doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Need assistance with dating Drilling.

I picked up this drilling that needed some TLC back in April of this year. I have been restoring it since picking it up. This is my first European firearm and I have tried to decipher the proofs to get an idea of the dates but the best I can come up with is possibly pre WWI. Any help would be appreciated.

Cold1, I’m not good at interpreting proof marks, but several on this forum are and expect they’ll chime in soon with help. Looks like neat firearm. Please share a photo of it assembled when you can. Would love to see the whole gun.

Larry

Interesting stamps - yes, mid 18902 to 1912. They paid an extra fee to have the shot tubes pass the voluntary scattergun proof.



Interesting encircled P or something??

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Between 1893, when the 1891 Proof law came into force and 1912, when the 1911 improvements to the law changed from designating bore diameter from gauge measurement (in your case 118/35) to metric.
Mike

Ford, I do not think that voluntarily scattergun proof came along till after 1893, or was an addendum.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Thanks guys for the info. Its a little bit older than what I thought it was. I will get some more pictures of the proofs, now that its rebuled they might show in the photos a little better.

I still have a little work to do in the triggers, the rifle sometimes doesn't want to fire. Its a blitz action and its built like clockwork inside it.

I really like this old gun, when I got it refinished I used it on my first and only Quail hunt. That was the first of November. The gun did its part, now I have to learn how to do mine.

Raimey,
My estimate of between 1893 and 1912 fits with that period.

Cold1,
Old 9.3x72R ammo was made with .254" M72 Berdan primers that did not require as much firing pin impact to ignite as modern primers do. You might want to load your own ammo with large pistol standard force primers, seated below flush because they are not as thick as rifle primers. If this doesn't work or you don't want to handload, you might need to have a stronger striker spring installed. This was a pretty common problem with older drillings.
Mike