German Drilling?Anyone?

Josey1

An uncle of mine left his son(my cousin) a German Drilling 3 barrel gun.My cousin does not want it and said he would GIVE it to me,the only info I have is it is 16X16X 8x57jrs. Comes with heavy game scene engraving. Barrels refinished in rust blue and action polished. All metal work excellent.Good wood with pop-up sights and claw bases. Is anyone familiar with this gun as far as value,I've yet to examine it but I have seen it as a youngun' and at that time it looked in wonderfull shape.As to the condition my cousin said the wood has some small ding but overall looks to be in excellent condition.Any help?

Patrick Odle

Josey these drillings were very prevalent some40 to 50 years ago in several combinations at that time it was easy enough to pick up one for 65 to 100 bucks. I don'tknow what makes it but gun owner wise up a lot faster thanlibrels. couldit be that the average gun owner at age 3 has more savvy than a librel can possibly hope to have if they live to be 150. I well remember after the Korean conflict a person could buy a used M.I. garand of the rack for 40.00 and I mean by the carload.

beachmaster73

Josey.....Drillings are usually superbly made works of the gunmaker's art. Most of the 16 gauge weapons were brought back by GI's from WW II. More recently made drillings, especially for the American market, have largely been in 12 gauge. That shouldn't stop you from jumping at the opportunity to own one. The caliber you describe is consistent with a weapon produced for German hunting conditions. The Germans tend to hunt what ever happens to appear; thus they are ready with a single weapon to knock down anything from grouse to a boar to a roebuck. In Germany they don't seem to be burdened with conflicting game season dates. Most of us over here don't get the opportunity to bag pheasant or grouse during deer season but if your state does have some overlapping dates a drilling is a perfect weapon with which to be out hunting. Many many years ago in California I went hunting in the Sierra Nevada during a deer season that coincided with blue grouse season. Walking around I flushed a large blue grouse, and downed it with my drilling, I really pi$$ed off a couple of deer hunters whom I hadn't noticed about 100 yards from my shot. I'm not sure if they really would have shot me but I'm glad I was with several friends who were backing me with scope equipped rifles. We ate the grouse that night......never went deer/grouse hunting again! Still love my Colt Sauer drilling!! In any case Josey JUMP on the opportunity to own it before he changes his mind. At an absolute minimum your drilling would be worth about $1200 and it would have to be a banged up piece of fecal matter for that price. More realistically it would be worth between $1600 and $2200 in the calibers you described. A fairly pristine model by a top maker might be worth between $3000-$5000. In total fairness though if it is a fairly common good condition drilling brought back from World War II it's probably worth around $1700-1800......Too bad it's not one of the Luftwaffe air crew escape drillings( the minimum value of one of them would be about $10,000 and up)!!A last comment....they are heavier than hell (8 and half to 9 and a half pounds) because the three barrels do tend to add up. I never minded when I was hunting though I liked having the options available. Beach

Josey1

Thanks a lot guys,it is worth a lot more than I figured.As far as condition goes the metal is pristine as well as the graphics however the wood does have some dings in it.I'm not so sure if I can just take it from my cousin though,he is kind of anti-gun but he sure as hell isn't anti-$$$$,I think if he found out how much it is worth he might want to sell it.Me,I would keep it,it will be a long time before I get a shot at one of these again.I think I'll sleep on it