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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,857 Likes: 15
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,857 Likes: 15 |
Hey, guys.
What's the oldest Merkel OU you've seen? Do you have any pics you can share?
Merkel claims to have started making OUs in 1898. I've seen a couple from early '30s, but I don't know if I've seen from before then.
Thanks,
OWD
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,083 Likes: 380
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,083 Likes: 380 |
Indeed, Gebrüder Merkel was founded in 1898 and had a Bockgewehre Modellreihe but I am not sure that the Bockgewehre was highly popular until a bit later?
Serbus,
Raimey
rse
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,857 Likes: 15
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,857 Likes: 15 |
Perhaps. But if they weren't building many OUs early on, what were they making?
Do you know when Merkel/German OUs first appear in American catalogs from NYC shops like Stoeger?
I know they were selling them by 1932. But any earlier?
Thanks,
OWD
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,083 Likes: 380
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,083 Likes: 380 |
They may have been making weapons for the French speaking market as I have seen adverts from the early to mid 1920s in French. Too, I believe that they advertised that they had been making O/U - Bockgewehre - Superposés since 1905.
Remember that S,D,G / Daly had the U.S. of A. market cornered and as their concern faltered, others like A&F, V,L,D, etc. picked up their share. Daly was peddling side by sides and even had to pull in Sauer to fill all the orders.
Serbus,
Raimey
rse
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 149 Likes: 17
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 149 Likes: 17 |
for what its worth, i have a beautiful 12 OU dated october 1935.
cable
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Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 749 Likes: 155
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 749 Likes: 155 |
Courtesy of Mr. Hallowell ![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/tbOx3Tz.png) Oldest pic I could find.
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,083 Likes: 380
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,083 Likes: 380 |
I think we are going to see few here in the U.S. of A. so we need to look to inland Germany & maybe to eGun.de or similar? https://www.egun.de/market/list_items.php?cat=64Serbus, Raimey rse
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 307 Likes: 4
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 307 Likes: 4 |
Raimey, totaly true what you say. The answer you can find in the book of Hans Jürgen Fritze "Gebrüder Merkel" pagina 12 you can read that the production fur Bockgewehre started in 1905.
Cheers, Marc.
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,083 Likes: 380
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,083 Likes: 380 |
Marc:
Many thanks for the conformation and Great to see you engaged & posting.
I would follow the money guns in competition shooting. I would say that was driving the type of shotgun platform and most everyone else joined the cult. Like I said, Daly had the pulse of the American Sportsman plus offered his wares as prizes @ shooting events and if he wasn't promoting it, it wasn't sold. So when Schoverling, Daly & Gales started to fall apart, the other American retailers took their respective pieces of pie. And in those slices of pie was the new fangled stack gun platform that was all the rage and made the most money.
Serbus,
Raimey
rse
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