doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Origins/early history of the Merkel OU ...

Apparently the 1st O/U Merkels wore Octagonal tubes(pattern welded??))¿¿¿¿¿


Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Neat that the frame too has to mate w/ the Octagonal nature....






Most interesting forend latch. There looks to be a stamp of >>H. Barrella ..... BTe<< on the flats??


https://bestguns.de/Auktion/2704/Hahndoppelbuechse-Barella-Achtkantlauf-in-Damaststahl.html

Evidently similar to this H. Barella that wears the Crown over V(Vorrat) or on-hand stamp which dates it to early 1893. Originally it was Kaliber .500 BPE then atlered to 28 Bore @65mm. Patterned welded rifled tubes are almost as scarce as hen's teeth.

Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Nah, under enlargement it seems to read F. ???????



Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Gebrüder Merkel filed for trademark protection for the name „Bock“ in 1931. There just does not seem that much was going on w/ the DoppelBock until after WWI, 1924 or later.....


Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Interesting. I alway thought Merkel was building OUs by 1900. Your explanation explains why I've never seen one from before the 1930s.

So who was building the OUs that Lancaster put their name on? I checked on IGC, and it looks like their OUs started appearing around 1909.

I thought Lancaster's first OUs caused a lot of controversy in the UK trade because the actions were coming from Europe and then the guns were being finished by Lancaster, and sold as "British".

Here's another one:

https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...cool-gun-from-1907-.cfm?gun_id=103420914

Glad you enjoyed the show.

OWD