Can any Merkel owners tell me if the engraving on the lower-grade safari model is all hand-engraved or is part of it roll-stamped?

It looks laser engraved to me, maybe CNC. It looks too uniform (in depth and width of cut) and in some places too shallow to be hand cut.

That is the EXACT same engraving that I have on my Merkel .500 NE.

At the DRSS hunt in Crowell, I put my .500 next to jjs' .470 and his engraving was slightly different, including .470 NE (or Nitro Express) engraved on the 1/4 rib.

Is that a .500 NE in the picture?

I just looked at my Two Merkel double rifles, and the engraving is different from the picture you posted. Both of mine are the same as each other, however!

I looked these two ove with magafying glass, and they seem to be a combination of roll, hand, and stamp! The main group around the tumbler screws, and on the bottom trigger plate, seems to be a roll, with the borders, and on the fences being hand cut, while the dots, and little circles here, and there seem to be made with stamp & mallet. My 470NE Safari is has the "Safari .470 N.E." hand engraved in a milled area of the top of the rib just in front of the breach, and is in script! The checkering on the opening top lever, is moulded in, while the border engraveing on the lever is hand done. The engraveing on the trigger guard seems to be hand cut as well. All screw heads, and everything on the forend lever, are hand done as well. The 140E, 9.3 action is case colored, while the 140A, 470NE is coin finished.

The engraving, over all, is minimal, and would be very easily cut to finish by a, even fair, engraver, to be very nice. the pattern is pleasing, but seems unfinished on close inspection.

The engraveing on these two look far better, IMO, than the $1000 cartoon animal so-called "UPGRADE" engraveing offered my Merkel.

quote:

Originally posted by 577NitroExpress:
That is the EXACT same engraving that I have on my Merkel .500 NE.

At the DRSS hunt in Crowell, I put my .500 next to jjs' .470 and his engraving was slightly different, including .470 NE (or Nitro Express) engraved on the 1/4 rib.

Is that a .500 NE in the picture?

I believe it's a 470.

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:
engraving, over all, is minimal, and would be very easily cut to finish by a, even fair, engraver, to be very nice.

Wouldn't that require the action to be annealed and re-heat treated?

quote:

Originally posted by new_guy:

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:
engraving, over all, is minimal, and would be very easily cut to finish by a, even fair, engraver, to be very nice.

Wouldn't that require the action to be annealed and re-heat treated?

As shallow as it is, I don't think it would have to be annealed to simply run a chase to simply clean the engraving that is already there. It would be a simply widening in the curves, and the bulged steel from the rolling, could be taken off by carefull fileing, and emory papering to rid the rolling marks.

Understand I'm not a professional engraver,and it "MAY" require annealing, but I think I could do the job myself without it. The real cutting is already there, and clean up is all that is needed.

If it is truely case hardened, forget the hand engraving. Ditto the coined finish as it generally means nitride hardened which is essentially the same as case hardening only with a different material.

The triggerguard, lever and ribs are generally mild steel and can be engraved at any time. Same with the floorplate if it is blued.

quote:

Originally posted by Scrollcutter:
If it is truely case hardened, forget the hand engraving. Ditto the coined finish as it generally means nitride hardened which is essentially the same as case hardening only with a different material.

The triggerguard, lever and ribs are generally mild steel and can be engraved at any time. Same with the floorplate if it is blued.

NOW, you have it from the horse's mouth! If anyone knows Scrollcutter does!

The floor plate (trigger plate) on the Merkels are the same as the rest of the action!

I have a Merkel 470 ,it has a elephant on either side of the action which i think is well done ,considering elephants in real life can look ''comical '' cartoonish or baggy panted .Underneath the action some of the scrolls are well executed and some are NOT !!!,wobbly[did they go to the beer fest on the weekend?] ,which is dissapointing on a $10,000.00 rifle ,evidently done by a ''learner '' but to me still annoying !!! and should not have left the factory looking like that !!!!not good enough IMO !!

velodog - I understand your pain. I don't own one, but I have to stand up for the Merkel and argue that they get judged a little unfairly sometimes.

You’re right - GSI charges $10K (I think it's closer to 12K now) for the Merkel 140-2.1 (with your game scene engraving) - - - But Merkel retails that same gun for 5600 Euro... that roughly translates to $6650 (at current exchange rates).

So they may cost nearly 12K here (with import duties, FET, GSI's piece and dealer markup, etc...) but – comparatively speaking - it's still a $6600 gun. At that price I’m amazed that they can put any engraving on it at all, much less as much as they do in your grade - by hand!