Drilling Questions

[ohiochuck]

I am looking at several German drillings. I am not particular whether it is 12 or 16 bore. Are drillings that have one shotgun barrel set for shooting shotgun slugs adjusted by the gunsmith to shoot to point of aim (35 or longer yds.)? If it has no claw mounts for a scope and I choose to have it scope mounted does that effect the shotgun slug bore and the rifle barrel? My 60 + year old eyes are helped with a scope for more accurate shooting. Are German Brenneke shotgun slugs the usual ammo used for adjusted/shooting slugs?
Thanks in advance for any information!!
Jim

[Doug Kellermann]

Jim,

I justed talked to the guy who works on my drillings and he told me that to install a claw mount on a drilling is about 3x what is costs to replace a claw mount base that is missing the rings with a set of bases and rings.

You should look at the weight difference between the 16 ga and 12 ga drillings. I have both and my favorite for stalking dove is a 16 ga Dural frame which is very light. The 12x12/9.3x74r or the 12x12/7x64r are great for hog hunting. I think 12 vs 16 is a personal decision that depends on your application.

If you go with slugs you need to make sure the chokes are opened appropriately. I Like the Brenneke style slugs and like both the Brenneke or RWS brands.

I have found the left barrel to be regulated close to the rifle. Please take this as my observation. With the slug brand and type greatly influencing the point of impact.

[Büchsemann]

Gentlemen,

The Brenneke slugs were designed from the start to be used in the tight chokes typically seen in German combination guns. The narrow "land" of the ribs on the Brenneke designed slug allows the lead to disperse as the ribs make contact with the choke. So you know Brenneke USA is still targeting the first quarter of 2013 for the re-introduction of their 16 ga X 65 mm (2 1/2") "Classic Slug".

Regards,

Büchsemann

[Büchsemann]

Here is a response posted earlier by our friend Axel on the use of slugs in Germany:

"The use of buckshot (the Germans call it "Posten", the British "slugs") on any hoofed game, be it deer or boar, is outlawed in Germany for 100 years by now.
The history of shotgun slugs that could be shot through choke bores goes back even farther. AFAIK the earliest was v. Witzleben's "Bolzengeschoss", essentially a stick of very soft wood with a blob of lead cast onto the front end, of the 1880s. In 1898 Wilhelm Brenneke patented his first slug, a ribbed lead cylinder stabilized in flight by the felt wad fastened to it. This design he developed over the years into the Brenneke slug we know today. There was competition from other designs pre-WW1 by Stendebach, Oberhammer, and Kettner but these all fell by the wayside over the years. The French Bougnet was of the same design as the Foster, but predated it. The Brenneke outlived all the competition. In Germany "Brenneke" is used as sort of a household word for any kind of shotgun slug, be it of old Wilhelm's design or not.
In Germany slugs were, with one exception, never meant as primary hunting armament. Instead, hunters carried a couple of slug loads in a pocket on hunts for hare and feathered game just in case if a boar would show up. Now, with the increase of wild boar numbers, most slugs are used on these animals. A drilling, loaded with a decent rifle cartridge, a shot load for hare or fox in the right barrel and a Brenneke slug in the left barrel makes a decent "Ersatz" double rifle for short range use on wild boar.
The exception was the GDR: As the commies mistrusted all their citizens, all hunters had to be rated "politically reliable". Even so, ordinary hunters were not trusted to own a rifled barrel. Maybe one of them might snipe at Erich Honneker or Erich Mielke, the head of the Stasi, the infamous secret service. So the ordinary GDR hunter, if trusted with owning a gun at all, was limited to a shotgun. So he had to use slugs with their limited range for all his big-game hunting. Many of these poor guys had scopes mounted on their double barreled shotguns (no repeaters in the homeland of workers and farmers!) to improve low-light usability."

Büchsemann