Close-up of the receiver of the O-U 12 gauge and 22 Savage High Power. Unfortunately, such elaborate decoration raises the acquisition costs of such guns.
gauge over an 8 x 57R Drilling, have served their purpose. I have yet to shoot two predators on the same outing using both barrels, but that will come. What has happened, however, is that while fully expecting a coyote to come from one direction, it has come from another, and only with a gun equipped with both rifle and shot barrels could I have been prepared for the shot that was presented. Several European companies such
as Heym, Krieghoff and Merkel currently make combination guns and J.P. Sauer, which perhaps exported more Drillings to America than any other company, ceased making them only within the past five years. Additionally, virtually all of the Ferlach, Austria, gun makers produced such guns. These are perhaps the epitome of combination guns with at least one maker – Johann Fanzoj – who will for a price even make you a five barrel gun! Much more common, and generally
far less expensive, are the older pre-World War II guns made in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, etc. However, there is usually a reason they are cheaper. Quite often the chambers are not what we are used to. Shotgun chambers are often shorter than our modern standard of 2¾ inch, and finding short shells can be a bit of a problem. Fortunately, things today are much better in this regard than they were twenty or so years ago. Several British and European companies produce short shotgun shells – 2⁵⁄₈ inch in 12 gauge, 2⁹⁄₁₆ inch in 16 gauge, and 2¹⁄₂ inch in 20 and 28 gauges – and at least one American manufacturer, RST Classic
Shot Shell Company, Inc., offers a fairly extensive lineup of such cartridges. RST offers all popular gauges from 28 to 10 in short lengths, often with your choice of plastic or paper hulls, and either shot cups or cardboard wads, all in several shot sizes. Not too many years ago, Rem- ington’s Mexican ammunition plant of- fered short shotgun ammunition. In fact, if you want some 2½ inch plastic-cased 24 gauge ammunition with number 0 shot, I could show you some! (Yes, I have used some, but that is a story for another day.) Rifle chamberings also are often
much different from what we are used to, but again, the situation is far better than what it was twenty years ago. Most break-open guns are chambered for rimmed shells, often nothing more than the rimmed version of a common round, i.e., 8 x 57R (rimmed). Several European companies export such ammunition to the U.S. and at least one small American maker of brass cases – Quality Cartridge – offers many of these rounds for hand- loaders. Huntington Die Specialties also imports many such rounds, including several that only a few years ago were regarded as obsolete and unavailable.
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