Drillings

[9.3x64]

Hi all,
I thought I would share a few pictures of my passion for German and Austrian Drilling’s , hopefully someone might enjoy seeing them.
I first learnt to shoot when I was a young fella shooting my grandfather’s old drilling around Crows Nest in Queensland, just orth of Toowoomba.
This old gun was chambered in 16 gauge x 16 gauge, with a 7x57R barrel underneath. It was a rough old gun to be honest, what they called a guild gun, a workhorse. However it put an incredible amount of food on our family’s kitchen table through some very dark times. Everything from duck and hare to red deer.
Ever since those days as a young boy I have always wanted to own my own drilling just like my grandfather, well I did after many years finally get that drilling, and then two more. It’s a shame my Grandfather never got to hunt with them.

The last 2 pics are of an East German GDR Merkel drilling in 12 gauge by 12 gauge x .222 Remington. Factory left hand, colour case hardened receiver, and a set trigger that when you engage the .222 barrel rks perfectly everytime. Amazing workmanship.

The second drilling, pics 1,2, and 3 are of a Merkel 961L double rifle drilling with two 9.3x74R barrels on the top and a 3” 20 gauge underneath. It shoots two 320 grain Woodleigh projectiles two inches apart at 50 metres and a bit closer at 100 metres. It is a factory left hand and built on a tiny 28 gauge action, the whole thing only weighs in at 3.2kgs and is very slim. The front trigger is a driven hunt trigger which operates both rifle barrels in quick succession, without moving your finger.

The first drilling pics 1and 2 are a 2018 Blaser BD14 Bock drilling with a 3” 20 gauge shotgun on top of a 7x65R underneath, and a .22 Hornet barrel on the side. This drilling is extremely slim and only weighs 3.3kg. The Hornet barrel is completely adjustable for regulation, so you sight the scope in for the 7x65R and adjust the Hornet barrel in very easily to the same point of impact. This drilling is useful for everything from quail to sambar.

Anyway that’s my passion, I hope someone gets a little enjoyment from this post.
Allan

[Am88]

I just came from the which gun would you keep thread and seen the blaser, was going to comment there but don't need to now, these are different and intriguing and very cool, Ive always wanted to own a nice single shot rifle, unfortunately for me something like this would not be practical but veru cool none the less. Awesome.

[flutch]

being in WA that looks like a licensing nightmare.

[9.3x64]

being in WA that looks like a licensing nightmare.

Yes I imagine it would be, and to further complicate matters you can purchase various insert barrels from .22 Rimfire up to 6x70 etc for the shotgun barrel.

[bigpete]

Lovely

[Stix]

Very nice indeed...

Id love to have one or three...but would just chew up safe room for other things more practical to me...

But if i win the lotto...

Anyway....they look very nice & im intrigued at the engineering involved...think id love to have few shots through each...(except being a right hander would be awkward...)

[JimTom]

Thanks for sharing that mate. Definitely an interesting bit of kit that’s for sure.

[9.3x64]

Thankyou all for the comments.
Glad you enjoyed the pics.

[Ricochet]

Wow, nice story and even nicer guns. Those are like the oldschool E type jag classics of firearms

[InisBineest]

I'd love to see a modern drilling made in more common calibers. Say 12g, .223, .308. I really enjoy firearms that are just not quite ordinary, but i can't affort to reload anything but the most common loads.

[8x57]

Nice interesting story and pictures, thanks for sharing

[bladeracer]

I'd love to see a modern drilling made in more common calibers. Say 12g, .223, .308. I really enjoy firearms that are just not quite ordinary, but i can't affort to reload anything but the most common loads.

If you're loading your own ammo it really doesn't matter if the cartridge is common. There is an argument that if you're only shooting .223 or .308 there's little to gain by reloading anyway as the ammo is cheap, especially after you sell the brass. Anything less common can be loaded for similar costs as it's really only the brass that is specific to a chambering, primers, powders and bullets are very generic and suit many different cartridges. And even if you have to pay $2 per case for something obscure, ten or twenty loads per case is still way cheaper than buying even the cheapest ammo.

[bigpete]

This ^^^^

[InisBineest]

If you're loading your own ammo it really doesn't matter if the cartridge is common. There is an argument that if you're only shooting .223 or .308 there's little to gain by reloading anyway as the ammo is cheap, especially after you sell the brass. Anything less common can be loaded for similar costs as it's really only the brass that is specific to a chambering, primers, powders and bullets are very generic and suit many different cartridges. And even if you have to pay $2 per case for something obscure, ten or twenty loads per case is still way cheaper than buying even the cheapest ammo.

