot of color on the frame, no cheekpiece. I would think a small gauge would do somewhat better in a market where the customary asking is around 2K for a 12.

jack

Bridge boy admits he was wrong--not even close-- on the DOB. The new photo of the belly of the action clears that up, even before the stamp. "Strike one" for me.

That second (new) set of photos shows the lock screws more clearly. Gun hasn't been dorked with too much. "Strike Two"

Not pickin' a fight here--but there sump-in' 'bout that buttstock. The configuration is true..but the finish and checkering have me suspicious. Merkel didn't put red stain or finish like that on any gun I have seen from this era--I've got some and seen some more. I smell me a rat...but does it matter? Maybe it's just the photos...

Feast you eyes on that front bead...it raises my eyebrows...I'd call that a "sign of tampering"...and my experience is "where there's smoke, there's fire". But if the gun is working OK, who cares. I'd put a couple thousand shells through it PDQ and see if anything breaks, and take it from there.

You have got a darn nice gun. And I'm the best guy to take it off your hands so it has a better home!

And I promise not to "screw" with the chokes--or nothin' else.
Shoot this sucker just the way it is.

Just funnin' ya.

BB

Well, Merkel was in love with opaque red stain and a rough coat of oil in the 60s if my 200e is typical. You'd hardly know it was walnut until the oil and stain wears off and the well-handled bits turn brown. Like to see one from '38 and maybe I am. Nice shadow line cheekpiece.

jack

My 1935 Merkel has a very similar red stain stock so I don't see anything unusual there.
With kind regards,
Jani

Hagen Sportsforretning was - and still is - a gunshop/retailer in Oslo, Norway.The gun in question was probably imported by them and thus stamped - allthough I have never seen a Merkel with such a stamp before. The gun looks very much like a post-war edition of the 200E, I do not think this version was produced before the war. Are you sure about the production year?

banja, thanks for confirming the Norway connection. Have you a website or reference for firm? I think the stamp was applied in Suhl. Although I haven't seen all the proofmarks, the date stamp confirms that it passed thru the proofhouse in 1938. Also the "Nitro" stamp wasn't carried forward in the 1939 rules.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I guess the best way to get informed, is to contact Hagen directly:

Hagen Bøssemakerverksted Jan-Magne Hoel
Myrerskogveien 17
0495 Oslo

Telefon: 22 15 36 66

And how a Norwegian imported Merkel ended up in the US, is anyones guess. But one possible answer is that it was confiscated by the German occupation army (happened to all weapons in Norway) and brought to Germany during the war. Later it was probably taken to the US by a US soldier.

my grandfather, whos gun this was, was in WWII. He was a scout and map maker. one of the first troops in to Auschwitz

Hagens Sports Forretning was a gundealer in Oslo, Norway.
Forretning=business. It still exist as a small gundealer/gunrepair business in one Oslos suburbs.
To the middle of the fifties Hagen Sport had its business in the main street of Oslo, Karl Johan street.

Hagens Sports Forretning was a gundealer in Oslo, Norway.
Forretning=business. It still exist as a small gundealer/gunrepair business in one Oslos of suburbs.
To the middle of the fifties Hagen Sport had its business in the main street of Oslo, Karl Johan street.