To add to the record, I will have to report that the barrels were very rough inside. It was sold to me as a 12 ga, and I didn't measure the bores for quite a time. When I did, I was shocked to see they were true 14 ga bores, but the gun chambered a normal 12 ga cartridge. I did some research and found that Collath made and chambered a number of propriatary rounds. One was the 14 Collath I mentioned. Pictures appeared that it was a 14 ga cartridge with a stepped 12 ga head. In actual fact, it was likely very similar to the Greener police cartridge for the Martini police guns A close look at the throat revealed that this gun had no forcing cone. It was obviously a very high grade gun originally and I had to presume that at some point someone simply bored the chamber out to 12 ga due non-availability of ammo. It is lucky the barrels were made with the reinforcing ribs over the chamber and forcing cone section. I suspect the pressures ran pretty high compared to the original cartridge. During this period, Continental (Particularly German) makers developed complete ranges of propriety cartridges in order to insure ammo sales to customers. I have a Sauer cape gun that is chambered for 16 ga shot in the left barrel and the right fully rifled barrel is for a 1-5/8" 20 bore brass shell with a sixteen ga ball. The rifle barrel appears to be made from the same rough blank as the 16 ga shot barrel, but finished so that he groove diameter is 16 ga and the land diameter is 20 bore. It is not a Sauer cartridge but from another manufacturer and available in several overall lengths.
Last edited by AGS; 08/13/26 11:59 AM.
