Over the past few years, I’ve developed a real appreciation for German and European O/U shotguns. Continental gunmakers built some of the first breechloading, over-under shotguns. Gebruder Merkel was making O/Us as early as 1903, and the company continues to make them to this day.
The Merkel O/U you see here looks like it was made around 1952 or so. It’s a 200E, built on Blitz-style action with double Kersten bolts. Overall, it’s a very solid gun and extremely well made. It’s on Gunbroker now and the listing ends on Sunday, 4/20 @ 8:56:14 PM ET.
12 Ga. MERKEL FRERES SUHL Double Barrel Over Under Shotguns: Straight grip. It has working cocking indicators, double triggers and auto ejectors. It has 28″ barrels the chokes are .685 on top barrel and .700 on the bottom, and the length of pull on front trigger is 14 5/8″ and 13 5/8′ to the back trigger. The weight is about 7 pounds + -. The bluing is very nice, and it still retains some of the case color. The wood is solid with no visible signs of cracking. There are some light marks on the wood work which can be seen in the photos. The bores are very bright and shiny.
