doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com want to buy a cheap merkel or similar

I hunted in West Germany a great deal from 1972 to 1982 and being a "gun nut" I paid attention to the guns my German friends were using. Except for a few guns that were successfully hidden from the authorities after the war, most of the guns they used were made after the war including those mentioned by Raimey above plus Fortuna, Sodia, Brno, and a couple other Austrian makers. Most of the WW2 veteran age hunters used 16-gauge 70mm chambered guns but one of my closest friends did use a 20-gauge 70mm and another used a 12-gauge 70mm chambered gun. Many of the sons of these hunters used 12-gauge 70mm chambered guns and I noticed as time went on, 12-gauge guns became more prevalent and 16-gauge less so. All of these were "kipplauf" guns and O/U became more prevalent with the younger hunters. During all that time I noticed only one hunter using a shot gun that was not a kipplauf, and it was a pump that had a custom stock made to be used by a severely damaged hand. All these postwar guns were perfectly useable and there was no noticeable difference in effectiveness between these and the few prewar guns, except they used modern 2 3/4" shells (2 1/2" shells were easily available for the pre-war guns). Most of the postwar guns were fairly plainly adorned at first, owing to the economic situation and demand for guns to hunt with. As time went on, more and more finely engraved guns started appearing as the economy improved. In my opinion, which may not be shared by others, anyone looking for a German gun to use (especially if changes to choke or other features are planned) should just "buy the gun" without prejudice toward postwar or Eastern Bloc guns. Given the difference in collector prices between older and newer or communist made guns, it is natural that owners of the more costly guns want to consider theirs "better", but at the same time will condemn any change as "ruining" the gun. If you can find a gun you like, for a price you can afford, and can have changes made to make it better meet your needs, there is no reason not to buy it. If you are looking, I suggest you look at Simpson Ltd.
Mike