doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com I need a little help with German Translation

Doesn't the "K" on drilling safeties denote "Karabiner"? Or am I all wet?

K - Kugel or ball
S - Schrot or shot

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Roger,

yes, first of all, "Kugel" means ball, any solid spheric object (those air-filled things for playing soccer are called "Ball").

The correct German term for rifle is "B�chse", and "Flinte" for shotgun.
But in colloquial hunters' language, especially in southern Germany and Austria, rifle is "Kugelgewehr" and shotgun is "Schrotgewehr".

The marking "nicht f�r Kugel" on shotgun barrels was used long time ago, I think before World War I, if I remember correctly? Anyway, in a time when some people still shot real balls through shotgun barrels, so ballistically and legally it is the correct term.
Still it sounds a bit odd to me.

Because today, and as long as I can think back (50 years or so) "Kugel" means any bullet that goes through a rifled barrel, no matter how long or pointed that bullet is.
And often "Kugel" does not only mean the bullet but the complete cartridge.

To make things clearer, a real ball for a muzzle loader is indeed called "Rundkugel" / round ball...
Any solid object for shotgun barrels is called "Flintenlaufgeschoss" - "shotgun barrel bullet" ....
But because this is such a long and official word, the colloquial term is simply "Brenneke".

Regards,
fuhrmann

On rifle/shotgun comination guns, generally:
K/Kugel = select K and the rifle barrel will fire.
S/Schrot = select S and the shot barrel will fire.
However S can also mean Sicher/safe on a sliding safety and K can also mean Klein/small caliber if a rifle with 2 calibers so experiment with snap caps before assuming anything.

The Krieghoff Trumpf Drilling has been remodeled a number of times in it's long production, but Separate Kugelspannung usually means that, if you leave the central rifle selector back, the rifle is not cocked and this makes it safe to use the shotgun barrels. If it is pushed forward, however, the rifle is now cocked and also, when you reload and close the action, it automatically recocks until such time as you push this same rifle selector back. The 1971 manufactured model I know has a separate safety for the shotgun (also on top) which DOES NOT ACT ON THE RIFLE. My guess is, this dual system allows trigger pull weight to be lowered without risk of being jarred off by recoil.