I had a pistol grip 47E 16 bore about 35 years ago. Liked the gun quite a lot, hunted quail and pheasant with it back then.
You may know all of this but parts for Merkel shotguns can be difficult to find in some cases and they can also be expensive. Depending on the age of the gun it would pay to know a good machinist gunsmith. I sold mine when a friend had to send his back to East Germany for repairs and it was not the easiest or quickest repair. He got the gun back in a bit over a year. I know they were modernized after unification and were later sold to a UAE company a number of years ago so parts and service may have changed for the better since my experience with the brand.
