Educate me on German Drilling Guns

migrabill · Oct 24, 2026

The idea of purchasing a weapon that has both a shotgun barrel and a rifle barrel is intriguing to me. I know absolutely nothing about them. For those that are familiar, what should I be looking for? For starters i am not a reloader so the rifle chambering would have to be something I could buy commercially. I see a lot on the auction sights that says they have cracks. Does that make them unshootable? Although I would probably never hunt with it, I would like to take it to a range and play with it a little. What else do I need to know? Can an attractively engraved, older shootable German Drilling be had at 2500 or less?

375er · Oct 24, 2026

To answer your question on price. Yes, or close to it. Others on here will have more experience than I do. Depending on the locking mechanism, make sure it is "on face". They are fun to shoot for sure. Other things to pay attention to, loose barrel ribs, barrel steel nitro proofed. By cracks, if you mean in the stock, it depends on where they are located and stability. If @rookhawk chimes he has way more knowledge than I do.

Rimshot · Wednesday at 11:48 AM

I've owned several, both vintage and modern.

Some of the more common vintage ones that to be are more usable (hammerless and decently powerful cartridge) are 8x57ir or 8x57irs (sometimes jr/jrs in German lettering). These are nominally .318 and .323 bore diameter respectively. The irs is a little more available in the USA but the ir is sometimes too. Both much less common than 8x57 mauser though, so reloading helps a great deal.

The shotgun is often 16ga with 2 1/2 Inch (65mm) chambers. RST offers loaded ammo. Don't shoot normal 2 3/4" shells. Brenneke makes a 65mm 16ga slug load.

A lot of stocks develop small cracks, depending on where the crack is, may not be an issue.

I would shoot no more than 2 shots with the rifle barrel before letting it cool completely. If not, the point of impact will continue to climb drastically. They are usually very accurate due to the rigidity of the soldered barrels however.

Blaser has the best modern drilling right now. The D99 has floated barrels that don't suffer the poi shift. It's also very accurate. The weight and balance of the Blaser doesn't compare to an old one, but it's more practical with the universal scope mount, cartridge variety, and floated barrels. Expensive, but less than really fancy bolt rifle.

Muskox · Wednesday at 11:54 AM

You have to keep an eye out at gunshots. I picked up a Kreighoff drilling that was damn near new from LL Bean about 18 years ago for $2500. It was a current gun, in 30-06 and I sold it to fund another project without ever shooting it. I never did talk to Krieghoff or NE Gun Parts about mounting a scope.

Be aware that if the claw mounts or the scope break, that is a very expensive situation to repair them.

Educate me on German Drilling Guns

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