So, I just learned about these this morning and am wondering how I never knew combination guns like these were a thing. Figured I would share in case there were any that, like me, were unaware of these works of art










These guys seem to make some nice models:
Retz & Sohn

always been fascinated by combination guns like that.

When I was younger I didn't understand the appeal of single shot rifles, especially the finely made break overs like these. I've learned better since then.

They are pretty cool. If you can get someone to handle the import hassle for you, the European market has a boat load of quality used ones for fairly reasonable prices.

Not exactly the same thing but I used to love walking the Louisiana backwoods with a Savage O/U combo as a kid. Worked great for killing whatever you might stumble across. Seemed there was always a skirl, wood duck, or rabbit or three that made their way home to the pot.

That is way too fancy to actually shoot!

These have been around for a while, my grandfather always called them "drillings". Said a buddy of his had one that was a .22 barrel on top of a .410 double and was the absolute best squirrel gun he had ever seen.

if pawn stars is correct, that's the german name for them

yea, it has to do the number of barrels since drillings have 3 barrels (drei being 3 in german) and vierlings have 4 (vier bieng 4 in german)

I did not know that one, thank you for the explanation!

Still very popular in Europe. The drilling is a 3 barrel gun (usually 2 shotgun and 1 rifle), the vierling is a 4 barrel gun. Never seemed like a practical set up to me except maybe for turkeys.

haha no problem. i just learned this morning. when i saw the one in the first picture show up on my FB, i decided i must know what it was and proceeded to burn about an hour researching combination guns.

Uncle has an older .222/.410 that's pretty neat

Blaser still makes them. I'm not sure what I would do with one but I want one!

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Still very popular in Europe. The drilling is a 3 barrel gun (usually 2 shotgun and 1 rifle), the vierling is a 4 barrel gun. Never seemed like a practical set up to me except maybe for turkeys.

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My grandfather had a drilling - double barrel 16g/8mm Mauser. He used for turkeys but had the 8mm if he ran across a black bear. This was in Pennsylvania in the 20's and 30's.

I wish I could find where it eventually ended up.

Those just look heavy to me.

With four barrels I know exactly how it would play out for me, everything would get shot with the wrong load, squirrel gets the rifle rounds, smaller round goes at the turkey and I piss off a bear with the 20ga.

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With four barrels I know exactly how it would play out for me, everything would get shot with the wrong load, squirrel gets the rifle rounds, smaller round goes at the turkey and I piss off a bear with the 20ga.

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My luck, I accidentally trigger every damn barrel at once, miss, drop and break the gun in the process of breaking my collar bone.

no rail, flashlight, tripod,30 round clip

1/10 wnb

My father-in-law has an old combo gun he's had since he was a teenager, but nothing at all this fancy or ornate. It's got a 20 gauge barrel underneath and a .357 barrel on top. I never fired it, but it's a cool looking gun.

It stays in the gun safe now, but he said it used to be his truck gun. He told me he once pulled it out on a guy that was trying to start a fight with him in a bar and followed him out to his truck.

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With four barrels I know exactly how it would play out for me, everything would get shot with the wrong load, squirrel gets the rifle rounds, smaller round goes at the turkey and I piss off a bear with the 20ga.

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My luck, I accidentally trigger every damn barrel at once, miss, drop and break the gun in the process of breaking my collar bone

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+1

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Those just look heavy to me.

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Well that's because you're a friggin' bird. They're meant for men.

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Still very popular in Europe. The drilling is a 3 barrel gun (usually 2 shotgun and 1 rifle), the vierling is a 4 barrel gun. Never seemed like a practical set up to me except maybe for turkeys.

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If I had to guess, I'd say it was due to some regulation. Goverment allows one person one gun. or cost of permit too high. Something like that.

Maybe a 3fer is less expensive than separate guns. Don't know.

that was my understanding, the idea was to own one gun that could do two or three things.


I've held a german made drilling one time. Granted i was about 16, but honestly I don't remember it being all that much heavier than my sxs

Obviously not as fancy, but Savage made the 24 for years and some of them are pretty nice guns. They made them in all kinds of combinations. I have one in .222/20 gauge.

The one I want is the camper version. It's the 24c. It's a .22/20 and is a takedown with ammo storage inside the stock and a nice leather case.

I also wouldn't mind the 30-30/12 gauge.