I hear that argument an awful lot, but I really can't swallow it. I can buy bulk Hornady or PPU .223 for about 50c a round, but I also could load them myself for about 38c a round, with the satisfaction and capacity to load them any which way I please. If you just want to shoot and are not fussed with penny's sure, buy what you like. But I have a teacher's salary, a mortgage and kids:) I'm not crying poor by any means, but it means I do have to budget to do what I love, and investing in the reloading gear I have when I was younger (no mortgage, no kids) was the best thing I ever did shooting wise.

I'd love to have something that is a little less common or a little more specialised, but i have to stick to what i can afford AND enjoy often. I mean i spent stupid money on a WFA1L, but only as i can afford to shoot it often:) Make sense? I couldn't do the same with say a Schmidt–Rubin straight pull, or even a 45-70 Sharps Rifle (which i would love one day!) as the ammo is just that little bit pricier for me just now. So while a drilling in 308/223/22lr might go as far as to offend some traditionalist, it could be awfully practical for some of us.

[bladeracer]

I hear that argument an awful lot, but I really can't swallow it. I can buy bulk Hornady or PPU .223 for about 50c a round, but I also could load them myself for about 38c a round, with the satisfaction and capacity to load them any which way I please. If you just want to shoot and are not fussed with penny's sure, buy what you like. But I have a teacher's salary, a mortgage and kids:) I'm not crying poor by any means, but it means I do have to budget to do what I love, and investing in the reloading gear I have when I was younger (no mortgage, no kids) was the best thing I ever did shooting wise.

I'd love to have something that is a little less common or a little more specialised, but i have to stick to what i can afford AND enjoy often. I mean i spent stupid money on a WFA1L, but only as i can afford to shoot it often:) Make sense? I couldn't do the same with say a Schmidt–Rubin straight pull, or even a 45-70 Sharps Rifle (which i would love one day!) as the ammo is just that little bit pricier for me just now. So while a drilling in 308/223/22lr might go as far as to offend some traditionalist, it could be awfully practical for some of us.

Do the maths yourself then. You already have the reloading gear, right? So you pick yourself up something exotic, like an M1904 Portuguese Mauser in 6.5x58mm, ammo that has not been manufactured since the fifties. You can order custom dies for the specific cartridge for $2-300, or do as I do and use a Lee RGB 6.5x52mm Carcano die set for about $40. You buy a bunch of once-fired brass in .270 or .30-06 and run it through the Carcano die to neck it down to 6.5mm. Then you load it up with the same powder and primers you'd use in many other cartridges. Then you use the same 6.5mm bullets you'd use in any other 6.5mm cartridge. Get 20+ loads out of the brass and the cost of the brass is virtually nothing. You will have saved more than the cost of all your reloading equipment within just a few hundred rounds, if you could even buy 6.5x58mm ammo. You could _certainly_ afford to shoot 7.5x55mm if you load it yourself, probably cheaper than you're currently paying for your .223Rem ammo.

Buy a $50 mould and you can shoot even cheaper still.

[InisBineest]

Do the maths yourself then. You already have the reloading gear, right? So you pick yourself up something exotic, like an M1904 Portuguese Mauser in 6.5x58mm, ammo that has not been manufactured since the fifties. You can order custom dies for the specific cartridge for $2-300, or do as I do and use a Lee RGB 6.5x52mm Carcano die set for about $40. You buy a bunch of once-fired brass in .270 or .30-06 and run it through the Carcano die to neck it down to 6.5mm. Then you load it up with the same powder and primers you'd use in many other cartridges. Then you use the same 6.5mm bullets you'd use in any other 6.5mm cartridge. Get 20+ loads out of the brass and the cost of the brass is virtually nothing. You will have saved more than the cost of all your reloading equipment within just a few hundred rounds, if you could even buy 6.5x58mm ammo. You could _certainly_ afford to shoot 7.5x55mm if you load it yourself, probably cheaper than you're currently paying for your .223Rem ammo.

Buy a $50 mould and you can shoot even cheaper still.

