I'm looking for a SxS 12 ga with a pistol grip, splinter fore end, sling swivels, 2 3/4" chambers and tight chokes to use as a pheasant gun. Merkel's discontinued Model 8 and some older model 47's are of interest. Can anyone explain the difference between a Model 8 and a Model 47?

extractors vs ejectors. At least I am 90% certain that the 47s have eject.

I love my 8, but I don't have any sling swivels on it - nor want them. In a pheasant gun, a sling would be just a liability - a rather big one at that.

Brent

I used to have a 47 and from what I have seen, the ejectors are the only thing that distinguish it from the Model 8.
The model 8 can be a real bargain as it's just as good and nowadays (since most of us choose not to litter), maybe even a bit more practical. I have grown accustomed to holding my hand over the breech when I open my ejector gun. Extractors save me this step.

I have very few ejector guns but I learned to shoot on the skeet field with an ejector gun. Turning the gun on its side with the buttstock held against your waist and catching your hulls (good etiquette even on the skeet field) is a lot easier and faster than picking them out of an extractor. JMHO.

One of my first guns!
The toughest gun to open and close.
Stout maybe, but I think poorly machined innards was the culprit.

If memory serves me correctly, as my references are still packed away from a recent move:

Merkel Mod. 8 -- minimal arabesque engraving, non-ejector

Merkel Mod. 47 -- game scene engraving, non-ejector

Merkel Mod. 47E -- game scene engraving, with auto-ejector

John

I have a 47E and two Model 8's. There is a little difference in the exterior lines of the actions but mechanically they appear to be the same. I use my M8 in bad weather waterfowl hunting and save the pretty 47E for upland. They are not a "matched set" but close enough in fit and balance as not to cause a shooting difference.

They have some of redeeming attributes such as: pretty good handling qualities, MODERN steel, and ability to digest US 'semi-magnum' loads. Contrary to common belief if choked properly they don't down fewer birds then 2nd-hand unfitted English gun!

I don't think that Merkel made a Mod 47, they made 47E's. Merkel doesn't stamp model #'s on there guns. If you lay a Mod 8 and a 47E side by side they apear to be identical, the bottom view will reveal the beefedup forend iron for ejectors. I have seen a lot of Merkels discribed as Mod 47, though they are in reality Mod 8's. The catalogs that I have don't show a Mod 47, they do show Model 8's & 47E's. If I'm wrong can someone give me a reference.

Jerry, I think you're right.
The 47-E is an 8 with ejectors. Both have a case colored receiver with arabesque chicken scrawl.
The 147E is a 47-E with better wood and
game scene engraving on a silver grey finished receiver.
The 147EL is a 147E with way better wood.
There used to be a 147, which was a 147E with extractors.

Jerry and Alder, I agree!

John

Some notes:
I have a Thalmann/Merkel/Simson brochure, in German, which I got from Cabela's in the mid '80s. It lists the Model 8 and the 47E, among others, but no 47. The 8 is listed as having an extractor and the 47E ejectors. Otherwise they are described as having the same features--- Greener crossbolt, case-colored receiver, and modest arabesque engraving. The Model 8 is pictured as having a recurved housing (like later Merkels), the Model 47E two concave indentations. Both show pin indicators.
But then, I have a Merkel brochure and a GSI pricelist from 1998, and while the brochure lists only the 47E, no 8 or 47, the pricelist offers a Model 147, which is described as having the same features as the 147E but with extractors. The Model 147E is asterisked, and the note indicates that it is discontinued and availability is limited to stock on hand. This makes me suspect that there may also have been a 47 at some point.

Alder has it..... I have a 147 [12ga] silver/gray game scene engraving with extractors...also have a 47e [20ga] case colors ejectors and chicken scratching........

Sorry. The last sentence in my previous post should have read "The Model 147..." rather than "The Model 147E...".

One of the older Blue Books listed an 8, a 47 and a 47e. I think this added to the confusion. Merkel discontinued the 8 in 1994.