Drilling Rifle Identification Help

[rookhawk]

Where did I miss the Austria part? I don’t see a Ferlach, I see a late 19th or early 20th century German guild drilling proofed at Suhl.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Ok, I meant the German confederation. I may be wrong but From what I understand German and Austrian firearms loose value compared to the same quality British arms

 

[Red Leg]

It would be shocking to get a quote to have that rifle built in Austria now.

It’s a shame how Austrian firearms don’t hold value as well as British

It is a Suhl proofed German gun with German proof marks. It is not Austrian.

Hard to compare a drilling to a British firearm because the Brits made so few doubles with a rifle barrel. Most of those were a small game round running through the rib along the top of the barrels.

There are exceptions to the British is best belief. For instance, a Lindner built (Germany) Charles Daly imported boxlock from the turn of the last century will beat almost any British boxlock but a WR droplock, and there, depending upon embellishment, it will be close.

It has the correct German proofs from 1891 - 1939. I do not see a date code. The barrels are marked Krupp steel which were designed for nitro guns. I have no doubt that it is regardless of a "nitro" marking or not. Because it is not a hammer gun but is also in the rapidly becoming obsolete 9,3x72R load, I would guess it was built in the 20's.

 

[Red Leg]

Definitely a German gun, though I'm not sure I would call it a guild gun. Probably just a nice gun built by a maker in Germany. They didn't always put their names on them unless they were a large manufacturer (and even then they sometimes put someone else's name on them, as in the case of Geco for example). I believe 118/35 means this was the 118th gun produced by the maker in 1935. I could be wrong about that however. It originally had 65mm chambers, but someone extended them to 70mm at some point based on the rather crude engraved "70" below the 16. The proofs are all pretty standard German prewar proofs. Do you see it marked for Nitro anywhere? Many times it would just above the barrel flat on bottom of the barrel where it meets the flat - in that shadowy area. It should have a crown N and Nitro.

That is pretty much the definition of a guild gun.