Product Details
A RARE 8.15X46R FALLING-BLOCK SPORTING-RIFLE SIGNED OTTO BUHL, MODEL 'KERSTEN'S PATENT', serial no. 404,
circa 1925, with octagonal 31in. barrel, dove-tailed ramp fore-sight with side protectors, moulded half dove-tail rail for rear-sight (rearsight absent), the top of rail signed in gilt 'OTTO BUHL STRASSBURG I.E.', borderline and scroll engraved colour hardened slab sided action marked across the nocksform 'G. KERSTEN'S MOD III D.R.G.M.' over '368762', polished vertically dropping hammerless breech operated by a forward facing underlever with release trigger in a ring-shaped guard at tip, moulded double socket at wrist for peep-sight (sight absent), walnut butt-stock with chequered pistol-grip, iron furniture, double set trigger, walnut splinter schnabel fore-end with central depression for the under-lever release and iron swivels
Provenance: This unusual rifle was the brainchild of Gustav Kersten, a Swede who moved to Bavaria and found work as a blacksmith. Badly injured before World War One, he later ended up fighting for the Germans and rose through the ranks, finishing the war as a Master Armourer to the Prussian Army. Staying in Germany after the war he then became a somewhat inventive gunmaker and is credited with the so-called 'double Greener system' or 'Kersten Verschluss', a double bite system found on many continental over and under shotguns. This rifle is probably his least known invention, and seems to borrow the under-lever design from an earlier un-patented Dreyse idea. However the end result was a single shot falling block rifle with all the poise and grace of a fine bolt-action of the day. Sadly it was expensive to produce, and purists were not fans of the ring end of the under-lever embedded in the fore-end, so very few were produced. It has been recorded in various calibres from safari sizes to small bores
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Estimate £700-900
Sold as an exempt item under Section 58 (2) of the 1968 Firearms Act, to be held as a curiosity or ornament