My landlord (yes I had to leave my house because of work at least for a while) asked me to store a few of his firearms for the winter while he went to Florida. I have a safe to keep them. Plus he knows I have some knowledge of the net and he wants to sell some guns. So I've been doing some research on the guns starting with this Emil Kerner u. Sohn rifle.
This is a German rifle built by Kerner and his son. They operated out of the Suhl region in Germany which was famous for firearms before the World Wars. I have seen it said that Kerner and his operation actually became known as Suhl, the company that builds the rimfire rifles we hear are equal to Anschutz rifles. That's one thing I'd like to know more about.
I'm currently living in the Cincinnati region, which has a substantial German heritage. So it's no surprise that a rifle like this would show up here. My landlord doesn't really know much about the history of this rifle so I'm trying to learn what I can.
First a few things about the rifle. It's a .22 Hornet. It had quite a few black powder rounds fired through it so there is some pitting inside the bore but it isn't substantial. There is a small chip in the stock around the receiver but it causes no problems.
This rifle has an octagon barrel and a double set trigger, both of which are very common to these rifles. There aren't that many of these rifles around that I can find but they all seem to have the same barrel and trigger. And the trigger is fabulous. I test fired it and told my wife that's a 2 oz. trigger. Then I asked my landlord and he said indeed it was a 2 oz. trigger. It is a very sweet design. It's no wonder it was popular in German rifle making.
Yes that's a finger rest below the trigger guard. It's also the release for the break down action of the rifle. It is a single shot rifle. It also has a very think palm stock. Again these are common features although the exact design of the finger rests varies from maker to maker to suit their tastes I suppose.
The barrel has iron sights installed including a v rear sight with another v sight that pops up for firing longer distances. But there are claw type scope mounts on the rifle. I'm not sure if these are Redfield type mounts but someone hinted they were. I'm not that familiar with them myself.
The butt stock has a very nice cheek riser which is well designed and common to these rifles.
You might have noticed there is some metal work on this rifle. There are examples of similar rifles that have a great deal of ornate metal work. Those rifles can get very expensive. This one is fairly plain in comparison. It does have some information under the barrel.
Notice the crowns. There are also flower patterns around the rifle and a large crown design on the receiver.
Now for what I've learned about similar rifles. There seems to be two different styles of rifles that are related to this design. One type would be the German Schuetzen Rifle. They share the octagon barrel, the double trigger, the cheek riser, the small front stock and the iron sights. Schuetzen rifles were used for competitions mostly in Germany. The contests date back as early as any firearm accuracy contests. They started in the military and eventually spread to the civilian population around 1840. There was also a very active Schuetzen competition organization around Cincinnati up until the first world war when anti-German sentiment caused the competitions to end. But those rifles generally had butt stocks made to fit around the upper arm instead of butting against the shoulder. You've seen the curved stocks I'm sure. Those rifles can be very ornate. Some were clearly made for royalty in fact. They shot off hand for 200 yards which explains the heavy barrel but the light front stock. There were limits on the type of rest a person could use on the front stock too. They were generally confined to using particular ammo and I don't think the .22 Hornet was one of their choices. Still there are a lot of similarities to the rifle here in my safe.
Shooting black powder .22 Hornet ammo would date this rifle to just before WWI when the Schuetzen competitions were at their height in this area. But this rifle doesn't have the curved butt stock so again there are questions.
There is another type of German rifle that is also very similar and came out of the same regions of production. The stalking rifle shares many features with the Schuetzen rifles. They have the octagon barrels, the double triggers, the cheek rest and sometimes the thin front stock. Those guys also often had the same type of butt stock (shoulder type) that the rifle here has.
I have a lot more information I've picked up about these rifles. I know the one here has a standard layer of patina that is similar to what I see in the photos of all these rifles both of the Schuetzen type and the stalking rifle type.
So of course I'm fishing for information here. All I can get. And the main question is as always, how much is it worth? Is it a stalking rifle or a Schuetzen or neither? Is it something else? Did Kerner really go on to become known, with his sons, as the Suhl rifle makers. Some rifles actually ave Kerner's name and the word Suhl on them. There are photos of them around the net but I don't have permission to use those photos.
Any help would be appreciated. I don't want to try to burn someone up selling this rifle but I don't want to see my landlord come up short either. I'm doing this mostly as a favor although he did offer me a small amount to help him sell the rifle. I don't want someone to be doing my research for me but if you know the answers to some of my questions I'd be obliged if you could help me. I help people when I can. I'm hoping I can find some help now myself.
