I recently acquired a 16 x 16 x 9.3x72R Drilling. I had a local gunsmith check it and he said the rifle caliber is the 9.3x72R Sauer. On one of the shotgun barrels it says CHR Hoffacker and on the other shotgun barrel it says Munchen. It is a hammer gun with a set trigger on the front trigger, a small area to hold a few rifle cartridges on the under side of the buttstock, a folding leaf rear sight and a pop up peep at the tang. It has a lever at the trigger guard to open the action and the lever on the tang that blocks the shotgun barrel to fire the rifle barrel. Any info that any one can give me would be appreciated. THe 16 gauge are 2.5" chambers.

Bart426, Hoffacker, is most likely the name of the maker of your drilling, and the word on the other barrel MUNCHEN, is the city where the maker worked, the city we call Munich today.

The 16 ga 2.5" is an easy re-chamber to 2.75"(modern 2 3/4"), and in the 16 ga ammo is mostly standard field loads (NO MAGNUMS)so it is OK IMO to shoot 2 3/4" in the lengthened chamber, if the barrels are fluid steel, and not Damascus. I have several of these German drillings, and cape guns with 16 ga barrels, and all were 2.5" that I have lengthened the chambers to 2 3/4" without problem one! Most of these 16 ga shot barrels are choked to the German full choke, and that about equals a super full compared to USA shot barrels. I had all my full choke barrels opened up to Modified, because with the modern shot cups the modified shoots fairly tight anyway!

The little 9.3X72Sauer is often confused with the 9.3X72R straight cased round, but the Sauer & Sons cartridge has a slight bottle neck. The proper weight bullet for this round is a 186 gr, brass, and load data are no longer available. Short cases can be made from 7X57R cases, with a little work. A load for the cartridge in these short cases is 186 gr, flat nose bullet, 42.2 grs of Bl-c2. (Reference: Page 932 of the (Handloader's Manual Of Cartridge Conversion) by John J. Donnelly

It is a little trouble but once a few cases are made, they will last a long time considering this is a very low pressure cartridge. I would also use molded lead bullets, and with proper very carefull placement, the rifle barrel could be used for up to small whitetail deer, but would be fine for calling coyotes, and bob cats! One option is, to have the rifle barrel relined full length, and chamber it for somthing like a 22 hornet!

These are fun old guns! Good luck with you unique little drilling!

Bart (and Mac):

Before you lengthen the chambers in a 16-gauge (or any other gauge) with short chambers, make sure that the barrel walls are thichk enough to safely do so; many are not. I have been told by Duane Wiebe that the minimum barrel wall thickness over the chamber should be 0.950 inches at the front (muzzle end) of the chamber (and obviously that thick or thicker at the breech end).

Dave

I wager the gunsmith has limited knowledge of European chamberings, and he somewhere heard of a 9,3X72Sauer. Almost all the guns in that round are Sauer made, and I'll bet dollars to dog turds yours is a 9,3X72R.

I just saw one a few hours ago at a gun show in St, Paul. Two rifle barrels in 9.3 and one SG.

Amazing workmanship! The gunsmith vendor showed targets where the barrels almost shot the same holes when super imposed. The registration was essentially perfect.

Old world craftmanship!

These are often re-lined to 30-30, too. If it is a X72 Sauer, I would have it re-lined.