Gallery rifle

[yamoon]

I have wanted a gallery rifle for sometime chambered for 22 short to shoot off my deck into a dead tree about 25 yards away. Two have come to auction in the last 60 days, I was overbid on both. I have admired one on Guns international web site for some time, but it was too expensive for my budget. I decided to make an offer on it anyway and to my surprise, it was accepted. Sent the funds off yesterday. Now the wait until it arrives. It is a Buchel Luna. I will post some photos when it arrives.
Mike

[algmule]

Hello

While you are waiting

Tj?ta1.JPG

Kind regards
Peter

[yamoon]

Thanks Peter
The rifle I am waiting on is pictured on page 327 of Alte Scheibenwaffen Vol 2.
Mike

[yamoon]

The rifle arrived today. I am very happy with the over all condition. Now The wait on the CCI target shorts. There are few marks other than the BUG marks and MM on the barrel . No retailer or maker. We will see how it shoots next weekend. 5.3 mm, I assume that is the caliber.
Mike

[mike ford]

Mike,
I believe the MM means the barrel was made by Max Moeller of Zella-Mehlis. He also made( or assembled) guns, but that doesn't mean he made that one.
Mike

[yamoon]

Thanks Mike, there are also what appears to be 2 scrip characters enter twined. I am going to try to high light and photograph later this evening.

[yamoon]

Any ideas on what the eyelets are for?

[algmule]

Hello

Tj?ta1.jpg
Tj?ta3.jpg

Maybe the middle one is for when shooting. The sling won't interfere with your hand when loading. I'm guessing, just so you know.

Kind regards
Peter

[yamoon]

Thanks Peter

[Axel E]

2

Any ideas on what the eyelets are for?

They are for attaching the hooks of an "British type" shooting sling. Such slings were in common use at the then popular "English match", shot from prone offhand at 100 meters in Germany.
5.3 mm stands for the land diameter of the barrrel.
This 1930s E.F. Buechel "Luna" rifle is most likely chambered for the .22 lr cartridge. The .22 short was never popular in post-WW1 Germany. In the 1930s it was used only in specialised self loading target pistols for the Olympic rapid fire matches. It is most unlikely such a Buechel Luna rifle, set up for the English match, would be chambered in .22 short.
These E.F.Buechel Luna rifles, complete with interchangable peep- and open sights + Shooting sling eylets, were offered in .22 lr and .22 Hornet by Stoeger in their 1936 Shooter's Bible at $ 120.-.

[mike ford]

Mike,
I don't know what the intertwined script characters are, maybe Axel recognizes them.
Mike

[yamoon]

I discovered a couple of hundred CCI CB shorts in my gun room, so I tried it out today. After reading Axel?s post I checked the rifling twist, 1 in 16, just right for a 22lr, I was worried the rifle had been misrepresented. The shorts worked fine at 25 yards. When I returned home, I did a chamber cast, it is chambered for 22 short. The normal twist for 22 shorts is 1 in 20, why 1 in 16 I do not know, but as I said it shoots fine. When I dissembled the rifle for the chamber cast, I was struck by how much it resembles the Buchel Meister. Did the pre-WWII 22 shorts have a longer heavier bullet?
Mike

[mike ford]

Mike,
Since, as Axel said, 22 short wasn't very popular then, they likely used a barrel blank they had in stock. A faster than normal twist doesn't hurt anything. It is some times blamed for problems cause by shorter bullets in a longer throat. A slower than normal twist can be devastating, however. As far as I know, pre- WWII 22shorts had the 29 gr. bullet.
Mike

[yamoon]

Thanks Mike

[Axel E]

Mike,
I don't know what the intertwined script characters are, maybe Axel recognizes them.
Mike

E.F.Buechel GmbH., Hauptstrasse 4, Zella - Mehlis. Founded by Ernst Friedrich Buechel, 1811 to 1898, in 1837. Later run by son Cuno Buechel, 1859 to 1921, then by Richard Ansorg. Closed down 1936.