Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Combination Guns and Drillings Would you buy....

a Hammer double 16 2.5 " chambered drilling that has a unknown rifle caliber? They have not chamber cast the rifle barrel yet but only want $550 OTD.

Not off face, locks up tight, Krupp Staul barrels and is in very good condition. It is a guild gun not a well known maker with French or Belgian name on top.

My dilemma is that the rifle barrel will be an odd ball metric that I will never get brass or components for but maybe I am looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Does it have nitro proof marks and a proof date?

I'm a bit confused by your description. Is it a French or Belgian gun, or is it possibly German/Austrian?? If French/Belgian many of their combo guns were built with a 38-55 chambering. You might check that and get lucky.

I apologize for the vague description.

Yes it is a proofed gun. Zella by the script. Top of barrel has an inscription of

" A. GILLE DESSAU. "

A 30/30 WCF chambered but a 38/55 was too long. I gave them half down with the rest due upon completion of the chamber casting. My concern is that it will be a 9.3x40 or 50 or something bizarre. $550 is chump change to a lot of people but not me.
Being a novice I am assuming everything should be in black and white and not gray when comes to identifying the caliber but maybe that is part of the fun. Maybe it seems I am looking for someone to tell me that I am being scammed but only I can make that decision and the seller is beyond reproach.
I guess I should be thankful for finding a very decent continental hammer drilling at a yard sale price and thank the range god for good fortune.


Brad

No outside hammer gun for hunting.

Look for a well done SxS and find a particular slug to shoot well out of the other barrel and make it a 'drilling' for now.

Savage 99,

You might actually make sense in some of your posts if you had actual experience in what you posted about.

krupp,

If it does turn out to be some oddball that would be a PITA for you to handload, then I'd probably pass. But it sounds like a nice gun that I'd love to load for and hunt with!

My favorite 'faux' drilling is my Ithaca Deerslayer 12g pump with the open sights scope base on the barrel.

I used it for deer hunting where only slugs were legal here in ct and for a faux drilling in the rain up north.

It is handy and is quite accurate with slugs and a decent bird gun with shot.

Here is a pic of one from the net.

Except for birds and deer it would be illegal in NV. Slug guns aren't legal for antelope, bighorn sheep, elk, bear, mountain goat, nor would they have sufficient range, as would a drilling with even a 30-30 or a 38-55.

How do you get instant barrel selection if a turkey jumps off a branch or grouse flushes when you have a slug chambered or shoot a deer when bird shot is in the tube?

As hard as you try, you don't have anything resembling a versatile drilling.

As to the rifle being a 9.3mm, most older 9.3mm rounds share the parent 9.3X72R brass as a base for forming.

Chamber cast it and slug it. It sounds like a possible "find".

First I'd buy it in a minute as most every cartridge is available or there is a way to make usable brass. Bullets can be cast, paper patched or resized to fit almost any bore.

I shoot a nice little drilling in 16ga(2 1/2")/6.5x58R Sauer. I have to cut to length and resize 9.3x72R brass down to the 6.5x58R and resize 6.5(.264) jacketed bullets down to .260. It is a great drilling and it is my go to coyote hunting gun. It is well worth the effort, in fact the effort makes it so much more satisfying to hunt with.








Savage 99 with my drilling I can take on just about anything that walks, flies or swims on this continent from my shoe laces to 250 yard without having to do anymore than push the safety off. Take your Ithaca and troll it over at the BP thread and explain that they just don't know what they are doing and your pump will do everything an old BP gun can do, maybe some one there will give a c--p.

By the way I love hammers for hunting.

What the hell is wrong with you, anyway ?

GTC

Thanks for injecting some savvy and SANITY into this post.

GTC

Crossfire Opps,

Here in my state and perhaps other places a rifle barreled centerfire is not allowed on certain lands.

I can carry a shotgun however.

Thus the shotgun with even a scope would be!

Still not a drilling, or having anything to do with the OP, DumbassDon.

Just because you live in a firearms restricted area that bans CR's don't troll your pump through here expecting anyone to even think it is a drilling or combination gun equivolent. It makes about as much sense as trolling it through the rifle section and saying it's as good as a rifle.

Most of the folks here that are enough into firearms that we have an interest in drilling/combination have a shotgun or muzzleloader to use in those areas. Also many of those areas will allow rifles for non-big game hunting.

Erich,

It's not even his pump.

If you like the gun, $550.00 isn't much of a gamble. Just remember when the shine is gone and you want to sell it, how easy will that be?

Thanks one and all for the expert advice.


I will humbly accept the fact that I did find a gift horse and stop whining that I will most likely have to hand load for it.







Brad

Keep us posted on your progress with the drilling.

If you need to find an off the wall cartridge reloading die C&H-4D is the place to look. They have the largest selection of dies and the costs are considerably less than anyone else. Their die list is almost overwhelming.. They even have bullet sizing dies and the owner is great to work with.

Odd bullets and cases can be had at Buffalo Arms again stuff you might not find anywhere else, for example they have four different weights of .228 bullets, only Hornady makes one and it is seasonal. They have paper patching supplies also.

Good luck. Get the old girl back out in the field like she was meant to be.

Hammer drillings rock, 16x16(2 1/2")/ 9.3x72R

I didn't know you had that!

Well...it's another one I want to screw...errr...uhhh...trade you out of.

I want to point out that I have had a JP Sauer drilling for decades. It's a 16 16 8x57 JR.

I have 4X & 2.5X scopes for it along with plenty of brass, dies and components. While I have .3185 bullets I also have tools and have made a good sizing die to swage down .32 bullets.

The thing about the drilling is that it's rifle barrel make it 'illegal' for hunting in some no rifle lands like the state forests here.

Pics, pics, we're interested in the drilling, brand of scopes, mounts. Load info that has worked well for you etc. That would have a much better lead in here, then explain that due to state law you can't use it on state land. Then we would at least know what state to avoid.

DumbassDon is in CT. You expect to get pertinent and accurate info out of him? Fat chance.

In CT we can't use centerfire rifles in the state forests.

Even if you never use the rifle barrel it's worth $550 as a double 16ga.

I'd probably pull something in my shoulder whipping out my wallet it to snag it for $550 assuming it's in decent shape. Even with an oddball rifle chambering you're hard pressed to find a shootable drilling for anywhere near $1000, more likely closer to $2k.

Brass and dies shouldn't be too big of a problem.