doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Interesting Collath

I was just cleaning up my computer drive and found some pictures of a gun I used to own. I posted pictures on the Parker board but then thought they may be of more interested here. I sold the gun about 5 years ago but just realized I had these pictures. Unfortunately I don't have any full length pictures. It is a Collath with very ornate engraving inlaying and horn work. It is the highest grade Collath I have ever seen. The sliding/dropping action and the safety are typical Collath. It was chambered in what I believe is named the Collath 14, which is a proprietary round with a 14 ga bore and a roughly 12 ga chamber. This is the most unique set of damascus barrels I have seen as to configuration. The bone work is also pretty incredible.

Wow incredible craftmanship.

Incredible gun! I haven't seen one similar before.

...used to own??? I'd have a very hard time parting with something like that, even if I couldn't shoot it.

I'm curious about the line we see on both sides of the frame, just behind the breech balls from the point of the scalloped frame, that extends upward to the top of the frame to where a rib extension might be.

The shop of an old German gunsmith who lived not far from my parents, when I was a kid, had piles of guns that looked similar to this Collath, with extensive deep relief engraving, inlays, carved horn and wood. He had incredible stuff that rivaled anything I've ever seen in any firearms museum or collection. He told me that he had been an armorer in the German army during WWII, and part of his job was to remove and burn the wood stocks from guns that were confiscated by the Nazi's. Then he was supposed to crush the breech section so they could not be recaptured and used. Then the crushed guns were sent back to Germany where they were melted as scrap for the war effort. In broken English, he told me, "Oh I crush a lot of very nice guns... but really nice ones, I stash. And after the war, I come to United States, and my brother smuggle them here to me." I wish he was still alive, so I could see them again, and so I could ask how he managed to hide and save them until after the war, and how he was able to smuggle such a huge quantity of guns into the U.S.

I'll probably get called a Nazi again for repeating this here, but somehow, I'll manage to survive. The DGS Cancel Culture hasn't cancelled me yet.

I own several Collath guns and they are of very high quality. Most of mine are in 16 gauge or its equivalent. I do have one in 14 gauge which I shoot regularly with black powder and also smokeless with 28 gauge inserts.