I just received what will probably be my last drilling. I've had many through the years and sold and traded them along the way. I lost a few in burglaries, also.

This last one is about perfect for where and what I'll ever hunt again. It's a Sauer 3000 in 16ga 2 3/4" and 7X65R with a 22 Mag insert and a Hertel & Reuss 2-7 in claw mounts. It's the standard model with moderate scroll engraving. The stock is a very nice dark streaked walnut. The gun is completely unmolested. It's the usual good sound gun from Dale Nygaard.

The rifle shoots dead nuts on to my 165gr handloads, and the insert is zeroed perfectly at 65 yards with CCI ammo, using the scope.

It's a keeper.

Congratulations! That's very similar to my Kreighoff, after trying three drillings I also settled on 16 ga, w/.22 mag insert, but mine has a 7x57R barrel, with 3-9x scope in claw mounts. Very very versatile and not too big to carry. I just used mine a couple days ago, hunting for deer/wolf/grouse/beaver etc. etc. Used the .22 magnum to collect a grouse for supper. I hope you get to use yours for many years to come.

7x65R is about perfect for big stuff far away: "rimmed .280".

Sounds like a great one, Bruce!

But I have a hard time believing it's your last drilling. Just basing that on, uh, past experience. Have known many TRL's (True Rifle Loonies) who swear they are done "churning" in the search for the One Perfect Gun. But also haven't known one to keep the pledge for more than a year or two....

Excellent!!! I should invest in one of these sometime..

Really??

That long, huh??

I'm happy for you! However, there is always one more just lurking out there...

Nice snag, Bruce! My 12x12/7x65R Simson, would be one of the last guns I'd consider parting with. Would be nice to have a lighter trimmer 16 such as yours, but I don't mind the extra weight at the moment. Throw up some photo's of that baby!

Jeff

Bruce,

Am trying to remember, but might be wrong about somebody holding out for two years. A year would be closer to average, and those would be examples of sterling self-control.

Well...you know me too well.

I almost got a Fortuna Dale had in 16 2 3/4" and 7X57R, but I am getting a griffon female pup instead. She was whelped Nov 4 and will mean a drive to Pagosa Springs CO just before Christmas.



akjeff,

Here are some photos of the new horse in the stables.

Instead of a drilling...

Wow, nice drilling Bruce! Thanks for the photo's. Love the dog photo as well.

Congrats on the new pup, JB!

Jeff

Best reason ever not to acquire another gun. Have fun with your pup!

Nice gun! But I have doubts it will be your last drilling.. I've heard that before.. from my customers, who wait for every shipment and usually grab a new one out of it .

Be careful with the plastic trigger guards. They don't take the beating the horn ones do.

Congrats on a nice gun. The Germans call that the all around caliber. Though I'm still a 7x57 man, I get quite a few 7x65 drillings as people like that caliber.

Thanks

It's a better caliber than the 7X57, which I also like, for our western hunting. It actually doesn't gain a lot of velocity over a 7X57, but it has an edge.

That gun looks like a keeper to me. Congrats.

You can get a little hotter loads in the 65, for sure, but I prefer to keep the pressures down in the break open guns. The 57 is just a very balanced (case to bore capacity) and well designed cartridge that's very efficient & inherently accurate. I load the 120 TTSX bullets in mine for several combis & drillings that are very flat shooting, but keeping the pressures down below 45K. That said, I sold a 7x65 drilling to a guy in AK that he hunts moose & caribou with, as well as geese, and he loves it. Says it outshoots the bolt action guys at the range :o). His wife kept borrowing it, while he was at work, so he bought her a luxus Sauer in 16/6.5X57, so she'd leave his alone...

Greg
Karamojo Bell reportedly killed a thousand or so elephants with the old 7 mauser. Many of them standing on the shoulders of his gun bearer in tall grass. He must have had cajones the size of grapefruit

I had a Fortuna in 16 & 7X57R that shot tiny little bugger hole groups with about anything I fed it. I also shot well with it on quail and chuckar, so I sold it.

No flies in the X57 for sure

I have a few of those too. Spur of the moment and later you ask yourself why you did that. Along those lines, the guns i have regrets for mostly are the ones I didn't buy .
But we all have some we wish we hadn't sold...

I doubt that is your last drilling. What if I offered to trade my coyote gun for one of those pups?

I'm buying one of those pups and can get another.

Da%##^ed you anyway! You know I covet that coyote-killer of yours, and now you're dangling the carrot!

Bruce,

Your story of the Fortuna 16 X 757R reminds me of a friend who's crazy about good side-by-side shotguns. Don't know how many he's owned but it must be in the hundreds, from just about every country.

