Just a shot in the dark!

I did finf something on the underside of the barrels I hadn't noticed before, just in front of the SN there is a K&P 22XX.
The K would match the Klavberg, but no idea what the &P would mean. I'll keep searching. Anyone know of a German gun maker K&P?
 
a little update, I found that the action the shotgun is built on is a Simpson. I don't know the year, but it has a low serial number.
 
That confuses things even more; Simson (shouldn't be a "P" there) was a manufacturer based in Suhl who was taken over by the Nazis during WW2. They made lots of side by sides, but they should bear specific proofs. If you can pop the barrels off (open the latch under the forearm, pull the forearm down, and then rotate the barrels down off the receiver) and post some pictures of the proofs, that'll go a long way towards figuring this one out.
 
Your shotgun is of a pattern typically made for the European field hunter - 16ga extractor gun with sling swivels.

While I know you think your pics show a lot, in reality the most informative pics are missing - clear closeups of the proofmarks and other stampings in the metal of the bottom of the barrels, the barrel flats, and the action's watertable/flats, all nearly unviewable w/o first removing the forend and dismounting the barrels to inspect & photograph those parts.


For instance - If the barrels are marked "16-70", they are indeed chambered for 2-3/4" (70mm) fired-length shells; but if it's simply marked with a circled "16", or "16-65", then it's definitely chambered for the older/shorter 2-9/16" (65mm) fired-length shells ONLY, and should not be fired with longer ammo, even though unfired 2-3/4" shells will fit/seat in the shorter chamber.



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You are correct there is no p in Simson.
There is no manufacturers name on the shotgun. I will try to post a picture of the proofs.
 

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Well, there's no chamber length in the proofs, so that means it's chambered for the short (2 1/2") shells, and you've been really lucky that it didn't let go on you. The proofs are the pre-WW2 pattern, so it's likely that this gun was finished in the white by Simson, and then completed by someone else; are there any marks on the bottom of the gun, in front of the trigger? Also, are there any marks on the water table (the flat part in front of the firing pins, on the main part of the shotgun)?
 
There are no other marks in front of the trigger, there are Nitro stamped on each barrel, with an eagle proof.
I had the chambers measured and was told they are 2 3/4", so I will have that double checked. My uncle use to duck hunt with this gun, and I have used it for dove, quail, pheasant, and sporting clays. It is a nice bird gun, and it has a nice length of pull. My uncle was well over 6', and I am 6'3", and it fits me like a glove. I won't shoot it again until I have the chambers checked once more.
Is there a list of what the proof marks mean somewhere?
 
If this gun was initially proofed for Simson, it should have one of Simson's maker's marks on the water table (usually an "S" in the middle of 3 triangles that look like mountains); the crown "W" shows that this gun was proofed with choked barrels, and the crowned eagle and eagle over "U" show the initial and final proof. If the chambers are 2 3/4" now, that means the chambers were lengthened after it was brought back, and the smith who lengthened them didn't bother to mark it on the flats.
 
"IF" the chambers were professionally measured @ 2-3/4", and not by an amateur, then it's "possible" that the gun's chambers were lengthened & reproofed, since the barrel flats carry post-1950 inspection & nitro proofmarks from Suhl, E.Germany.

I say "lengthened", because the original, "shot" 2-9/16" (65mm) chamber markings (circled "16") are still in evidence, and apparently were not updated to "16-70" (2-3/4") when the work was done.

Your pic is out of focus for the area of the barrel undersides just forward of the barrel flats, but it looks like there's a Simson maker's mark there.

How about a better pic, and a pic of the action watertable/flat ?


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