doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Obsolete European Cartridges

I seem to have struck out on the other board, so I thought I'd try this here as well.

I am giving thought to bidding on the drilling advertised on AA at http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=7849610. The dealer doesn't seem to know much about the gun and is mystified (as am I) as to what the rifle barrel chambering might be. The gun is marked as 10.6 with no other apparent cartridge information regarding the rifle barrel. Belgian, probably pre-WWI from the proof marks. The gun weighs 7-1/2 pounds - not a lightweight for a 16, and has 2-1/2 inch chambers in all likelihood. Any thoughts on the cartridge and whether there might be a modern case that could be used to form it?

Realize the rifle cal is marked as to "Bore" diameter, which is most likely not the nominal size the round would have been named & sold under. Most likely a cartridge from the 11-11.15mm group. There were some straight cased rounds as well as botleneck versions of this nominal size (including the Mauser round) so without further info as to case type & dimensions would be impossible to tell if brass is available or formable from easily procured existing ones. Some are, some may not be.

2-Piper has it right on - the only way to determine what the rifle cartridge might be is to take a chamber cast. While some of the 11mm rounds are more likely than others there were literally dozens of them to chose from.

The probability is that it is a 11mm Mauser but of course anything is possible. I have a Bavarian Single Shot Alpine Stalking Rifle that is only marked 58/50 E
which turned out to be a .450 Eley. The 58/50 I finally discovered was the gauges of the lands and grooves. Weird stuff

The 58/50 for a gauge is in reality 58.50 gauge & is equal to .430" dia. The old charts went down to .300" @ 172.28 ga. Below 50ga they went in .010 steps rounded to two decimal places for the gauge, thus the odd markings. Any size can be calculated by the fact spheres are proportional to the cube of their diameters. For extreme accuracy take a 1 ga as 1.669285".

Here's a couple of recent threads on NitroExpress.com, which might contribute something to the corporate knowledge pool.

Most common 11mm Cartridges in old Sauer drillings


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