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Interesting gun. I believe I owned it for a few years. Made for an American market , as I recall.

Small world, Daryl. What makes you think it was made for the American market? POW grip? The gun has 28" barrels, in proof with 2 5/8" chambers, a hidden cross bolt top lever mechanism and chopper lump barrels. The engraving seems English and not American to me?? The birds on the fences appear to be falcons and not eagles as far as I can tell.

I have seen this gun before. Very unusual engraving for a Grant.

Buzz, as I recall the gun records said it was sent to an American . I cannot remember if I got the records or the previous owner did. It is unlike the general Grant engraving, of course. -------------Later, I found that it was completed on July 15,1904, for F. C. Fowler Esq., USA. Described as having "special inlay engraving" top lever with cross bolt, half pistol grip stock, 12 bore, 28" barrels, and 2 5/8" chambers. Sold for 71-13-00 pounds, without the case.

In 1970 it was in the possession of H.G. Thatcher of the USA and in 1992 there was an inquiry from a prospective purchaser for 74xx. All of the info was courtesy of Douglas Tate.

Interesting Daryl. Thx for your input. I recently sent an inquiry to Atkin, Grant and Lang. Haven't heard back. The other interesting thing with this gun is it has choppers. I've been told most Grant's had dovetailed barrels as original. I'm not sure if that is a true statement, but this gun clearly has chopper lumps.

Well, Mr. Fowler certainly knew what he wanted when he ordered it. I have seen one other Grant with deviations sort of similar to this. If one did not see the name on the gun, I don't think anyone would guess Grant. On a closer comparison to "standard Grants" of the period the action looks the same. One thinks of those Grants as stocked to the fences, but in reality they were not. I have not checked any catalogs, but I would guess a gun costing 71 pounds in 1904 was pretty much top of the line. I think the chamber length was a hint of an American order.

An added thought, I always thought the two birds on the left lockplate must be grouse, with one dancing and the other watching as they do. I cannot imagine someone engraving a bird being shot on the ground.

Gunwolf,
You seem to have described hunting an Auerhahn rather than Birkhan.I'm not sure about Austria, but in Germany Auerhahn were usually hunted like you described(when they could still be hunted) and Birkhahn were usually hunted on the ground, during their bodenbalz.If close enough they are shot with a shotgun;with a rifle only if they can't be called closer( hence the blackcock on a shotgun).If its different in Austria, disregard my comment.
Mike

Mike, beliebe me, it was a Birkhahn... ;-)
But you are correct with The Bodenbalz!
In my case, the Professional Hunter who guided me, decided to take the
Hornet because of the distance....
Both, Auerhahn and Birkhahn can be hunted with Gun or Rifle.
Auerhahn is more complecated because you have to "jump" "anspringen" to the big bird as he is singing a special part of his "Song" and does not hear anything!
As with Birkhahn you have to be on the Balzplatz in time. This places are on the tree frontier (?) and often you have to cross snow covered mountain pines because it's only allowed to shoot Black Grouse only in May for 15 days.
In former times it was possible to hunt them on the plains, especially Moor. That was nice too but of course not at all exhausting....

Nevertheless, you have deep knowledges of the german kind of hunting!

Best Regards,
Wolfgang

Over here, black grouse is one of the classic quarry for hunting over bird dogs.

That is a very different Grant. I am not sure what to think of it.

I never saw any birkhahn in Germany, but did manage to see some auerhahn. Surprising how large they are.

Schwarzwild are boar are they not? I never heard auerhahn or any bird called black game. Or did I miss something??