Drilling Users Here?

I like combo guns and drillings. Right now I don't have one but in the past I've hunted with a Frantz Sodia, Ferlach, drilling in 16/70 & 7.57R , a Krieghoff Teck drilling in 16/70 & 30-06, and a Tikka combo in 12/70 & 222Rem. Depending on where you are at and what kind of game you have the opportunity to hunt, these guns can be the ticket to a successful day in the field.
Here in northwestern Canada where most of the game you hunt can be large, I've often thought that a combo or drilling that includes the 9.3x74R would fit.
Recently, at a show, I checked out a very sweet combo that would suit me. It is a new Merkel B3 in 12/76 & 30-06 with quick detachable scope/mount.
For big game season, add a Keller & Simman insert barrel (to the shotgun barrel) in 9.3x74R and you are ready for anything. In season, add a 7.65ACP cartridge adaptor to the 30-06 barrel, and you can shoot all the grouse you want. VERY versitile, I've used adaptors and insert barrels successfully. The Merkel B3 weighs only 6.4lbs (2.9kg) in the shotgun/rifle configuration and it has the extremely strong "kippblockverschluss" making it very safe. Perhaps the most practical/versitile gun for northwetern North America!? :)

Regards,

Vasa
 
I hunt with a Merkel O/U combination gun, 16 ga. over 7x57R and QD 4x scope, with another set of barrels 16 & 16. I really like it!
I have not used a drilling, but want one badly! I have tried a 2 Savage model 24s, ( .22RF/20 Ga, and .357 max/20 ga) and a Valmet ( .308 / 12 ga )and a BRNO, (7x57R / 12 Ga.) they all had some problems with poor alignment of the rifle/shotgun barrels. they didn't shoot to same point of impact. I think you get what you pay for in combination guns, cheap ones always seem to have problems. I'd love to find a good used drilling in 8x57R or 9.3x74R, and 16 or 20 ga. over.
I have a nice Kreighoff insert barrel for shooting .22WMR in a 12 ga drilling, it is very accurate but I don't have anything to use it in at present!
 
I started using a drilling at age 12. I am now 60 and have a small collection of them. I mowed lawns for two summers and saved all the money at age 12 to buy a bring-back drilling from a WWII vet friend of the family. It was a Sauer in 16ga 65mm chambers and 7X57R.

I have had a lot of drillings in my life...about 75-80...but am not rich; I would trade and sell to buy different ones. This gave me the opportunity to own and use some real great guns. I recently had a Geyger-Berlin two barrel set in 16/70mm and 9,3X74R with a 1.2X4 Schmidt & Bender in a swing mount and a second set of 20ga 3" and 243 with a 1.5X6 S&B in claw mounts; the 20ga set was done in 1982 by Fuch of Austria.

Misfortune dictated that I sell the Geyger set to help pay for surgery for a recently found condition. It was going to be a "keeper", but health comes first...I guess...As a drilling fanatic, it wasn't a slam-dunk choice.

I am in total agreement regarding insert barrels of all flavors. I had an early post-war Sauer in 16/7X57R with a full length 22 Hornet barrel and have a 22 WMR Kreighoff insert for my Sauer 3000 12/30-06. My favorite drilling is my Treibel-Augsburg 16/8X57JR w/4X Hensoldt in claws. I presently also have two Charles Daly Prussian sidelock-sidecock drillings; one in 12/30-30 and the other in the smaller frame 16/30-30.

Probably my favorite gun is a pre-war Sauer cape gun two barrel set in 12ga SXS and 12/8X57JR scoped in claw mounts. The old gun fits like it was custom made for me...another keeper. I recently sold a very nice Merkel Lux in 12ga and 9,3X74R with a 3X12X56 Docter Optics in AKAH claw mounts and same in 16/7X57R with a 6X Schmidt & Bender. I got to love them for a while, then sold them to others who "loved" ($$$!) them a bit more. As I said, it is my only way of owning such guns.

I have taken two cape buffalo with combo guns with 9,3X74R barrels, one with that Merkel drilling and one with a double trigger Tikka 512S in 12/9,3X74R. I have used the Tikka in Africa three times now, and had planned for using it on my last ever safari this September with the second set of 9,3X74R o/u barrels, but my "plumbing" didn't allow that. Plumbers (urologists) are a bit pricier than safaris, and we don't have great insurance down here, at least those of us who are self-employed and have to buy our own.

I'll tell you that those Baikal 94 BBFs are great shooters, if not exactly beautiful! I blundered into a NIB 12ga 3"/7X57R for $244.00 US at a gun show, and it is probably far more accurate than all my present and past "pedegree" guns. It isn't easy to look at and is even harder to shoot with my eyes CLOSED.

Thank you for sharing your love of combo guns with me...L2S
 
Absolutely.

Suhl drilling, Brno combination and Valmet combination guns....

Super stuff.
 
I've always wanted a combo gun, preferably something in .223/12 or 20, so that I can hunt rabbit and grouse while in out looking for yotes. Something in a larger calibre like 30-06/12 would be nice during deer season as well.

Not quite sure what a drilling is, or if its just another name for it. Could someone enlighten me?
 
I love my BRNO combo guns they are not that pretty that you won't take them in the bush to hunt, they lock up like a vault and are very accurate. The first one I bought was BRNO 502 series thant is a 12 ga. over a very thin 308 Win. barrell with a push forward set trigger that came from the factory set to a few onces, you can almost blow on it to set it off, the problem, all I ever see with this gun is partrige, I have bagged several hundred since owning it. My second gun is a BRNO 300 series that has a 22 Hornet upper barrel over a 12 ga. and it also has seen sum partrige limits filled with this. I hunted exclusively with this when training my Golden Retreiver to hunt grouse, unfortunately my Golden became afraid of loud noises at age 4 and I have not really hunted with it since, only used it for target shooting, this is the most accurate Hornet I have owned so far. Both these guns have never shot big game or any fur bearers, for some reason they disappear when I carry a combo gun. I have scoped both of these with a very rugged Checosvalkia one piece mount, the 500 series wears a 3x9x40mm Leopold Vari-x-11, the 300 series wears a Leopold 1x4x32 Vari-x-11 scope. I found these guns to be more usefull with scopes as there factory sights were not very useful, and I did not wish to alter these fine firearms, if you get a chance to purchace any of the BRNO combo guns at a price under $1000 you are getting a great quality firearm for your money, they aren't pretty but are great working guns, best regards Dale in T-Bay:wave:
 
I know of one ....I think it is called a Boch Drilling on account of it's unusual barrel configuration....it has a 12 gauge over a 270 cal. barrel and on the right side between them is a 22 long rifle barrel .There is a QD variable 2 3/4 x 10 scope (Hertel & Reuss)mounted on top.
Made by Josef Just of Ferlach.....lots of engraving
I could ask for pictures if anyone is interested ....
Wants more than I can afford....
It comes apart in three pieces, not counting the scope....
 
104E.jpg
 
As you can see even the screws/bolt heads are engraved .
Pretty high class Drilling .
The bores(3) are pristine .
The barrels are 24 inches long, but the gun isn't heavy or cumbersome .
 
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