Raimey;
I did make one mistake posting from memory. It is not marked 58, it is marked 172.28 / 59. Below this is 2,07 / 6??, so the 600th & something gun proofed in Feb 1907 the way I read it.
At the time I got it a chamber cast revealed it to be dimensionally correct for the 8x58R S&S except for the 1mm extra length. The Nitro marks are simply a crown over N, NITRO is not spelled out. The rifle barrel is marked with the Crown/N & 2gr GBP / St MG.
Shot barrels have the Crown/N & 2 gr SCH P / 28.3. All markings are correct for the 1891-1912 time frame. Both shot barrels have the 16 in a circle & the right one has 16, the left one 16/1 & also carries the Crown/W for choke bore.
Both Shot barrels on top have a mark reading Prima Kruppscher Fluss Stahl surrounding a large eagle with a small circle in his center with what appears to be the letter H inside. Rifle barrel simply has the word, Krupp
This gun was nicely engraved with what I presume would be referred to as combined foliate & game scene, each side of the frame having three deer. One side has what I take to be Roe deer & the other side has two large stags & a Doe. It has one automatic leaf site plus a 2nd higher manual leaf. It is fitted for quick detachable scope mounts & I have the rings, but not the scope. Trigger selector for swapping from shot to the rifle is on the tang & marked S for shot & K for Kugel. Safety is a "Semi-Greener" style. I say semi because it operates up/down rather than fore/aft. Has horn trigger guard, butt plate & grip cap. Has a bullet trap in the toe of stock for 4 rifle cartridges with engraved hinged steel cover. It is fitted sling swivels for a Narrow sling, would take a 3/4" sling but not a 7/8" one.
It has a Deely type forend fastener & double scallops at the rear of the frame. Front trigger is a single set type for the rifle. Overall it appears the gun was in great condition before this Accident occurred. After that, it layed around for a good while before I got it & accumulated some surface rust on the outside, but no deep pits. The right barrel has a 3" long section missing which begins about 10" from the breech & goes from top rib to side rib. Wall thickness is approximately 0.030" here. The left barrel has a split at the muzzle which extends back about 3/4".
I never met the man who fired the "Fatal" shot through it, so my info is second hand. It was a WWII bring-back & he said he had carried it hunting on a day with snow on the ground. He had jumped a rabbit & shot at it when the chunk blew from the right barrel, so he assumed he had gotten snow down the bore. No mention was made of the left barrel, perhaps there was also a bit of snow in the muzzle 0of it & it jarred off when the right barrel blew.
On these guns proofed between 1891 & 1912, I do not know how to identify the proof house. Was all proofing then done at Zella-Mehlis? The proof marks do all appear to be authentic.
