doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Prussian Sauer - Opinion

Hi all, just wanted to get your opinion on this one:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=118528986

Still trying to learn about German guns as much as I can.

Is the price in the ballpark ($1750 reserve)?

Any comments or opinions would be great!

All the best!!

Greg

I think he's about 500- too high, polished receiver (originally cc'd) and re-finished wood...my opinion...to me it would be worth where it is now, 1200 or so......assuming it's not loose, since he doesn't mention the mechanics...?

If it was all original you couldn't touch that gun for less than 3K. IMO, it's a fair price in today's market which, IMO, is way overpriced, but facing facts, if you want a good, beautiful, nicely redone, sxs, that's the price you are going to pay, or you are going to have to wait until people hit on a little harder times, and are willing to take less for their guns.

binko

It's a pre-1912(or pre-April 15, 1912) Model 8E(overhanging scears only) with a large crown which notes either excellent quality or excellent shooting characteristics, but not both. I think it to be a 1912 longarm. I don't see a Eagle "Nitro" stamp and guess it to be on the sides of the tubes. Many Model 8Es were made between the serial number range 181xxx to 184xxx in 16, 12 & 20 with production number in decreasing order respectively. Serial number 182542 looks to be very similar but without the beavertail forend, which would have been the only special order item. For some reason case colors didn't fair well and at one time varnish was also applied. The left tube is choked and there doesn't appear to be a "crown" over "W" on the right tube to indicate any constriction. The hunting scene on the floorplate looks to be atypical as does the special attention to the church windows. The smaller bores are coveted and fetch a premium.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Your time and money could be spent a whole lot wiser.

Almost 3" of drop there, Greg. That'd be a problem for me and, I think, for quite a few other shooters used to modern dimensions. I also wonder why the L barrel measures .730 and the R barrel .709. Almost sounds like he measured choke in the R barrel. But if he did, that'd mean the L barrel is cylinder, based on standard 12ga bore diameter. But it's marked 13/1 on the flats, which means standard bore diameter ought to be .719. If so, that'd be .010 constriction in the R barrel and over .010 honed out of the L. I'd ask some question about that if I were really interested.

Yeah, the right barrel at the muzzle is bigger than the bore. 26" barrels? A very hard sell. This gun has been around, too much. Minty used later Sauers are $600 guns and shoot as well as the early ones. Collector grade early guns need to be nearly new to be more than shooters.

Hi gjw..other posters have brought up some valid points on this Sauer. I will add the following..from the photos it is difficult (by me anyway) to tell if the receiver has been polished. A number of the early Pre-WW1 Sauer boxlocks I have seen owned and handled appear to have a high degree of alloy to the receivers. With time and handling the case colors mostly do fade to almost zero as already noted. Much handling will cause these receivers to take on a high degreee of shine or polish, mostly on the frame panels and in the areas of the trigger plate. The main point of the above is that the photos of the Grade 20 (model 8E in the Continental/German market)with the powerfull fill lights used to photo this piece emphasise the lack of case colors and hightlight the "bright" nature of the steel alloyed frame. Only by having the gun in hand can one really tell if the recevier has been polished.

A couple of plus' about the piece is the screws appear to be in fine shape, it is equipped with ejectors, has the original(?) buttplate and it has the checkered side panels, which are rarely seen on the model 8E's. The buttstock has the typical Sauer German comb/nose and from the photos it does not appear to have been refinished. (The Beavertail fore end may or may not be original. I have never seen a beavertail on a Pre-WW1 Sauer boxlock before but JPS&S would provide a customer with almost anything that they desired)

As pointed out the right tube does not have the Crown W which means a cylinder bored gun. The barrels appear to have original finish (look at fourth photo in the series the barrels have an underlying slightly brown or plumb cast to them) Also and should be noted, proof loads for the american market export shotguns (prussia marked pieces) prior to WW1 generally are not seen on the barrels.

I do agree that the piece while intriging is overpiced in todays market, mostly due to the short 26 inch barrels and almost three inches of drop. If I was seriously interested in the piece I would ask for high resolution photos (plus more than what is posted) to asertain if the frame has been cleaned up etc. I would also ask to have the seller confirm the .709 and .730 numbers that he posted in the description. Over all it is truly best to have the gun in hand to really look it over and make the necesary measurements (especailly the bores and chokes and wall thickness if possible)and to make sure it is tight and on face. Good luck! Jeff Stephens

I agree with eightbore, there are PILES of Sauers around for $600- and less with much better cosmetics than this particular gun...some later 20's and 30's manufacture and some pre-WW I guns like this one. I also think the beaver-tail forend was an afterthought sometime in the 30's when they were a big hit.

"I agree with eightbore, there are PILES of Sauers around for $600- and less with much better cosmetics than this particular gun."

I would really appreciate anyone that finds one of these $600.00 Sauers for sale, to post it here or to send me an email. I've purposely been looking for one for a friend, with no luck. With "PILES" of them out there, it would seem logical that I should have stumbled on one somewhere after 2 months??? I guess I am just not trying hard enough...that's what all my teachers used to tell me?

binko