doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Shortening Drilling Barrels?

Has anyone ever shortened the barrels of a drilling? I have acquired a project gun. It’s pretty beaten up. The stock is shattered and the barrels are in rough shape. It’s a hard case, but I’d like to get it back into shootable condition. I’m considering shortening the barrels by several inches to remove the worst of the damage. I plan to square and then re-crown the rifle muzzle and install a new front sight.

I’m concerned that cutting will result in the solder coming loose. My question is primarily, are all three barrels soldered together the full length? If I cut the barrels, will they separate and require re-soldering?

I always wanted a short drilling or "Kurz-Drilling" (as advertised by Krieghoff before WW2 with 55 or even 50cm barrels). After some reluctance my gunsmith finaly did it for me. My beat-up Sauer 7x57R/16/16 from the 1950s now sports 48cm barrels (instead of factory 60cm) and handles and shoots like a song. It came out better than I hoped and quickly became my favorite drilling.
There were no problems with soldering, or any other for that matter.

Kind regards,
Jani

Jani:

You failed to divulge that little tid-bit of information. Be sure to put that in the Will too.......

lp,

Raimey
rse

Raimey,

I'm not sure what you mean but here is the monetary side if anyone would care to know: I probaby overpaid the much used and abused drilling with 300 euros (but it does have a useful Hensoldt 4x32 in claw mounts); and my Ferlach/Borovlje trained gunsmith charged me rather modest 120 euros for the work including sighting-in the relocated front sight.


Cheers,
Jani

Crockett,
If you decide to do this, you can avoid the ribs coming loose by wiring them together with soft iron wire (tie wire, used for tying reinforcing rods together) and blocks/wedges. When claw mount saddles are soldered to the barrels, this is how they prevent the ribs from coming loose. Understand you will lose some or all whatever choke the gun has, depending on how much you shorten the barrels. On the other hand, some of us like more open chokes than commonly seen on old drillings. As the law stands now, the barrels have to be at least 18" long. There are some lawsuits working through the courts that might change this, but the decision is not known yet. Regulation of the barrels may change some, but this can be addressed for the rifle barrel with the sights/scope and for the shot barrels it might not be noticeable with more open chokes. You won't know until you shorten the barrels if the top rib is thick enough there to mill the dovetail for the front sight (I think Brownell's has the proper "caterpillar" type cutter). If not, you may have to do something else. The barrels, themselves are not soldered together full length, but are held together by being all soldered (soft solder) to the ribs.
Good Luck,
Mike

Jani:

Just the novelty factor. But the expense seems like a Deal....


lp,

Raimey
rse

Thanks Jani and Mike for the replies. Mike, I appreciate the tip on wiring the barrels. I’ve seen that done for double shotguns and will apply that.

My reason for this project, besides bringing a ruined drilling back into use, is to create a short-range, multi-use, brush gun. I hunt with a drilling now and then here in Alaska and I’ve long thought that a shorter drilling would be an ideal multi-purpose gun for knocking around in the bush. Two shotgun barrels loaded with slugs would be decent for bear defense. And one would have the option of taking a grouse or ptarmigan for camp meat. I’ve harvested moose, caribou, deer, and black bear all within 100 yards, so hunting with an open-sighted gun in areas where the brush is heavy is reasonable. A shorter drilling is not an ideal gun for all field situations, but it would be pretty handy sometimes.

The gun I’ve acquired is 16 ga over 7X65R which I think is a rifle adequate for black bear and moose if I load heavier bullets such as a Nosler Partition or Swift A-Frame. I intend to cut the barrels to 20” which I feel is a good compromise between ease of handling and still enough barrel length for good rifle performance.

I appreciate your input!

Crockett

I use the 173grain H mantel copper covered hollow point (I brought a supply back from Germany for my 7x57R) in my 7x65R Drilling and it works very much like the partition and A- frame. I have 50 years' experience with it, and it kills very well, without destroying too much meat, even on a small animal like Roe deer. I had good luck with Brenneke slugs, but modern slugs might be better, I haven't tried them. The 7x65R is adequate for Moose, with any of the three bullets and even more so for black bear and Black tail. My favorite drilling has 60cm barrels and 60cm barrels on the O/U are my favorite too. I recommend that length and if you don't like them, you can cut them off again.
Mike