I was talking to my #3 son, Angus, on the way back from a week's deer hunting yesterday. We were talking about the guns we'd like to buy. I mentioned the Gerstacker Special.

Streif- und Jagdzüge durch die Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika (Rambling and Hunting in the United States of North America), 1844.

Back in the late '30's and into the '40's Gerstacker roamed the frontier looking for good hunting. He was a German who just thought America sounded cool. He caught a boat to New York and then traveled down the Mississippi, walking a good part of the way. He spent most of his time between Cincinnati and Arkansas hunting whatever he could find and taking odd jobs. He was kind of the German Daniel Boone.

He carried with him a double-barreled gun. It had been made for him in Germany. One barrel was rifled, and the other was smooth. The former he loaded with round ball meant for deer and the latter was filled with shot, mostly for turkey.

This sounds like a cool gun to put on the bucket list. Does anyone know if these are still made? If I get a zilch here, I may crosspost in Muzzleloaders.

Sure. Check out Dixie Gun Works for Pedersoli SxS shotguns, double rifles, and combination guns. There is even a 20 ga. x .50 cal. pistol "Howdah gun".

Ah! I had not thought to look at the Kodiak Express. I think I found something close in the Pedersoli catalog.

Thanks.

I believe double guns such as that were considered cape guns. The German or European ones generally had the left barrel rifled and the right barrel smooth and the English versions the reverse of that.

I've run into a few of them but never owned one. One of the coolest ones I ever saw was a 20 gauge on the left and a 25-35 on the right. Would have liked to have bought that gun from the owner's estate but the family pilfered the gentleman's guns before the executor could get them secured.

Assume you want a muzzleloader? If so they are around. There one in the Jeremiah Johnson movie that the indian who watches him carries. Watch closely the next time you see it..

I've made up a couple of them by sleeving the right barrel of a 20 ga ML double with one of the hammer forged 45 cal x5/8" liners sold by Track Of The Wolf & others. Worked very well.

They are, as pointed out, often called "Cape Guns" Never saw a reason for that name unless the Germans & other European settlers of the African cape region, carried them as all around hunting guns??

That's my understanding - SxS combination guns were very popular in what is now RSA, and they came to be called cape guns.

The Germans make them with the right barrel the rifle barrel commonly. I was very fortunate to blunder onto this two barrel set at a big gun show before it got snatched up. It's 12/8X57JR and 12X12. I've had a couple others, but this Sauer is the "keeper".






The opening scene of The Red Baron shows him as a boy, hunting with one...

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