Hafner Double, Potentially Interesting?

Aaron N

AH legend
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Messages
2,025
Reaction score
3,329
Location
Alberta, Canada
Media
7
Articles
2
Hunting reports
Africa
2
Hunted
Canada, South Africa
Happy Saturday Gentlemen!

In my usual morning peruse of classifieds, I came across this German hammer double in 9.3x72R. A rifle like this doesn’t pop up very often north of the 49th, and I’m curious as to what the keen eyes here can discern.
40D8B2CA-6FD8-4D43-A270-AAE19182910D.png

24978F19-1B21-4845-A13B-3F1861CE3C83.png
 
Side note, I did not realize this cartridge was so anemic until I looked into it.
 
X72 R was nicknamed " Förster Patrone", 193 grain bullet loaded, the 9,3 is good on smaller to medium game. S&B loads ammo ,and data is several places, RWS Wiederladen Blue Bible have data for it.

The scopemount is interesting ,not one ive seen before.
 
The 9.3x72R was a bit like a 30-30 in capability and intent. A double rifle like this would have been used for wild boar, red stag, and roe deer in Europe. A driven boar hunt would have been a perfect venue. As you can clearly see, this one was set up for an offset claw mounted scope. It is a rare design that was intended to keep a low rib free of obstruction for use of the open sights. The rings were probably designed to center the scope back over the rib, and would be tricky for a craftsman to replicate today.

This was a high quality rifle in is day. Somewhere on the barrel flats or action is probably a three-number code which tells the month and year of manufacture - in this case, probably sometime around WWI. I can't see a "nitro" mark on the barrels, but they look like fluid steel in the photos.

A rifle like this could be a very special thing or a money pit. Because the scope and those rings are missing, it was likely a "liberated" bit of loot by a Canadian serviceman. German hunters normally kept scopes in a separate leather case, and they almost always were overlooked by rummaging soldiers or widows turning in firearms to occupation forces immediately following the war.

The most critical component are the barrels. The rifling needs to be perfect and the solder needs to be solid. When dismounted, they should ring like a church bell. The rifle should be perfectly on face. Upon removal of the forend, the rifle should be tight with no perceived movement. This one has an adjustable set trigger for the right barrel. Someone - a very competent someone - needs to insure that trigger mechanism is functioning properly.

A very positive sign are the still indexed screws with no indication of an incompetent gunsmith or owner buggering them with the wrong tool.

If everything checks out, 7K is about right for this rifle. It would be fine for Canadian whitetail at close range, but a bit on the light side for moose. It would be great for wild boar.

As noted above, ammunition is loaded for the caliber, though whether it would regulate in this particular rifle would be a crap shoot. If you reload, you could probably work up a workable load that would be minute of boar.

Finding someone who could build offset rings for such mounts would be a huge and expensive challenge. I am not sure even JJ Perodeau would attempt to recreate them.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
57,925
Messages
1,243,134
Members
102,338
Latest member
johnsteller
 

 

 

Latest profile posts

Grz63 wrote on Werty's profile.
(cont'd)
Rockies museum,
CM Russel museum and lewis and Clark interpretative center
Horseback riding in Summer star ranch
Charlo bison range and Garnet ghost town
Flathead lake, road to the sun and hiking in Glacier NP
and back to SLC (via Ogden and Logan)
Grz63 wrote on Werty's profile.
Good Morning,
I plan to visit MT next Sept.
May I ask you to give me your comments; do I forget something ? are my choices worthy ? Thank you in advance
Philippe (France)

Start in Billings, Then visit little big horn battlefield,
MT grizzly encounter,
a hot springs (do you have good spots ?)
Looking to buy a 375 H&H or .416 Rem Mag if anyone has anything they want to let go of
Erling Søvik wrote on dankykang's profile.
Nice Z, 1975 ?
Tintin wrote on JNevada's profile.
Hi Jay,

Hope you're well.

I'm headed your way in January.

Attending SHOT Show has been a long time bucket list item for me.

Finally made it happen and I'm headed to Vegas.

I know you're some distance from Vegas - but would be keen to catch up if it works out.

Have a good one.

Mark
 
Top