I went over and picked up the Niedner-Sukalle today. I have the chamber cast. I will measure it and report later.
The gunsmith reports that the barrel interior is in fine condition.
This rifle has mounts for a long, target, Unertl or Fecker-style telescopic sight. The barrel is very heavy. This rifle was clearly built and set up as a Varminter or Target Rifle.Sukalle's name must be on the underside, concealed by the stock. It is marked
AO NEIDNER
DOWAGIAC MICH
on the barrel on top.
The German manufacturer has been obscured by stippling, but the serial number 8300 appears in several places.
My local gunsmith, the FFL dealer, thinks it must be the original pre-Remington .257 Roberts wildcat cartridge.
He has the appropriate reamer, and has suggested that I simply have him modify the chambering very slightly to make it a .257 Ackeley Improved. I am wondering if that would really seriously impact the originality of Bill Sukalle's work.
One thing for sure. I just read an article on Sukalle's barrel-making in the 1962 Gun Digest. He apparently proofed the heck out of his barrels. So there can be no doubt that this rifle would handle .257 Roberts +P loads or .257 Ackeley Improved loads no problem.
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One other thing. The seller passed along a letter to him from the previous owner.
That letter says the rifle belonged to the seller's grandfather
who died in 1977. It claims that this grandfather bought the rifle in 1942(!) and also made the rifle's stock himself.
I have never seen or handled a Neidner in person, so I cannot be sure, but the stock does not look to me like the work of an amateur gunsmith. It is not as high a quality as a Griffin & Howe, but it is a very nice piece of walnut (I think American) and is well-checkered.
A 1942 date makes no sense. Neidner retied in 1940, and nobody would be building rifles in the early wildcat .257 round after 1934. Also Sukalle moved to Phoenix in 1935, and this barrel is marked with his Tucson address.
