doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Ziegenhahn und Sohn

Doverham,

I ordered a custom triggerplate (round action) gun through Krieghoff & I found Krieghoff N.A. extremely easy to work with on a custom order. I was able to specify non standard 29" bbls., no gold other than a gold "S" indicating safe position, a checkering pattern with a mullered border similar to the pattern Westley Richard uses, blued triggers at no extra charge. They also provided me with pictures of available stock blanks to chose from. The gun is engraved Krieghoff Essencia in small script on the bottom of the action & I was told "it has to be marked Krieghoff somewhere". Of course I was able to specify stock dimensions, chokes, trigger pull weights etc.

I looked at the Heirloom Arms website but did not talk to them & I know nothing of them. Their pricing appears to be out of date & I don't think includes engraving. Also their round action guns pictured have the lump piercing the bottom of the action. Scotty's gun & the Krieghoff sourced guns don't.

I'm sure you can save some $ if you can go direct. I chose to go through Krieghoff as I've found their service department to be excellent & they were very good to work with on the custom order.

If you should choose to work with Krieghoff I would recommend talking to Nick Ranzau @ Jaqua's Fine Guns & Jacque Baughman @ Krieghoff N.A. in Ottsville P.A.

Scotty - thanks for checking. I vaguely recall hearing somewhere that Ziegenhahn was precluded from selling directly in the US as a condition of making Essencias for Krieghoff. I did come across something indicating that New England Custom Gun had at one point a relationship with Ziegehahn - I have a call into them to find out more.

B-Man - thanks for that information. So, was your gun a customized Essencia boxlock or something different? good catch about the through-lump, I had not noticed that. There was an interesting thread recently on the main DGJ forum about how through-lumps reflect on a gun's overall quality. Peter Hofer guns have them for whatever that is worth.

There are currently two new Essencias sidelocks for sale at Cabela's in the low $20k range - a great deal if your sofa has a lot of loose change. Neither gun quite matches my specs so I can't justify stretching my budget that far for a gun that is not a perfect fit.

Doverham,

My gun is a custom ordered Krieghoff Essencia boxlock. For some reason Krieghoff calls them boxlocks but they are actually a round action triggerplate gun. The only pins through the action are for the cocking lever pivots & the hinge pin. The sear & hammer pivot pins are on the triggerplate. They are nice guns, very slender & with excellent handling qualities. They resemble a Westley Richards round action droplock in profile(obviously of very different construction than a Westley Richards). Nicer looking in my opinion than the back action sidelock Essencia but apparently most people don't agree as there are a lot more Essencia sidelocks out there than boxlock/triggerplate guns.

Hold out for the gun you want or down the road you will regret making a compromise to save a few $$. I've been there & done that several times.

I suggest you look at the Ziegenhahn & Sohn's web site if you haven't done so. They offer a back action sidelock with a different lockplate profile that IMOP is much more attractive than the gun they build for Krieghoff as the Essencia sidelock with the dipped edge lockplate.

Congratulations on a fine bespoke firearm...sorry you have fewer excuses for missing now!

B-man - thanks. I know of what you speak about waiting for the right gun. It took a few guns (fortunately, none as expensive as an Essencia) to learn that lesson. I agree with you that the boxlock round actions are in some ways more appealing. The Essencia sidelocks have a very unique look - verging on exotic.

I have spent too much time on the Ziegenhahn website already - I need to fish or cut bait. I am traveling for the next 10 days, but when I get back I plan to put a call into Germany.

Doverham, I sent you a PM.

Lovely gun...I had not noticed until you were having yours made, how many pictures and references to Ziegenhahn's work were in Klupp's book "double rifle"

I will have to look that book up and see for myself all those good pics.

Gents, just an update on the Ziegenhahn 16 gauge sxs.
The gun is safely home in Texas while I am back here in Germany. It made the trip with me to Dallas in my Storm Case, along with my 30-06, just fine...Lufthansa is awesome. I will be "home" this July-Sept to shoot a few rounds with whomever is in the DFW area then I pack up for North Dakota again.
I had a small metal tip break off the forearm latch during my round of skeet here in Germany, and Jens fixed a new one, had it engraved and custom fit in one week. We were both surprised the tip broke, he said the metal was too brittle. Machiones break, but Jems fixed immediately, no Q's asked.

Bump