He always wanted a good British gun and found a great one he could shoot well, and he admits he’s far from a great wingshot. But it wasn’t a “name” British gun, so even though the gun was in great original condition, it eventually disappeared, one of a number of gun trades/sales that eventually resulted in a NAME British side-by-side, a cobble-job that ended up being a money-pit he never did shoot nearly as well.

Another friend always claimed he could turn a matched pair of Purdeys into a Mossberg pump in less than six trades.

But hey, that’s how we are….

Sorry Bruce I was testing to see if it was REALLY your last drilling. Good to know there is some hope for you and there are drillings out there that will still tempt you.

Old Trooper is getting worse, we're down to going home from duck hunting after five retrieves and then I have to hunt alone for a couple of days until he recovers, his upland days are all done. He's got the drive still but he's writing checks his body can't cash anymore. My body is getting there also and I'm not sure if I can follow big running dogs across the prairie like I used to and am going back to my beloved AWS's.

Old Trooper, one of the great ones.


For those of you curious about the drilling we're talking about, a svelte little Suhl drilling in 16x16/6.5x58R Sauer that is a sub MOA gun, near or far coyotes dwell in fear. Leupold VX-11 1-4x20mm mounted low, 1 oz NP BB's and a 6.5mm 90 gr TNT sized to .260. It also has a fitted Hensoldt 4x.

We've talked about that gun. I love the caliber. My wife has a neat little 20 ga drilling with that rifle cal. by Emil Kerner. I use std 264 100 gr hollow pt Sierra bullets. I recall borrowing it once and shooting a hog on a foggy morning, that I thought was bbq size <100#. Shot him behind the shoulder @ 125 yds, he took a couple steps and fell over. The closer I got, the bigger he got.. Turned out to be over 400# and wound up in sausage..

Mine has a pretty tight bore, this is with .257 bullets. I'd use them but fear eroding the throat with the undersized bullets.

Give your old Trooper a big wet kiss from a dog lover for me.

Have you slugged the bore? I've had several of those and they all slugged .264 groove to groove. The 6.5X52R always slugs @257.

My wife's 6.5X58R drilling is the most accurate drilling
we have, in spite of a less than perfect bore. Always under an inch, with a 2.5X post reticle Hensoldt. I would love to see just how accurate it is with a higher power optic.

I slugged it twice to be sure and it is .260. I have a bullet sizing die from C&H to take .264 down to .260, he actually had it on the shelf. He had the 6.5x58R Sauer on the shelf also, great outfit to do business with, nice dies. The company has changed hands a few times over the years, I've used their presses and dies since the 1970's.

It's always nice to be able to make bullets to match your gun and application. The small adjustments like you're doing work great sizing them down. But a larger adjustment to a jacketed bullet is best done by taking it up to the diameter you want. It tightens the jacket. Some good instructions on making swaging dies are in Nonte's book of "Cartridge Conversions". I made a die to bump up 180 grain Speer 35 Rem bullets to 365 for my 9.3X72R. All the ones I found were too heavy and too heavily constructed for that caliber. I also change the nose shape a little. Great expansion & accuracy. I recommend that book for anyone who shoots any "exotic" calibers.

You never know about older German/Austrian guns until you measure the bores. My wife has a combo gun with a 16-gauge barrel over what’s supposedly a 9.3x72R barrel. The guy she bought the gun from even included a box of RWS 9.3x72R ammo, half of which he’d shot in the gun. But when I measured the bore it turned out to be just about exactly .35 caliber, so we load those same flat-nose 180 Speers at around 2000 fps. They do work great on deer!

Did someone mention drillings and American Water Spaniels???

Now, that's a combination I can relate to:::

Now that is a pretty picture.

I'm going to be looking for another AWS in the not too distant future. Do you have a recommendation for a breeder.

Beautiful drilling how about some specs on it.

Now that is a pretty picture.

I'm going to be looking for another AWS in the not too distant future. Do you have a recommendation for a breeder.

Beautiful drilling how about some specs on it.

Thanks erich,

The drilling is a side plated box lock in 8x57jr under 16ga barrels. It has a tang safety which I found very user friendly and was made by Muchller in the 30's. It was fitted with a 6x scope with an unusual mount. I traded it off in a moment of weakness a few years ago. It was easiest the fanciest drilling I have owned.

I have sent you a PM regarding a breeder for Water Spaniels.

Rudy,

That is some eye-candy for sure, the gun and the gundog.


Rates a two-cool


The scope looks a lot like the old Zeiss Zielsechs 6X or Zielvier 4X.

Good luck with both the new acquisitions!

Not sure which one I think looks "better". I know one would be more pleasant to have around the house and wouldn't need to be kept in the safe when not in use.


Geno