[gbran]

I would love to have an affordable drilling. 12x12 over .22lr. This would be great for upland game birds and small varmints such as squirrels, rabbits. Regardles my desires, I am very curious why drillings have never taken off in the US. And, sadly, the European drillings are just not affordable. Am I alone?

[huntsman]

drillings are a creation of the hunting situation, which is different in europe compared to the US.

Also I believe Americans are more fond of rifles, and the type of terrain and game here was more suited to just a rifle.

Also drillings are very expensive to manufacture , with a lot of hand fitting.

Why don't you buy the savage combo gun, not a drilling but very versatile.

[Onslaught]

I second the Savage...

I have no use for them, but my father owns 3!! He thinks they are the best thing since sliced bread, and has hunted with them for as long as I've been alive. He's even got a limited edition gold trigger/engraved receiver model, a .22 magnum over 20 gauge. Also in the safe are a .223 over 20 and a 30-30 over 12.

So few people around here even know what they are that dear ole dad's gotten some VERY strange looks from people when he's been hunting. I even remember one igno laughing and asking him "what the heck you wanna put a scope on a shotgun for?" He had to explain to Bubba that the top bbl was a 30-30. Of course, now, people do actually put scopes on shotguns too :)

I don't see the "24-V" even offered anymore. They've got the el-cheapO plastic stocks now, the "24 F"

[gbran]

I like the Savage combos. Unfortunately they are single shots. I can get by with a single shot 22, but find I need at least 2 rounds of shotshells. I hunt both quail and squirrel in the mountains. I don't like to use a shotgun on the squirrels. A drilling would solve my problem. I will admit however, that I've never seen a drilling in rimfire.

[Traveler]

Drillings are designed mostly for the type of shooting one encounters in Europe. Since the rifle barrel is usually for game taken from a stand the balance is different than a stalking gun. The smooth barrels are likewise for their type of hunting, which means that instead of being balanced for wingshooting they work best at small game on the ground.

The combination guns (because they build up guns with over half a dozen barrels and calibers, in over a dozen different configurations) are also indicative of the difficulty of the individual to own firearms in that part of the world. Since they are difficult and expensive to be allowed to possess, they must be able to do as much of the hunting that the owner wishes to do. Bluntly, they are designed to be the one gun that family will be able to have, to do all of the hunting, and to not be considered a military type arm.

As to the use of drillings in the U.S. we are lucky in that we have never been a country that needs to develop such things. Guns are, in comparison, easy to accumulate. We also hunt game on the move which is quite rare in Europe.

Just as a note...

While game laws in Europe tend to favor the use of such guns those of the U.S. in some cases will strictly forbid their use. For example, many States have laws that forbid the hunting of waterfowl or upland birds with a firearm that has a rifled barrel. Use of a Drilling in such a sport can result in the loss of the gun and hunting priviliges. Likewise you could be in the wrong in States where hunting larger game with a smoothbore is forbidden.

[BigG]

The drillings I've examined are usually 16 ga with some esoteric Euro caliber rifle bbl. They have a safety that doubles as bbl selector, when the rifle bbl is selected, a pair of rifle sights pop out of the shotgun rib. They are usually highly finished and engraved, also. With features like this, you can bet they are expensive, but probably worth every penny.

I agree that the utility probably is not a great here in USA as it is in heavily managed Germany, Austria, etc.

[SDC]

Cost is probably the single biggest factor; the work it takes to regulate two different rifled barrels to the same point of impact is tough enough when they're both shooting the same load. When they're shooting two different calibres (or even three different calibres, for some vierlings), th etime (and expense) goes WAY up. Probably the closest you'll find here is (as mentioned) the Savage O/U combo guns.

[Jim Watson]

Well, there was the Three-Barrel Gun Company in West Virginia, but it was the exception to the rule.

[Mannlicher]

gbran says "I would love to have an affordable drilling. "

wouldnt we all? but that is not going to happen. "Affordable drilling" is an oxymoron.

Drillings were popular in Europe, for several reasons, but they were never for the masses. Fact is, the average guy never got to hunt in Europe.

[Coronach]

Sure he did.

He just had to do it in the dark ages. :D

Mike

[Abominable No-Man]

Hold on a second, guys. Wasn't the drilling supposed to have two different caliber rifle barrels AND a shotgun barrel? I guess it's the same basic concept as the over and under, but the over and under isn't a drilling. After all, the Savage 24 series and the M6 survival rifle are pretty popular.

I thought that the actual drilling was designed for the european landowners, because they basically dictated what their hunting season whenever they saw something that they felt like shooting- i.e., the Baron goes on a stroll through his estates, sees deer, boar, and pheasant he wants to take home but doesn't feel like carrying more than one gun. Hence, a gun that can be used to take all three: larger-bore rifle, smaller-
bore rifle, and shotgun. Of course, lacking the manufacturing base that would make the drilling anything other than a custom gun, and, let's face it, when you're rich you can afford to have a "snob" gun (that and like was said earlier, the average guy didn't get to hunt in Europe).

I read somewhere that Hermann Goering tried to arm his Luftwaffe pilots with drillings in case they got shot down. Anyone else heard of this?

ANM

[SDC]

The "standard" drilling is a single major-calibre rifle barrel under a pair of shotgun barrels, but you can also get "bock drillings", which are usually a major-calibre rifle barrel AND a minor-calibre rifle barrel under a single shotgun barrel. If you want to go to the next step up, you can get a "vierling", which is usually a major-calibre rifle barrel under a pair of shotgun barrels with a minor-calibre (usually rimfire) rifle barrel set into the rib between the rifle and shotgun barrels.
The Luftwaffe DID issue drillings as survival weapons to their aircrew, and I was lucky enough to handle one; it had side by side 16 gauge barrels, with a 9.3x72R rifle barrel. They were marked with a big Luftwaffe eagle carrying a swastika in its claws.

