doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Another rare double

I have a soft spot in my heart for giving an Ugly Duckling an appreciative new home. Here is one I bought in back 2013. The year before I bought it, the gun received an award for ... "The Most Innovative Design" ... which is better than an award for it being ... "The Ugliest Design." It is truly Ugly to many, but it shoots pretty good. This Stendebach is glad that I bought the Cape Gun so it has a new friend.

This is my 8x57R cal double built by Friedrich Stendebach in 1913. This Small Bore Double weighs 8-1/2 pounds, and has a really strange action.

http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/stenda1.jpg


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http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/stenda91.jpg


http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/stenda93.jpg


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http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/stendacase.jpg


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a target from the Stendebach field test

http://buckstix.com/buckpics/stentarg.jpg

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This French Mouse Trap, noted as a Saint Étienne scattergun, popped up on a chat recently.


Hochachtungsvoll,
Raimey
rse

I find it interesting that over time there was a connection between Vierordt & Cie., and Gustav Kersten, and then Friedrich Stendebach. I am fortunate to own rifles by these makers. It seem like during these times in Germany, many makers were trying to come up with a better "Mouse Trap."

Astute Observation. And not only that, but mechanics were trying to protect their novel ideas and everyone was in a >>Rat Race<< to develope & market the Best Sporting Weapons Platform. Almost all didn't want to pony up an APUN(Royalties) to any British Maker like Anson & Deeley or H&H. The mechanics wanted to wait until the Patent Protection Period had passed and then copy & modify it to their whims, all the time trying to convince their client & end user that they had the „Best Mouse Trap“. So many times the author of the novel idea would try to file for Patent Protection in the Countries where the end users were most likely to reside. Like anything else, as you well know, copying a novel idea & having it made as cheaply as possible by say the Belgian Mechanics padded their Bottom Dollar. Just basic competition. Jaeger's Herold and Gustav Kersten's bulky design are two fine examples and they were related of course.

Hochachtungsvoll,
Raimey
rse

The unique Vierordt & Compagnie of which you are the current custodian was greatly pressing the Sporting Weapons >>Envelope<< being the lasted and greatest with a new fangled 9,3X74R semi-smokeless round and the client & end user had to be convinced to accept such & press it into service. The Austrians & Bohemians were so, so slow in being swayed and held steadfast to older, proven technology. Ferlach platforms will still be found as hammerguns with metal buttplates well after the 1st Major Disagreement in Europe. The custodians wanted to see the hammers function & use the metal buttplate to bludgeon their quarry.

Hochachtungsvoll,
Raimey
rse

The DRP date is 1903 & the 9,3X74R arrived on the scene about the same time. So the Gustav Kersten >>Mouse Trap<< and the Cartridge were pretty much running parallel in time coupled together by the talented designer Gustav Kersten. And all the press wasn't push button and >>in your face<< like it is today and it took time to get the word out thru publications and adverts.


Hochachtungsvoll,
Raimey
rse

You may recall, I also had this unique Dreyse "Mouse Trap" double rifle. Regretably, I sent it to the Pouilin Auction last month where it was listed with only 3 pictures. It sold for a loss. I wish I would have kept that one to go with these two brothers.

https://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/dreyse11mm-000.jpg

What a loss & >>Cardinal Sin<< to not be the Custodian of the Trio, to compare & contrast each component, function & process/performance(ammo & effort @ the target).

Hochachtungsvoll,
Raimey
rse

But info like tube length, chamber dims, twist, etc are all critical knowledge components for the archives and future custodians, which like the Original End Users, have to be swayed to >>buy in<< to our craze of Sporting Weapons Platforms from the >>Golden Age of Gunning<< while competing with all the current Black Gun Craze, which has all this data. This provides a snapshot in time.

Like in the Cattle Industry today, we scan(Ultrasound) our calves @ yearling weight & this scan data will tell how big the Pork Chops will be, and its offspring, plus make a stab @ whether the meat will be graded as Choice, Prime or Select. Couple the scan data with actual kill data & the projection is even more accurate.

Hochachtungsvoll,
Raimey
rse

I had to choose which one to keep ... the Dreyse, or the Martini, I did keep the rare martini - I should have kept both ... oh well .. thats why the Vierordt & Cie. is so welcome.