doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com OOOld Cape Gun

This gun hung around the River City Gun Exchange in Sacramento for over a year and no one could figure it out. Don finally told my brother, who works there, "Send it to your brother, he'll figure it out". I did.

This is a combination gun, rifle on the right is "guss stahl" and the shotgun on the left is Damascus. It is a double sidelock, exposed hammer gun that opens by swinging the bottom half of the forearm to the right. The ornate pistol grip and forearm lever are horn. It has a full rib and on the rib it says "F KUHNER STETTIN". It has fixed rear and front sights on the rib. It has double triggers and the front trigger is a single set trigger. It is mounted with sling swivels. It has no proof marks.

The shotgun barrel is 16x2.5" and the rifle is 10.5x47R. I took a chamber cast and sent it to Dave @CH4D. They told me it is different from the other (I think- it was a couple years ago) 23 10.5x47R cases they had! Lot of variation in these chambers. Yes, it is on the "A" case. I got 9x47R cases and fire formed them. I had Dan (Mountain Molds) cut me a 265gr mold to fit. Picked up a Lee hammer pound reloading set for the 16 ga. side and some brass shotshells.

My cartridge appears to be almost identical to Sharps45/90's. He sent me here from Castboolits.gunloads.com when he posted about his there. I'm a refugee from Shooters.com who landed at Castboolits.

Since this is without proof it has to be prior to April 1, 1892 when the proof law came effective in Germany, as Stettin was in Germany at that time. (It is in Poland now) I have no idea when Krupp started sending fluid steel barrels to gunsmiths, but that would likely be the earliest possible date. I understand that the name on the rib would be the shop/company that sold it, not the maker.

That's about all I know. Any other information would be welcome. I need to take some pics and figure out how to post them here.

Pics would be good Wayne, I'd love to the the old piec.

I think I'll have to post them on a thread on Castboolits. I've never used an image host. There I can upload from my drive. Got to take them first!

Fritz K�hner, Breite Strasse 4, Stettin, is documented from 1888 to 1898.
Krupp was not the first to offer Gussstahl = cast steel small arms barrels. They came into this market only in the 1890s, but already had a "name" for their fame as cannon makers since the Franc-Prussian war 1870-71. The use of cast or fluid steel for rifle barrels was pioneered by Berger's steelworks in Witten on Ruhr, a competitor of Krupp. The Prussian army used Witten cast steel barrels on their Dryse needlefire rifles since 1863. In the 1870s the Witten steelworks dominated the world market in barrel steel, exporting huge amounts. One of their main US customers then who bought not only standard dimensions,but also special ordered 2" bar stock, was Colt in Hartford, Conn. So your "All American" 1873 Colt peacemaker most likely has a barrel and cylinder made of German Witten Gussstahl.

So this one dates from 1888-1892. That narrows the field considerably, thanks.