A friend turned up an old Damascus 16 gauge back action sidelock hammergun marked (in Gothic script) on one side: "P. (or D) Schwartz et fils." And on the other 'a-something Mercsh."
Mersch is a locality in Luxembourg.
A search on-line finds a Drilling made by the Schwartz freres of Luxembourg. Does anybody have any information about this firm?
It has long 30" barrels, but it's a light gun, and comes right up. It must be quite early. You turn a lever sideways to open it, then you turn a smaller lever underneath the first the other way to release the barrels. In the French mode, the metal forearm remains attached to the action. Also: no halfcocks. Not broken, but never were any. You have to carry it fully cocked. Those hammers are basically sitting resting on the firing pins.
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I have a couple of boxes of black powder 2 1/2" 16 gauge shells, but they're in plain white boxes and I forget where I bought them. Does anyone know a source for black powder 16 gauge shells?
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Last edited by David Zincavage; 06/20/22 01:11 PM.
