doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Please help to identify this Drilling

Raimy,
I hope so, it would be a shame if it is cracked. Czechmate will have to give it a good "hands on" inspection.
Mike

Thank you guys for all your input! Much appreciated and very interesting to read!

There are no cracks whatsoever, but since I don't have the gun at hand, I can't do another thorough inspection at the moment...

I got into contact with Mr. Hesse from RETZ & SOHN - SUHL, he said that he will need to see the gun in flesh and take it to his workshop to find out who the manufacturer was and what would be the cost of the repair (if viable at all)... He is 400km from my work, I might, on a good occasion, take the gun to him and see what he has to say... I will also check whether there is any good Czech gunsmith who works on Drilling regularly...

I will of course keep you informed if anything new happens (don't expect fast develompent though...:-) So far, thank you all for your posts and help, it has been very helpful!

Czechmate, Retz & Sohn is a good adress without doubt! If you look for one not so far, you may try this:

http://www.waffen-voelker.de

Gunmakers since 100 years...

Cheers,
Wolfgang

...and of course there also is Kuchenreuther in Cham:

http://www.kuchenreuter.de/nachricht.html?nachricht_id=14;template_id=1;menue_id=36

Cheers,
Wolfgang

Raimey, evidently it is a matter of nomenclature. What you're calling the fence I've always referred to as the boss. That is if I understand your description correctly.

Czechmate,
I gave you two sites on the GCCA forum.
Mike

Thanks all! I have found a gunsmith in Czech Republic who's name and reputation is known in Suhl and he works on Drillings quite regularly, so he will be my first point of contact. I've sent him an email and will call him as soon as possible, and if he is willing to help, I will get the gun to him ASAP...
I will keep you posted...

I just got a reply from this guy. Just from the way he talks you can see this guy knows and appreciates good workmanship and that he is very old school... He is obviously known in Suhl for a reason. From what he told me, he would like to see the gun himself to be 100% sure, but judging from the pictures I sent him, he said that it is close to impossible to repair the gun. He said, that obviously the de-weaponization was done in the most thorough way possible, the barrels have been welded with hard metal, the chambers were probably not only drilled, but also plugged with a steel rod going all the way through the barrel and welded, the percussion mechanism has been removed and welded on the inside. He said, that nowadays it is almost impossible to even buy the correct material to manufacture the springs (is it that special?). But he would need to see it to be 100% sure... I will do that as soon as possible, as he seems like a very knowledgeable man... And very courteous as well (You rarely meet some who ends his email with "Please accept the assurance of my highest consideration").

He recommended to buy another Drilling. He said, that he just came from Springers in Wiena and that there are lots of similar Drillings for auction and on the countryside, you can find them really cheap, as people often rid them because of the low performance of such caliber...

Oh well... I guess until he sees it and confirms the brutal de-weaponization, it will remain for the display only...

Czechmate,
Check out the thread, above, about "Gun Locks". There is a link that would help you. Also, as I said in the GGCA forum, there are others that can repair your locks.
Mike

I am a welder by trade, and on a distant side of my father's family, trace roots to Silesia in your Republic. My father's mother and father immigrated to Ohio from the mining area in Silesia about 1911- they both died in the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1917- dad and his siblings (4) went through the Catholic Church's orphanage system (read that slave labor for area farmers in Ohio) but he was fortunate, as the folks that adopted him lived in Akron, the head of the house was a machinist, his wife a nurse- no children of their own until they took in my dad- One of his sisters, my late aunt Mildred, lived in Masarak Town in Florida, he was a hero to the American Revolutionary War as much as Gen. Pilsudski was-- great history.

I am a forum member on the GGCA gruppen, both Mike "Der Amerikan" and Raimey are very well versed in Deutsch waffen und waffenfabriken--but from my years in the welding and machine shop trade, I specialized in TIG welding of die steels, machined parts in both ferrous and non=ferrous metals, I can tell you that the DeWat style welding of the steel rods into the barrels and also the actions-- almost impossible to repair and make as good as when built-- and all welding processes impact the parent metals with heat, not just in the HAZ (heat affected zone) but throughout the mass of the metal parts and components as well. Welding brings the base metal close to the critical temperature, and with fusion and filler rods, etc- adds to the HAZ, cooling as the weld path progresses- so, in layman's terms, put the barrels on a blacksmiths-forge cherry red, and see the temper fade from the steel as it cools- thatis about what might have happened to your Drilling.