doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com New hammer drilling. Gustav Diem of Frankfurt

It is unlikely that the clawmounts would be "original". Such mounts would be "scope specific" and since the drilling was made for the "trade" it would not be possible to know if or which scope the eventual owner would want. Even in cases of guns ordered directly from a factory with a specific scope mounted, the actual work would more than likely be done outside the factory using parts manufactured by specialty parts manufacturer( ie. Bock, EAW, ERA, etc.).
Mike

But scopes were available in 1925 and there are only 20 years till it was acquired as a >>War Trophy<<. So, what is original? Same year, with a couple years?

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Raimey,
I guess it depends on what you mean by original. Being mounted by the maker of the gun when the gun was made would be one meaning. The first scope mounted on the gun, even a 50- or100- year old gun would be another meaning. Most people think of the first meaning.
Mike

So, was there a concern that made/cobbled together a Combo - Biksarica from sourced components that added a scope before it was delivered to the client or was the case always that a client ordered a gun from a concern and then had to take it to a specialist mechanic to add the Suhler Claw Mounts? Or were there some larger concerns who umbrella included the addition of Suhler Claw Mounts and other that did not and had to send their wares to another maker to add the Suhler Claw Feet?

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

It was (is) mostly like buying a Remington 700 from a large concern, small gunshop, or directly from Remington. It would almost always come sans scope, except you could special order a special rifle in a special caliber with higher grade wood and dimensions that fit you and a special scope already mounted and sighted. In this case, the scope would be considered original to the rifle. On the other hand, in most cases you would buy the rifle, a scope, and mounts, then mount and sight it in yourself. If you don't have a screwdriver or are not a DIY type, you might take it to a gunsmith and have him mount a scope of your choice in mounts of your choice with either him or you buying them. The scope then would not be original to the rifle. The main difference is with clawmounts on a drilling, not too many people are confident enough to take a hacksaw, caping chisel, files, and a torch to a several thousand- dollar rifle and maybe take a thousand-dollar scope apart and use a torch on it also. A specialist of the owner's choice would likely be chosen to do the work. Sometimes the owner might choose to have the "large concern" choose the specialist, which might be "in house" in a few cases, but usually "farmed out".

I looked and the rib is cut (very precisely, tight with no gap) for the claw mounts to wedge in.

I presume this was an expensive option.

bkdean
funksauer,
Yes, this work was expensive. It had to be precise in order to work. In addition to the cuts being very precise, as to size and location, the saw could not complete the cut since the rib extended into the area between the barrels. The cuts had to be completed with a very thin caping chisel. The solder holding the cut-out piece had to be melted out, while preventing the rest of the ribs from coming loose. The bases then had to be precisely fit-up by scraping the bottoms so that they fit to the barrels without a gap before soldering them to the barrels to be flat, level, and parallel to the barrel flats (as much as possible). Even then, after soldering, the tops would be "skim milled" to insure they were precisely in line with the barrel flats (these were the reference surfaces to insure alignment with the barrels). Then the "claws" had to be fit to the bases and scope, and everything had to be cleaned, polished, engraved, and re-blued before final sighting-in. With all this it is understandable that it would be expensive.
Mike