Teach Me

[Bill Murphy]

I once found an outrageous Prussian Lindner 16 gauge hammer gun at the Allentown, PA gun show. After collecting Lindner guns for many years, I had never seen or heard of a smallbore Lindner hammer gun, especially one in medium high condition. The gun was just below a Diamond Grade and tight as a tick. It was easily a $3000 to $5500 gun. I asked the price and it was $700. I didn't care whether it had a stock or barrels and I peeled off $700 without asking any questions, which I knew the seller would not be able to answer, judging from his table full of brown guns. When I got home and much later examined the bores, I found that about 13 inches from the muzzles, there was a hole that went from one barrel to the next. Yes, a hole from left to right, or right to left. I chuckled to myself and wondered which previous owner had discovered the holes. Had the price been $5500 and I used one of the Robert Louis gauges to measure the bores, I would not have had any idea that the gun was virtually worthless as a shooter or collector gun. If you are considering purchasing a 34" barrel gun, you have to have a tool that will measure a 34" barrel. These little toy gauges are not worth ten cents to a serious collector. I have tools in my machinist's junk box that will do what the Robert Louis gauge will do.