Weird old gun. Triple barrel.

Marcelt

Marcelt

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So I’ve come across a strange beast called a Fortona Special gewehrlaufstahl. It’s a triple barrel shotgun with sxs 20 gauge and I think a 7mm below. There’s also a insert you can but in one of the 20ga barrels to change the caliber. Thats all the info I have right now. Going to look at it this weekend. I’d say it’s a 40-50’s make and very nice with a bit of scroll work but nothing over the top. Well worn but still got n good condition. Anyone know anything about these things?
 
Such a firearm is known as a Drilling (German for triplet); they are fairly common sporting arms in Europe, as an all-around game getter (is the insert a .22LR one?).

‘Gewehrlaufstahl’ again German, basically translates to when you see ‘special fluid steel’ marked on a shotgun barrel.

Could be custom, could be workaday. Could be expensive, could be middling. Pictures would help, but many have been made by small shops and might be Google proof…
 
Clearly nobody tried google. It’s likely a Merkel Fortuna. They look decent overall and seem to be quite pricey. No idea what the market in Canada would bear though.
 
Evanguy said:
Its a Combination gun or also known as a drillings rifle or cape gun. Pretty common in europe. Normaly pretty expencive from what ive seen of them

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combination_gun
Click to expand...

Combination gun refers to any of the configurations that combine any quantity of both rifle and shotgun barrels. A drilling is specifically a three barreled gun, typically two shotgun over a rifle but not necessarily. A cape gun is a two barrel SxS with one rifle and one shotgun barrel.

Sometimes they are cheaply made and sometimes they are very well made. Just like any German gun.

See here for a more complete listing:

http://www.hallowellco.com/german_combination_gun_names.htm
 
canvasback said:
Combination gun refers to any of the configurations that combine any quantity of both rifle and shotgun barrels. A drilling is specifically a three barreled gun, typically two shotgun over a rifle but not necessarily. A cape gun is a two barrel SxS with one rifle and one shotgun barrel.

Sometimes they are cheaply made and sometimes they are very well made. Just like any German gun.

See here for a more complete listing:

http://www.hallowellco.com/german_combination_gun_names.htm
Click to expand...

Seems to make sense. I first thought it waa a drillings rifle. Then after i posed it i looked up drillings rifle abd it directed me to combination gun and also listed cape guns. I never really looked into them too much before as they are often priced out of my range so i edited my post to add the rest to it. I reedited my post

Thanks for the info.
 
"Gewehrlaufstahl" just translates as weapon barrel steel. And as others have said. Even a low end Drilling is expensive. If you can get a good price, especially if it is in firing condition it's an investment.
 
I sold two German Drillings, 8 or 9 years back, for a good friend's widow. One was a Fortuna and I believe it was 3" 12ga. over 9.3x74R. Both had claw mounts with Zeis scopes. I believe it was the Fortuna that had the 22 cal. insert in one of the shotgun barrels. Both Drillings had engraved receivers, in a pleasant scroll pattern, and both had recoil pads. These are a high quality firearm and sell upwards of $3000 depending on condition.
 
I agree with the above posts. If it is 20ga, it's quite unusual as I have only seen 12s and 16s. The 7mm will likely be 7x57R....possibly 7x65R....if there is a 22 insert and it's a Krieghoff einstecklauf, it's pretty cool on its own.
 
Evanguy said:
Seems to make sense. I first thought it waa a drillings rifle. Then after i posed it i looked up drillings rifle abd it directed me to combination gun and also listed cape guns. I never really looked into them too much before as they are often priced out of my range so i edited my post to add the rest to it. I reedited my post

Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

Glad you took my post in the spirit I meant it. These are weird and unusual guns and it's not surprising if most of us don't know much about them, even what to call them. And this forum should, among other things, help us learn new things.

With shotguns, I like to think I know enough to know what I don't know. LOL
 
Wow, thanks for the input guys, it could very well be 16ga and not 20 as I thought, and yes I think the insert is for a .22

I'll be able to get a better look at it this weekend and hopefully obtain some more info from some markings and get some pics for you guys. The owner wants to sell and I may be interested but if I can't afford it he will at least have a good idea of an asking price.
 
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