Don't get me wrong, i understand that reloading an exotic cartridge is far far cheaper than buying them new. And i also understand that those calibres can be doable in the long run for a reasonable price. But within the realm of reloading, 223 (or other 224 cal projectile based rounds), 308, (or other 30 cal based rounds) and 9mm/.38 all seem to be the cheapest to to run with. These loads are cheap to buy in small or bulk quantities, where as i find something such as 6.5mm rounds harder to get for the same economy. I know i'm scratching the difference between cheap and very cheap, but for me (and some others no doubt) that is a differnce. My argument is primarily against the notion that reloading for somthing as common as 223 is not worth it. 223 in any way you look at it is cheap, but reloaded 223 is simply cheaper in the long run. (And by my maths i broke even about 4 years ago for the cost of the gear:)

And hey, while a drilling in those cartridges would certainly not be traditional, i would wager there would be a small market for people who would buy it (small, but present) given that so many of us run those calibres anyway. Just a thought.

[bladeracer]

Don't get me wrong, i understand that reloading an exotic cartridge is far far cheaper than buying them new. And i also understand that those calibres can be doable in the long run for a reasonable price. But within the realm of reloading, 223 (or other 224 cal projectile based rounds), 308, (or other 30 cal based rounds) and 9mm/.38 all seem to be the cheapest to to run with. These loads are cheap to buy in small or bulk quantities, where as i find something such as 6.5mm rounds harder to get for the same economy. I know i'm scratching the difference between cheap and very cheap, but for me (and some others no doubt) that is a differnce. My argument is primarily against the notion that reloading for somthing as common as 223 is not worth it. 223 in any way you look at it is cheap, but reloaded 223 is simply cheaper in the long run. (And by my maths i broke even about 4 years ago for the cost of the gear:)

And hey, while a drilling in those cartridges would certainly not be traditional, i would wager there would be a small market for people who would buy it (small, but present) given that so many of us run those calibres anyway. Just a thought.

I agree, everything is cheaper to reload than to buy factory ammo, if cost is your goal.

I do like drillings for what they are, but that is essentially an old-school, driven-hunt firearm, complete with an obscure Euro-centric chambering. I just don't know that there'd be much appeal for such a firearm in a modern "common" chambering. A bit like buying a milsurp rifle and rechambering it to a modern cartridge, to me you've lost the reason you wanted the milsurp in the first place, its historical value. I think it'd be the same with a traditional drilling.

Drillings are also not generally cheap (you're paying for three chambered barrels for a start, plus three complete firing mechansims), so the cost of rechambering one to a modern chambering of your choice would be fairly insignificant in the bigger picture. As you don't need a bolt face to fit a cartridge you merely have to recut the chamber, so a Hornet, .222Rem, .222Mag,, 222R, and many more exotic .224" chamberings should easily convert to .223Rem.

You could probably fairly easily convert the top barrel of the Chiappa Triple-Threat to a rifled barrel by machining a normal barrel to fit inside the smoothbore tube.

[InisBineest]

Oh Hell no! No I wouldn't dare bastardise an old style drilling for the sake of cheaper ammo, they are works of art just as they are! I was being more wishful with the idea that somone might make something like the Savage model 24 but in the style of a drilling rather than a under over combo gun. Wishful thinking i know, but just something i would go for.

[Tassiebloke]

Oh Hell no! No I wouldn't dare bastardise an old style drilling for the sake of cheaper ammo, they are works of art just as they are! I was being more wishful with the idea that somone might make something like the Savage model 24 but in the style of a drilling rather than a under over combo gun. Wishful thinking i know, but just something i would go for.

amen to that. some people don't have an appreciation for classic cartridges.
i don't shoot at a range, but i have mates that do and they all have noticed that you'll hardly ever find someone shooting anything other than 22lr, 223, 308, 300wm and 12ga, which is a shame considering how many wonderful calibres and guns there are that are being ignored. but saying that, i'm not a tacticool mag dumper, so a need for cheap factory ammo just isn't there for me. most of my guns don't even get to 100 rounds a year. not because i don't shoot them because i'm worried about barrel life or anything like that, it's just because i shoot them when i have a need for them and that isn't very often.

[Muzzz]

I have a 30.06-30.06 20 gauge Merkel Bok Drilling , very nice gun

[9.3x64]

I have a 30.06-30.06 20 gauge Merkel Bok Drilling , very nice gun

Would love to see a photo Muzzz.