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Trying to help a friend date his drilling. J.P.Sauer & Sohn serial # 3144XX. Under the serial # is CW & under that 7. Proof mark shows eagle with M under and 7C on top. The rifle barrel has a mark with 61 under it. Barrel is 23& 11/16".
Thanks for any help,
Tom

The proof date and caliber should be on the bottom of the barrel.

What erich said. It's usually on the rifle barrel.

This is an early post war 3000 model, probably from the mid-late 1950s.

Look for something like 11/56, 9/55, 3/57, etc. That's the month and year it was proofed.

Here are more pictures of the underside of the barrels. The CW over 7 is near the S/N. The 61 is on the rifle barrel.
Could 61 be the year??

With that type of 2-piece extractor it could well be a 1961 proofed gun. It's Sauer's later type extractor that lifted the shells out farther and made them easier to grasp.

This is the earlier type extractor. It's easy to see the advantage of the later type extractor.

I have also occasionally seen only the year stamped on the barrel--which may or may not prove that "close enough for government work" may also even apply to Germany....

Thanks guys for all the help.
Couple more questions should wrap this one up.
Is the engraving on this gun standard or a more deluxe model?
Is it OK to shoot deer slugs out of a full chock barrel?

Standard engraving for an earlier Sauer 3000 drilling. The LUX Model engraving looks like this:




OR THIS:

If you can find them the Brenneke 16ga slugs have fins on the slug to allow it to go through chokes on drillings. I was lucky to get in on a shipment of 2 1/2" 16ga Brenneke slugs for my old guns. They are quite accurate.

https://www.brennekeusa.com/hunting...msclkid=813d9e96b91111ec95e6adcc0363f69f

GREAT LINK!

Owner thinking about selling this gun. Does $2600.00 seem like a fair price?

Seems to be in the ballpark but to me, a bit more than I’d pay for it. Other guys will chime in that have a better finger on the market than I do.

Too high for one without a scope. $2K is more realistic.

The barrels appear to have been re-blackened. I would shy away from the gun until I had inspected it.

Barrels this black, especially on a gun with its evidence of wear, evidence the butt plate, would have thinned bluing on the barrel sides at the receiver from handling, and factory rust bluing was not so black.

Here is more information ...

Gun was purchased in 1970 from a gun store in Germany. The gun dates to 1961.

Current owner has only used the gun a few times in the last 50 years of ownership.

In the 9 years before the gun was purchased by current owner, It seems unlikely that the barrels would need refinishing in such a short time.

These pictures do show some hard use on the front wood. Any ideas on the cause of such wear?

It's gotten wet a lot. This also leads me to believe it's been re-blackened.

The German climate is hard on gun finishes if they're used frequently. The gun could have been a "club gun" that was used by many members and frequently. The annoyance of gun ownership in Germany leads to hunting clubs owning guns for members to use, and they don't have to jump through all the hoops to own and keep one in their residence.

Many of the guns sold by Simpson Ltd were bought in lots from gun clubs. It's why they notoriously have rust, have been re-blued, and have bad wood; many have or had the clubs' stickers on the stocks.

Thanks for the info.