Nick,

I always wanted a drilling in 20ga and 30-40 Krag. That is one beautiful old hunter.



AH,

Just my luck there is a great young gal hunter, and I'm old. To add insult my next incarnation will be too young.

luv2Safari, beautiful drilling. Glad to see the old gal is still in the fields being put to use. I have pretty much retired my Sharps and Ballards in favor of the firearms of my lineage. A J. P. Sauer & Sohn Mauser sporter in 9 X 57, that Peterlongo Mauser previously posted and this Thieme & Schlegelmilch drilling dating from before the war that yours preceeds. And a few from even earlier I won't get into. I have the same Krieghoff einstecklauf you have pictured installed in the right shotgun barrel. Mine is 22LR, yours is?





The cartridge is a 9.3 X 75R Nimrod...very short life before WWI...but one of those old and ineffective cartridges such as your 8 X 57IR. The 8 X 57 predates this 9.3 cartridge so yours is even more obsolete and ineffective....lol. The ballistics on the 9.3 X 75R are a 200 gr. bullet at about 2200 fps. I have yet to take a head of game with it but I don't think it will bounce off. Mine has no provision for optics and I prefer that so long as I can see good enough. The binocs in the picture are Hartmans in Wetzlar, 8 X 30's from the early to mid 1950's. Still equal to or exceeding about 95% of what is out there today.

I love your Hensoldt scope and wish I had one, and the claw mounts, for my Meffert drilling from about the same period as yours. It is chambered in another of those obsolete ineffective cartridges from before 1900. Some may have heard of it, the 7 X 57 Mauser in the rimmed version.

Hey Nick....yes sir, that first picture is kind of dark where the Krag magazine would be. I didn't even notice that until you mentioned it. Here's my current project in an "obsolete and ineffective" cartridge that hasn't been loaded since before WWII. This J. P. Sauer & Sohn is in 9 X 57. I am just beginning load development with it.



Here are my first case formings from 270 WCF. These were just to play with until the -06 brass that has been gifted to me arrives. 9 X 57 can still be bought but holy cow...$56.00 a box of 20 empty cases....I'll make them.



I also have the obsolete and ineffective 6.5 X 54 M/S in a 1903 M/S. Bell was using this cartridge and rifle for elephant before he settled on the 7mm.

That insert is a LEFT barrel 22 LR. These aren't often encountered. I like them, because one can use the flip up open sight for the 22 without any hold-up modification, like the crosspin in the rib. You loose the set trigger, but this Triebel/Augsburg has great triggers.

I sure like that drilling of yours. It's a piece of art, and it was made for a hunter who also wing-shoots birds, hence the shorter rifle barrel for better balance.

Nick Adams

That is one of the best 30/40 hunting Krags I have ever seen. I like everything about it, including the Murray Leather buttstock shell carrier. I have shjot a few 30/4 Krag rifles over the uearsw and I relly liked them.

Once upon a time, at an indoor range I shot IPSC matches one night every week they had a Norweigen gunsmith, that was a Krag wizzard.

I tried, HARD to get him to make me a 308 WCF Krag. I pledged, only to shoot ammo loaded to be safe in the Krag action, I hust wanted to use the abundance of 308 cases I had on hand.

I just did not want to buy 30/40 or 6.5x55 cases, bullets and loading dies, etc...

He refused to do it as he feared "someone" would shoot a full power 308 round in the rifle...

No doubt, as I look back on it, he was right...

I still like the Krag...

luv2safari

You know how much I "LUV" to hunt with a drilling, or any combo gun.

Here in Texas, and in states like Montana, and Idaho,and others, where fur and feathered game is in season at the same time, there is not a finer hunting gun than a Drilling, or a Combo Gun...

An insert for the left barrel? Son-of-a-gun if I don't learn something every day. I did not know they were even available for the left barrel. I bought mine used and had to replace the adjusting slides but once that was done it installed and adjusted fairly easily.

I have several old German firearms and they all have good triggers, set or unset.

Thanks for the kind words about that old drilling I am caretaker of for the moment. You're right...with the shorter rifle barrel it does handle a lot like a fine upland double gun. What surprised me the most is the accuracy of the rifle barrel. If you let it cool COMPLETELY between shots, at 50 yards, off a bench, it will cut one ragged hole right under the front bead. Shoot it without letting it cool and it will slowly walk up and to the left

Looks like you have what O'Conner described as the perfect "brush rifle". I like it!

quote:

Originally posted by 9.3 X 75R:
Hey Nick....yes sir, that first picture is kind of dark where the Krag magazine would be. I didn't even notice that until you mentioned it. Here's my current project in an "obsolete and ineffective" cartridge that hasn't been loaded since before WWII. This J. P. Sauer & Sohn is in 9 X 57. I am just beginning load development with it.



Here are my first case formings from 270 WCF. These were just to play with until the -06 brass that has been gifted to me arrives. 9 X 57 can still be bought but holy cow...$56.00 a box of 20 empty cases....I'll make them.