[mswestfall]

I realize this is an old thread but I ran a search of drillings an this is the best I came across....

I want one for collection purposes but don't know where to begin. I found one at Cabelas in PA a few months back; twin 16's over a 7.8x57 if I remember correctly.

My (limited) experience is that the rifled bbl is the thing to consider.

I tried these websites:
www.chadickguns.com/site/drillings.htm
http://www.chadickguns.com/site/drillings.htm
http://www.drillinghotline.com

I am set on the 16 gauge over bbls. What should I consider (and not consider) for the rifled bbls?

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

[BigG]

7.8x57

I would think that would be 7.9X57 which is one of the euro designations of what we call the 8mm Mauser. They are also marked 7.92mm sometimes. All the same - same.

[SDC]

BUT you have to check the bore diameter as well; a lot of drillings were made with the older .318" bore, and it wouldn't be safe to fire a round for the modern .323" ammo in it.

[TrapperReady]

I've often thought a drilling would be a useful gun... but I think with the game laws and seasons in Wisconsin it would be too much of a pain. By that I mean that depending upon what you were hunting and where, it would be very eay to be illegal.

In an ideal world, it would be possible to upland hunt, but also legally shoot deer that you come across. I just got back from pheasant hunting in South Dakota, and we "flushed" almost as many whitetailed deer as we did roosters. Of course, the venison was out of season, but a couple of them would have offered relatively easy shot opportunities within 100 yards.

I think in an ideal world I'd have 16ga shotgun barrels with a single .30-30 rifle barrel... probably 26" with fold-down rear sight set for 100 yards. That would work great for grouse/deer hunting

[ArmedBear]

Here, we have significant overlap between Quail and Deer seasons, and the two edible species can often be found in the same area. There's some overlap between Dove II, Pheasant, and deer, too.

We were talking about having a shotgun and a rifle with us this weekend for that reason, but then we really limit our deer options. My first thought was, "Hmm... A drilling in 20 Gauge and 7mm-08 would be awfully nice!"

If the gun is balanced right, it could work.

[The Deer Hunter]

whats a drilling?

[ArmedBear]

Drilling from drei, the German word for three.

Usually two shotgun barrels and one rifle barrel, but can vary.

http://www.krieghoff.com/pages/3.6/images/bild2.jpg

http://www.krieghoff.com/pages/3.6/images/bild1.gif

Generally made in Germany or Austria by small, high-end operations. They're not inexpensive.:)

Some for sale: http://www.gunsamerica.com/1430/1430-random-1.htm

...or you can have one built for you... http://www.krieghoff.com/pages/3.6/pages/3.6.html

[PJR]

Interesting that this thread should resurface now because in the current edition of Shooting Sportsman magazine there is an article about an American made drilling.

The one mentioned has a .40-70 Sharps rifle barrel over two 16 gauge barrels and carries the name of a top American gun maker. The list price was $250.

Of course, the new price was 1884 when $250 was a LOT of money. The gun was made by Lefever for U.S. senator Henry Cabot Lodge.

[Navy joe]

mswestfall , how about .30-30 for the rifle barrel? I handled a JP Sauer & Sohn 16x16x.30-30 at an auction recently, what a wonderful gun in the hand, much more apt to wing-shooting than the 12ga drillings. I just wish I had the $3100 it went for.

I grew up around these guns and love them. My dad hunts with one in 12 over .30-06, doesn't get much better than that. The gun has taken rabbit, squirrel, goose, bear, deer, etc.

[The Deer Hunter]

Drilling from drei, the German word for three.

Usually two shotgun barrels and one rifle barrel, but can vary.





Generally made in Germany or Austria by small, high-end operations. They're not inexpensive.

Some for sale: http://www.gunsamerica.com/1430/1430-random-1.htm

...or you can have one built for you... http://www.krieghoff.com/pages/3.6/pages/3.6.html
__________________
"Do we really think that a government-dominated education is going to produce citizens capable of dominating their government, as the education of a truly vigilant self-governing people requires?" - Alan Keyes

Wow!

I never knew they had 3 barrel rifle/shotgun combos:D

[SDC]

There are even 4- and 5-barrel combination guns; here's a "vierling" ("vier"= "four" in German) that has 2 16-gauge barrels, one major calibre rifle barrel in 8mm Mauser, and one minor calibre rifle barrel in 22 Hornet. There are plenty of variations on this theme too; "bockdrillings" and "bockvierlings" are built on over/under lines, usually with the rifle barrel(s) either in the rib between the SG barrels or off to one side of the rib.

http://www.pugsguns.com/content/pictures/0516z-f.jpg

Only $11,500 at www.pugsguns.com

[mswestfall]

mswestfall , how about .30-30 for the rifle barrel? I handled a JP Sauer & Sohn 16x16x.30-30 at an auction recently...

Navy joe, The 16x16x.30-.30 is a great idea. It would fill my day-to-day needs. Thank you for the idea.

I also am a bit nostalgic and would like to consider an old gun made by an apprentice that will cost more than I can afford to spend. This would not be a quick decision item for me. So I'm asking now for the future. Any ideas?

[Jagermeister]

If I remember correctly, "Baker Arms" United States, made Drillings in the 20's & 30' maybe even later than that

HJN

[Okiecruffler]

I've seen several JP Sauers that while not cheap weren't too expensive. Last one I saw was about a year ago at a show, a 16X16X7mauser, for $2500. Had coin in pocket, but couldn't bring myself to spend that much on a gun I'd probably never shoot. Kinda sorry I passed on that deal.