Mike, of course you are right! The Drilling was the all purpose tool for the german hunter. Not seldom it was the only gun/rifle he owned and as you explained it was much more useful with the EL in a small caliber. For former hunting it was ideal. Some hares, some pheasants or partridges and from time to time a roe or boar(seldom!).
rfrankhauser, try the Drilling on clays and you will be astonished how well it shoots!
And despite of the often short barrels it's handling is well, because of the weight of the rifled barrel.
The only problem with the drillings is that sometimes the barrels are confused on each other. I remember hunters shooting with shot on wild boar for 100 m (no problem...for the boar) and a friend of mine shooting on a flying(!) duck, falling down like a stone. Looking on it later we saw a veritable hole through the duck.... He shot it with the 8x57 IRS!!! He was indeed a god shot and this story is not untypical for the good Drilling hunter.
With your Drilling you can go for nearly all game, but you should exercise thoroughly. ;-)
Best Regards,
Gunwolf