I also have the obsolete and ineffective 6.5 X 54 M/S in a 1903 M/S. Bell was using this cartridge and rifle for elephant before he settled on the 7mm.

quote:

Originally posted by Wstrnhuntr:
Looks like you have what O'Conner described as the perfect "brush rifle". I like it!

quote:

Originally posted by 9.3 X 75R:
Hey Nick....yes sir, that first picture is kind of dark where the Krag magazine would be. I didn't even notice that until you mentioned it. Here's my current project in an "obsolete and ineffective" cartridge that hasn't been loaded since before WWII. This J. P. Sauer & Sohn is in 9 X 57. I am just beginning load development with it.



Here are my first case formings from 270 WCF. These were just to play with until the -06 brass that has been gifted to me arrives. 9 X 57 can still be bought but holy cow...$56.00 a box of 20 empty cases....I'll make them.



I also have the obsolete and ineffective 6.5 X 54 M/S in a 1903 M/S. Bell was using this cartridge and rifle for elephant before he settled on the 7mm.

I agree.

That's very well set-up and beautiful, 9.3.

Wow, this thread is turning into one of the most rewarding I have encountered on AR. Thanks for sharing your drillings, guys.

quote:

Half of all the game I've taken over the last 25 years has fallen to this "obsolete" pre-war 16ga/8X57IR drilling w/OLD 4X Hensoldt 3-post scope.

Beautiful firearm.

On the last guided javelina hunt I did out at Fort Stockton back in 2011, one of my clients brought a drilling in 16x16/8x57r to hunt blue quail and javelina. It was not as ornate as the gun in the picture, but interesting nonetheless.

The only glitch during the hunt, was that on the first javelina we did a stalk on, it took off running at about 30 35 yards, crossing to our left. The hunter threw up his gun, swung on the animal and fired. The animal disappeared into the greasewood, but having hunted with this client before I figgered the animal had piled up inside the brush.

We ease up to the spot where the animal disappeared but could not find any blood or any dead javelina. As we were getting back to the vehicle, we were talking and comparing impressions of the shot and reality came upon us.

In discussing the events leading up to the shot and immediately after a few things became apparent. In the heat of the moment, the shooter had hit the wrong button. At the shot, as we started forward the hunter breeched the gun and what I thought was a fired 8x57 case dropped out and he reloaded. As I passed by the "empty" case I grabbed it and put it in my pocket without looking at it, figgering that he would want it to reload.

As we were nearing the vehicle trying to decipher what had taken place, I fished the "empty" case out of my pocket, only to notice that it was not empty.

I have no idea how far or fast a javelina shot in the ass with a load of 7 and 1/2 can go, but it gave us a good laugh or two in camp that evening.

Crazy Horse:
I'd sure like to hunt javelina with this little toot:

http://forums.accuratereloadin...1007002/m/9501003102

Sorry for the hijack. Not a medium bore!

I think you would do just fine and have a great time with that gun.

I recently posted on another board about my desire to build a rifle in 358 Win. The first 4 replies were how I was building something 'obsolete' and I should build it in a 35 XXXX caliber.
After those 4 entries I replied that I saw no reason to build a long-action cartridge for the simple reason of adding an extra 100-150 fps to the bullet.
I sold my 30/40 Krag several years ago in a time of monetary need. I do miss that rifle and just might pick one up again and sporterize it somehow. It was quite handy on Texas Hill Country whitetails out to about 250.
I also have my Grandfather's 30 Win (30-30) with the 24" octagonal barrel. The Williams peep sight on that still drops the hammer quite effectively on game out to 200 if I do my part.

Obsolete 'smokeless' cartridges are only obsolete in the minds of those that haven't the experience or that have consumed the kool-aid of something bigger, faster, louder etc.

For 99% of the hunters, one of those 'obsolete' cartridges will do everything needed as long as they do their part. And THAT right there is where the problem is, there are a lot of hunters/shooters that want the cartridge to make up for their inadequacies and lack of practice.

What's the old saying? 'Beware the man that only owns one firearm'

quote:

For 99% of the hunters, one of those 'obsolete' cartridges will do everything needed as long as they do their part. And THAT right there is where the problem is, there are a lot of hunters/shooters that want the cartridge/equipment/gadgets to make up for their inadequacies and lack of practice/experience/ability.

Sorry made a couple of small additions to your comment. Your base comment however is spot on.

Many drillings in the (thought to be) obsolete 9.3x72R caliber arrived on our shores after the war. Sending 196 grains at 2100 ft/sec down the tube, this caliber was quickly relegated to the antique pile along with marble topped victorian furniture.

Turns out that this caliber will take anything in NA (I'd want more stopping power for big bears) and is pleasant to shoot and effective to 200 yds. Drillings in this caliber are often cheap to buy, often carry light because of the low pressure construction and will do anything the 30-30 will do.

Turns out that this caliber will take anything in NA (I'd want more stopping power for big bears) and is pleasant to shoot and effective to 200 yds. Drillings in this caliber are often cheap to buy, often carry light because of the low pressure construction and will do anything the 30-30 will do.

And is a lot closer to a fairly hot loaded 38-55 than the 30-30.