doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Sharps Borchardt

By todays standards 2,500 U.S. Bucks is cheap. It's not just a case of making a tang with DST's on it. There have to be considerable modifications made to the action and to the sear bar, not to mention the stock.

Whilst the Zischang design of DST's is excellent, looking at the attachment of these to the rifle action and wooden butstock leaves a lot to be desired. The front end of the DST's is attached to the action by a metal pin, but the rear end of the DST's are simply held in place by a woodscrew. Not the best of engineering practice or ideas.

Wood can 'move' with changes in temperature and humidity. It would have been far better if A.O.Zischang had found a slightly more positive way of attaching his lower tang DST's than the method he used.

Harry

I saved info on another Zischang Borchardt that went on auction last year and it too had that additional screw through the front center of the receiver. Can someone tell me what this was for?

It also had two more screws above the screw in the back - plug screws for the saddle ring loop I figured out! As it is only a few S/N digits away from an SRC that I own... one less of the very few Borchardt SRC's around.

Is that gizmo on the left side of these triggers a safety (locks front trigger?) or a trigger adjustment?

Jeff P

The .25 - 35 Zischang does have a lateral motion safety built into it. As a hunting rifle which might be carried loaded, it makes sense. If this were a target rifle, it would be unneeded.

There is a pin to prevent barrel rotation or removal through the action. It passes through a "notch" in the bottom of the threaded shank of the barrel. I think that is the "screw" you refer to. These are quite common in Schoyen or Peterson built rifles. Having fairly easily removable barrels made a lot of sense when travel was by train or small coach and thus aided in making the rifle much more compact. A few of these rifles have multiple barrels, but the majority just seem to be to facilitate take down for transport.

Terry covered it pretty well, the hunting rifles needed a safety and many of these were fitted with a take-down pin. Niedner made a cocking knob to replace the safety on a this one. Carry it loaded, cock it when you want to shoot.

Thanks Terry and Michael.
Looks like that Niedner rifle has also had some of the cocking plate screws and pins welded up? I have a friend that owned one of those Niedner Borchardts some years back so it was nice to see that picture of one in your book Michael - Custom Gunmakers of the 20th Century.
Thanks again,
Jeff P

When Niedner made this rifle for Dr. Baker he removed the cocking cams and made a new breechblock. Did your friends Niedner have the cocking knob as well?

Yes, I believe it had the cocking knob too. I never saw his but only heard the story. I'll email Rich and see if he can comment further.

JP

Does that Niedner let the firing pin rest on the primer when it is uncocked? If so, that's no hunting rifle.

Brent

I am Jeff's friend who had the Niedner Borchardt with DST's and a Krag cocking piece. I always figured the safety was leaving it uncocked, or an empty chamber.
Mine was a 25 Krag FL Improved, and came with a Lyman tong tool and a set of dies for it. There was also a Lyman mould for (IIRC) a 100gr RN bullet. Kake Kutter and all the good stuff.

ISS

ISS: Hi, would you happen to have a picture of the Borchardt you had or know any history of the rifle?