doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Heinrich Munch (Aachen) Combination Gun

I recently acquired a very nice combination gun by Heinrich Munch (Aachen) at the recent Holts auction. It's a 16 bore over 7x65R, with a 6x42 Zeiss Diatel Scope on a claw mount. It's pretty light weight at just over seven pounds. The action is an alloy, with disk strikers and double under lugs and double Kirsten style cross bolt. A picture is below


[img]http://s777.photobucket.com/albums/yy53/Heymsr20/?action=view&current=10July2009135.jpg[/img]


I understand from Holts that Heinrich Munch was a retailer of fine guns who had guns made for his customers by the German and Austrian trade. But would welcome any further thoughts advice etc.

First impressions are that it is an extremely well made high quality piece of work and first outings on the range are showing three RWS rounds going into pretty much the same hole at 100 yds. Trying it out on some Red Stags in the next couple of weeks.

A good close-up photo of the proof marks would be a big help.

Best,

C.

I saw a SxS 16 at a shop yesterday, with Belgian marks on the flats. Are your barrels marked FALA in front of the flats?

Looks like a Dural(aluminium/leichtmetall/aluminum) frame by Meffert. Yes, pleasure us with some pics of the flats.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Aacehn is about 25 miles East of Liege on the West side of central Germany, so I would expect to see some Belgian proved longarms. Some info on Aachen:

"A modern day city in Germany, Aachen is reputed to be the birthplace of Charlemagne; it was the capital of his empire, and it is where he is buried. The city is most well known among archaeologists (and architectural historians) for the late 8th Century chapel built for the court of Charlemagne, one of the most widely known Carolingian cathedrals in Europe "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aachen

Norm: Was it FALLA, Jean Falla the tube maker: http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20e%20f/a%20falla%20gb.htm

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Thanks Gentlemen, I have taken some photo's of the barrel flats with the proof marks.

[img]http://s777.photobucket.com/albums/yy53/...relFlats001.jpg"[/img]

If you can't follow the above link, then on the side of the barrels under the forend there is

BOHEER SUPER BEITZ or could be BOHRER

WH

a "JH" inside an oval

and what looks like an Eagle next to an NP.

And just below the Scope Mount is "HEINRICH MUNCH - AACHEN"

Thanks again for all your assistance.

HeymSR20:

It would be "Bohler(Böhler) Super Blitz" which is/was their most expensive Bohler steel and due to the components allowed the tubes to be made thinner than tubes with Bohler Antinit(cheapest and most encountered) and Bohler(Böhler) Blitz steel( http://www.bohlersteel.com/english/b_277.php ). The combo went thru the Ferlach Proofhouse in 1974 and the script "EF" is the obligatory barrel proof which saw use at least by 1891 if not before but the current example is based on the October 1951 update. In the late 1500s one of the Kaisers moved at least 100 craftsmen to Ferlach and I think most were from Belgium. All the natural resources were there and coupled with the craftsmen, gun making commenced. Post 1945 Ferlach makers had a code number which preceeds the serial number but I don't see it in this case and it may have been sourced from the Consortium(Genossenschaft der Ferlacher which began in 1880 but I think has recently been sold), which had the expensive tooling which a small gunmaker couldn't afford. So I guess this piece could have been sourced from it but the "JH" and "WH" easily could be some of the Hambrusch boys as Josef Hambrusch's issued gunmaker code was 22. All in all Heinrich Münch of Aachen is/was a firearms merchant and sourced this piece from Austria. A search of Firma Heinrich Münch of Aachen might yield some results.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Thanks so much for that info - yes it is Bohler. In terms of the serial number there are two on the gun - 2402 and 3087.74 - does that point to a particular maker.

Many thanks

No, not really. I would think the "3087.74" to be the three thousand eighty seventh longarm to pass thru the Ferlach(NP subF - nitro proof at Ferlach) in 1974 and not the serial number. "2404" seems low for a serial number, but could very well be.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Following on from your pointers I emailed Joseph Hambrusch yesterday evening with the guns details and just had an email confirming it was made by them in 1974. - http://www.ferlachguns.com.

So thanks a lot for all your help.