Think you know your single shot guns?

[MBTcustom]

Then please tell me what this is:
70986
70987
Please notice the radius on the front of the action.
70988
70989
70990
Proof stamp gurus?
70991
70992
Its chambered in a 17 caliber improved something-or-other, and is missing the trigger guard and trigger(s?)

I am going to end up being the proud owner of this rifle (agreed to rebarrel and rework a Mannlicher Schonauer in trade for this).

[Mk42gunner]

I get the dreaded red X for all the pictures, so I will try tomorrow.

Robert

[bruce drake]

looks like a DeHaas action but I'm not a pro at identifying single-shots.

[Mooseman]

After looking closer at the above pics and the blueprints I have I believe what I told you in chat is correct.
The safety, the trigger bar , and the lever design all closely match...

Rich

[pietro]

.

The proofs look like they're possibly post-1952 German (Suhl) to me. (At least the stag/antler head is)

There were many small (real) gunmakers in that area, who made their own versions of popular actions from scratch - some of whom didn't mark them, some of whom did.

I would remove the wood and go over every bit of the hidden metal with a magnifying glass, searching for a maker's mark, in case whoever made that one did.



.

[canyon-ghost]

Proof stamps bear a resemblence to Anshutz with the crown. My 22 match has crown,AB, and an elk rack for proof stamps. I just can't tell if the crown is the same, of course, the age of the rifle means the stamp could be slightly different.

I bet it's German.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

7101771018I think the action is an Aydt, although it is a long time since I have seen one, and others may have built similar ones. The proof marks are German, and consistent with (I pick my words cunningly) black powder and a period much earlier than the 1950s.

This type of action is usually very well made, and thoroughly pleasant to use with the multitude of short 8 to 10mm. cartridges with which it was used. (Ours is not the first age to have more cartridges than we could possibly tell apart.) I don't know enough about it to tell whether it would be a good one for a powerful .17 cartridge, though. You should check out whether the marks in the oil or bluing on the breechblock indicate that its rear surface is supported by the receiver shoulders, or just by the pin on which it rotates.

The trigger-guard isn't an insuperable obstacle, for you could carve it from the living steel with your bare hands, as I did with the replacement trigger-guard for my Spirlet revolver. You just have to take leave of any notion that it is going to be economically worthwhile. Alternatively you could take a look at the castings available from www.trackofthewolf.com and http://www.peterdyson.co.uk/ .

I think it probably had a double set trigger, and the missing trigger-guard may have been nothing but a sort of spur rising from the trigger plate to meet the lever. There are very likely screwholes for a tang backsight. Yours is much nicer looking to my eyes than the very ornate Scheutzen stocked ones. I seem to remember than many of these actions were made by Haenel and finished by small gunsmiths.

[Bent Ramrod]

Goodsteel,

Check the picture of the Kommer sporting rifle on page 299 of Frank DeHaas' Single Shot Rifles and Actions.

The Kettner on Page 279 looks pretty close as well.

If you are going to be buying incomplete single shot rifles for fixing up, you need this book.

[MBTcustom]

Ding ding ding ding! We have a winner!
It is a Kettner. Moosman found it in that same book. First one I have ever seen.
Now, all I have to do is find a trigger group and trigger guard for sale. You recon gunpartscorp could help me out with that? LOL!

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Goodsteel, I hate to be the monkey in the wrench or the ointment in the fly but I think I should add my bit of knowledge. In Frank DeHass's second book on single shots he said that he had mistakenly called the rifle on page 269 of his first book a Kettner. He went on to say that a number of Germans had informed him that it was actually made by a company named Schmidt & Haberman. I will attach a picture of one that I own and I did own another. Both of the rifles were proofmarked for nitro powder. It will be an "N" under a crown. My first rifle was chambered for the .219 Zipper improved and the one I own now is in .225 Winchester. I believe they were made from the early 1920s until WWII. Few German single shots had the name of the maker on the action. The reason being that they could be sold to other gun makers who would of course stamp their name on the finished rifle. The only exception that I am aware of is the Haenel. I have never seen a German single shot that didn't have double set triggers, even hunting rifles.

[MBTcustom]

There is no fly in the ointment Gopher Slayer.
Other than the lever, your rifle bears no resemblance to the one I posted pictures of above. It does not have the same lines, and the proofmark is not what you describe.
What gives?

[Mk42gunner]

The pictures finally opened for me.

Tim, that looks to be a labor of love to make a trigger plate to match the cutout in the action, glad I'm not the one that has to pay you to do it.

Ballistics in Scotland, good to see you posting again.

Robert

[MBTcustom]

Nah, the trigger plate is no problem. It's the trigger mechanism that I am a little intrigued by, seeing as how the only double set trigger I have ever dealt with is the muzzle loader type. Might be a long term project for sure. I just hope that's all that's missing.
Oh well, If I decide it's more trouble than it's worth, there's an old krout in Alaska that wants it.:kidding:

[thekidd76]

I don't know nearly as much about these as the rest of the folks already commenting, but I would tend to agree with Gopher Slayer on this one. Check out some of the pics at the link below and I think you'll see more similarities.

http://forums.nitroexpress.com/printthread.php?Cat=0&Board=single&main=223042&type=thread

[MBTcustom]

That's a heck of a link! Thanks for posting.
The one labeled "Simson, Suhl, 1921" looks like a dead ringer. The rest are pretty different.
I wish I could get a hands on look at one of those trigger mechanisms, but the cutaway drawing there, is helpful. I shouldn't have any trouble fabricating something useable.

[thekidd76]

Glad to help..would love to see some pictures of it when you're done.

[Buckshot]

...........Quite often you can look high and low trying to identify old single shot rifles that have no name stamped on them. Wheather they were made by a 'company' or a single individual shouldn't be a problem as a legitimate company should have their name on it. That is, if they were proud of it at all. Otherwise unmarked actions would seem to be the work of individual gunsmiths or gunsmith apprentices. The falling block in it's various forms have been around for quite some time.

http://www.fototime.com/515796873462002/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/2BC6234D7037D74/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/56A137A43BA9195/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/648C82EC6113C60/standard.jpg

This action has only a single letter stamped on it. It is an internal hammer fired falling block and the entire action and lever are completely engraved. During the heyday of scheutzen shooting, or should some gentleman hunter be desirous of a single shot, there were any number of German, Austrian or English gunsmiths willing and ready to make whatever they might want. I don't have any idea who made this rifle I have, nor the country of origin. Any proof marks there may have been were probably on it's original barrel. It's no chambered for the Winchester 32-40, but I doubt it is original to the action.

...........Buckshot