One of my customers came down to the shooting ground today with this gun which I hadnt seen the like of before. It would appear to be a needle fire, probably of German origin.
At first sight the mechanism, which is self cocking, looks similar to the darn in that as you move the under lever the barrels slide forward but as they pass the end of the securing pin they then tip forward.
It is obviously a gun of high quality and the owner must have been gutted when only a few years after it was made it was rendered obsolete by the centre fire cartridges. This might explain why the gun is in such good condition I would describe it as almost unfired condition.
There are no proof marks but I have photographed the engraving as best I could. As you see some of it is around the circular section of the action which is not too easy.
If anyone has any information on this the owner would be very pleased to hear about it. He has a collection of over 200 guns, which were collected by his grandfather. His father did not have any interest in them so they stayed in the strong room. It wasnt till after his death that the present owner had any idea of what was in the strong room. Hopefully I will get the chance to record more of the collection at some time in the future.
I have several more photos of the mechanism if any one is interested.
John
