18394 GERMAN SINGLE SHOT PINFIRE SHOTGUN

Made by Engels of Bonn. This is a very high quality well made shotgun with deluxe features. The barrel is 31 5/8" long. The rear 11" has an octagonal cross section while the forward portion is round. It is 16 gauge and opened by means of an under lever. The bore is fine, mostly bright and shiny but with some very light pitting ahead of the chamber. In addition, the barrel is slightly bent but could be straightened. Externally, the barrel has suffered from poor storage. It is brown in color with light to moderate accumulation of oxidation in scattered areas. Lockup is tight and positive. A sling swivel is mounted on the bottom of the barrel ahead of the forend. The frame along with the backaction lockplate and hammer are completely covered with a fine hand engraved crosshatch and dot engraving pattern. Those surfaces are completely smooth and dull gray in color and show almost no wear. The mainspring is broken and missing. The lock does click up nicely in both notches. Engraved in a curved riband on the lockplate below the hammer is "ENGELS IN BONN." The same crosshatched pattern is present on the underlever, but it is brown in color and shows a little accumulation of oxidation. That same pattern is also carried over onto the long straight triggerplate. Mounted directly behind the triggerguard is a very ornate hand carved horn handrest with decorative support. That rest is attached by a large screw threaded perpendicularly into the triggerplate. The buttstock is made of the highest quality burl walnut. It is finely checkered as is the slender forend. The checkering shows almost no wear. There is a shallow molded cheekpiece on the left side of the buttstock. Buttstock does have several small dents and scratches along with a couple of fairly deep dents on the right side. In addition, there is evidence on the buttstock that it has been clamped in a vise with the pattern of the vise jaws embossed into the wood. It is mounted with a smooth steel shotgun buttplate which has some oxidation present on it also. Small sling swivel is attached on the bottom edge of the buttstock. The forend has a pushbutton release on the forward end. Overall condition of the gun is about very good.