I have no dog in this fight, but wanted to let you all know that there is a older Merkel at the local shop. I don't know to much about the particulars, and no very little about double rifles, but can get more info for those interested...

It appears to be quite a bit older, and the wood shows a lot of honest hunting/handling marks. The barrels show quite a bit of handling wear also. I would guess the wood ballpark 60-70% and the metal around 80%. The hang tag simply said 8mm mauser, but a quick glance at the extractor suggests that it might be the rimmed version. It has 3 folding leaves marked 1, 2, 3 which I can only assume means 100,200,300 yards (meters?), no arrangements for scope mount was noticed.

This appears to be a rifle that was used often, and not babied at all. Price was under 7k, $6950 I believe. I'm about 5' 10" 150lbs, and it feels incredible to me, pointed like an extention of my arm. It's a dream of mine to own a rifle like this some day, but at 7 thousand, it might as well be 7 million.

if anyone wants me to get more information I can, I'm a regular in the shop and several of the folks know me by my name. It's at Classic Arms and Archery on Southland Drive in Lexington, KY. (859) 278-8370. I usually work with Nate, but I think John Walsh is the owner (and he's very pleasent to deal with also).

One question, Brad, is it an O/U or S/S ?

Sorry, side by side.

I looked at this rifle when in there about three months ago. I may be wrong, but I don't remember it being a Merkel, It is German and looks typical of the type. It has a lot of years on it, and no one there was sure as to the caliber. It was marked 8mm mauser, but is obviously a rimmed 8mm. It didn't appear to be an 8x72, so may be an 8x57R, but should really be chamber cast.

The gun didn't look too bad, but there is quite a bit of surface pitting and roughness, particularly under the forearm. The barrel finish is average, but the action is gone. All in all, this looked to be an iteresting gun, but if it is not in 8x57, it is worth a fraction of the asking price. If it is, it still needs to be reduced substantially.

That trip was typical of what I have found in shops when looking for doubles. I went with the intent of picking up a new double of some kind, hopefully with nice damascus. I looked at a total of a dozen doubles, English, European and American. I measured the bores of all. I found only one gun which could be considered close to being in proof, and it had pitted bores. Some of them had been honed to the point of being iffy to shoot. The couple that were nice had been refinished or modified in some way to put off their value. I ended up buying a Browning Gr V Model 12 in 28 ga.

Could well be an 8x60RS which was a popular caliber in the time between the wars. I had a nice Otto Geyger in that caliber. Only drawback is you have to form cases from 9.3x74R. about equal to 300 H&H in ballistics. Should be marked on watertable with proofs and date. Haven't seen a German double that wasn't. It could be a J or S bore in either case.