Hi all,

I'm not new to this site but I am new to this forum. I have an old German Single Shot Rifle made by Ed Kettner. I've made a chamber cast from it and can't identify the cartridge and was wondering if anyone else might have information on it. I'd also be interested in titles of books that may be helpful in identifying cartridges, particularly old German Cartridges. I have Ken Waters Cartridge Conversion book as well as Cartridges of the World.

I don't have the casting with me to measure but from memory here are some dimensions. It's 1.6" long, with a .525 diameter rim that is .080 thick. Just in front of the rim the cartridge is .435 diameter and tapers down in the syle of the old coke bottles (no sharp shoulder) it tapers down to .300 diameter at the neck and the neck is fairly long I'd guess about .3-.375", it's 6.5 caliber from my measure ments of the casting, barrel has whitworth rifling.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Shane Thompson

Ok - this is just a "might be" or "might not be either " answer...

Based on the rim , base and case length data supplied it might be a 6.8x42R Tesching.

This was made only by G. Roth and shown in their ca.1910.

Case dimensions suggest the parent for this cartridge was the 6.5x54R Mannlicher.

Cant promise that right but best I can do... hope it helps.

Muzza,

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to wait until I get home to research this cartridge. Are the 6.5 x 54R Mannlicher cases available? I'll post some pics of Rifle, chamber cast, proofs, etc. later today.

I see Tesching and Roth attached to a lot of these case names. Are these the names of the people that invented the cartridges or of factories that produced the guns or cartridges?

thanks,
Shane Thompson

Norma makes 6.5 x 54R brass, I think Midway has it.

The case I made next to a 218 Bee and a .264 cal. 130 grain cast bullet.


The case after firing the first round through this rifle in who knows how many years!


Caliber designation on bottom of barrel?


Proof marks.


and finally a few pics of the rifle, the pictures don't do it justice. The inletting on hte rifle is spectacular, and metalwork is also excellent throughout. It's very near a "best quality" rifle.