This is a German rifle built by Kerner and his son. They operated out of the Suhl region in Germany which was famous for firearms before the World Wars. I have seen it said that Kerner and his operation actually became known as Suhl, the company that builds the rimfire rifles we hear are equal to Anschutz rifles. That's one thing I'd like to know more about.
I'm currently living in the Cincinnati region, which has a substantial German heritage. So it's no surprise that a rifle like this would show up here. My landlord doesn't really know much about the history of this rifle so I'm trying to learn what I can.
First a few things about the rifle. It's a .22 Hornet. It had quite a few black powder rounds fired through it so there is some pitting inside the bore but it isn't substantial. There is a small chip in the stock around the receiver but it causes no problems.
This rifle has an octagon barrel and a double set trigger, both of which are very common to these rifles. There aren't that many of these rifles around that I can find but they all seem to have the same barrel and trigger. And the trigger is fabulous. I test fired it and told my wife that's a 2 oz. trigger. Then I asked my landlord and he said indeed it was a 2 oz. trigger. It is a very sweet design. It's no wonder it was popular in German rifle making.
Yes that's a finger rest below the trigger guard. It's also the release for the break down action of the rifle. It is a single shot rifle. It also has a very think palm stock. Again these are common features although the exact design of the finger rests varies from maker to maker to suit their tastes I suppose.
The barrel has iron sights installed including a v rear sight with another v sight that pops up for firing longer distances. But there are claw type scope mounts on the rifle. I'm not sure if these are Redfield type mounts but someone hinted they were. I'm not that familiar with them myself.
The butt stock has a very nice cheek riser which is well designed and common to these rifles.
You might have noticed there is some metal work on this rifle. There are examples of similar rifles that have a great deal of ornate metal work. Those rifles can get very expensive. This one is fairly plain in comparison. It does have some information under the barrel.
Notice the crowns. There are also flower patterns around the rifle and a large crown design on the receiver.
Now for what I've learned about similar rifles. There seems to be two different styles of rifles that are related to this design. One type would be the German Schuetzen Rifle. They share the octagon barrel, the double trigger, the cheek riser, the small front stock and the iron sights. Schuetzen rifles were used for competitions mostly in Germany. The contests date back as early as any firearm accuracy contests. They started in the military and eventually spread to the civilian population around 1840. There was also a very active Schuetzen competition organization around Cincinnati up until the first world war when anti-German sentiment caused the competitions to end. But those rifles generally had butt stocks made to fit around the upper arm instead of butting against the shoulder. You've seen the curved stocks I'm sure. Those rifles can be very ornate. Some were clearly made for royalty in fact. They shot off hand for 200 yards which explains the heavy barrel but the light front stock. There were limits on the type of rest a person could use on the front stock too. They were generally confined to using particular ammo and I don't think the .22 Hornet was one of their choices. Still there are a lot of similarities to the rifle here in my safe.
Shooting black powder .22 Hornet ammo would date this rifle to just before WWI when the Schuetzen competitions were at their height in this area. But this rifle doesn't have the curved butt stock so again there are questions.
There is another type of German rifle that is also very similar and came out of the same regions of production. The stalking rifle shares many features with the Schuetzen rifles. They have the octagon barrels, the double triggers, the cheek rest and sometimes the thin front stock. Those guys also often had the same type of butt stock (shoulder type) that the rifle here has.
I have a lot more information I've picked up about these rifles. I know the one here has a standard layer of patina that is similar to what I see in the photos of all these rifles both of the Schuetzen type and the stalking rifle type.
So of course I'm fishing for information here. All I can get. And the main question is as always, how much is it worth? Is it a stalking rifle or a Schuetzen or neither? Is it something else? Did Kerner really go on to become known, with his sons, as the Suhl rifle makers. Some rifles actually ave Kerner's name and the word Suhl on them. There are photos of them around the net but I don't have permission to use those photos.
Any help would be appreciated. I don't want to try to burn someone up selling this rifle but I don't want to see my landlord come up short either. I'm doing this mostly as a favor although he did offer me a small amount to help him sell the rifle. I don't want someone to be doing my research for me but if you know the answers to some of my questions I'd be obliged if you could help me. I help people when I can. I'm hoping I can find some help now myself.