doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com 1970 Simson Side-Plated Boxlock

Hi,
I need some help with a 12 ga 1970 Simson-Suhl (Thuringen) double barrel side-plated boxlock w/ cocking indicators. It was made in October 1970 and is marked Q1 for export quality. Does anyone have any idea which model this is? I understand that value on a Simson is comparable to that of a similar Merkel. I can't find a Merkel that had side plates to compare it to. Any ideas?

Merkel 122 looks like the same basic model

Thanks,
An internet search says that equates to a Simson 76E, problem solved.

There you go! Glad I could help.

Simson, Fortuna, Haenel, are all about the same as the Merkel but tend to sell for 30/35% less than the Merkel grade per grade....

BTW nice looking gun...

Thanks,
I found it in Japan, of all places.

I have two different post war Simson 12 gauge S x S guns with the name roll-stamped into the top rib that owners before me have tried (poorly executed however) to obliterate the Simson name. They are carbon copies of post war Merkels and Sauers, and I am quite sure someone wanted to market them as such, rather than as Simsons. The original Simson stampings can still be seen if carefully studied, and they also both have the Simson logo on the barrel flats with no effort to remove them, so I guess the person who tried to take the Simson name off didn't know what the Simson logo was. I think these two guns are confirmation that Simsons, although excellent guns, don't bring as much as comparable Merkels or other names rolling off the same post war assembly line.

I have been told that at some point during the communist rule that all the Suhl guns appeared in a combined catalog with basically the same guns on each page but with different model numbers.

This shotgun was labeled as a Merkel sidelock at the auction where I found it, still only cost me $442.

That's a heck of a price, friend. Glad you stopped in.