Ferlach over under 7x57 Rx 16 ga.?

[MD]

A buddy brought his Ferlach out last week.

7x57 R over 16 gauge. Lovely firearm with a Zeiss scope. He got it for $2600 and it appears to be worth every penny.

He shot a grouse with it and obliterated it. I have to admit at 10 yards any shotgun would make a grouse disintegrate.

He later shot it at 30 yards and the pattern was still barely larger than 16 inches.


I suggested that in Germany and France, I had met boar hunters who used a slug in their shotgun barrel along with their regular rifle load in those types of rifles and that perhaps that shotgun barrel was choked to accommodate slugs over shot.

He said "No, look, it's got a deer engraved on one side and a bird on the other."

Your thoughts?

 

[Longwalker]

I have hunted in Germany and own several German 16 ga. combination guns. Most are choked very tightly, but that is because they were set up to hunt Deer and wild boar with the rifle barrel, and foxes, hares and wood pigeons with the shot barrel. Opportunities on fox, hare and wood pigeon are mostly long distance for a shotgun, so guns are choked tight. - and Europeans traditionally use fiber wads as compared to our more common plastic shot cup. I'd suggest that he have a good smith open up the choke to IC, a more useful constriction here and also so the gun is not "over choked" with shot cup wads.

 

[MD]

Thanks Longwalker.

 

[Mount Sweetness]

Great info Longwalker!