Mehless Flibert shotgun?

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PennHunter

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Mehless Flobert shotgun?

I have a 9mm Flobert rimfire shotgun. It has stamped info on it stating that it was made by H. Mehless in Berlin. It is a single shot break action gun with a lever below the trigger guard that swings out to break the hinge action open. A large thumb screw can be removed to separate the barrel from the breech/stock. It has an octagon barrel. It is stamped 180 for what I assume is the serial number on several of the parts. The only info I have been able to find about it is that the NRA firearms museum has a record in their database stating a small gun maker named Mehless went out of business in 1940 in Berlin. I would love to know more about the gun and maker but have been coming up empty. I bought 9mm Flobert shot shells and they shoot nicely in the gun, which is in great shape. My father gave it to me. He bought it in the 1950's from a farmer who found it in a burned out German farmhouse while serving in the US Army during WW II and brought it back with hm. Any info at all is greatly appreciated.
 
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Welcome to TFL !

Mehless was most likely one of hundreds of small gunsmith operations, making various guns like your garden Gun, on the Flobert system prior to WWII - just about impossible to trace, w/o contacts in Germany.

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Thanks!

I appreciate this info! I have a friend who knows German, I'll ask her to translate it for me. Looks like a lot of cool history behind the gun
 
Pictures

Some pictures of the gun.
 

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Markings

There is very little wear on the metal parts of the gun, and even with very close examination with a magnifying glass after disassembling the gun, I'm finding no markings for the caliber (which I had determined already was 9mm Flobert), nor any other letters, symbols, etc. only those I described in my original post. Hoping to have the translated info from my friend any time now on the German link and ad info you guys gave me above. I'll share the gist of it once I get it.
 
Thanks!

A buddy of mine owns Hills, Valleys & Streams in Elmira, NY and he was able to get ammo for me recently. Due to our dictator governor Cuomo in NY state, we won't be able to purchase ammo other than face to face starting Jan 15th.
 
Does that apply to C&R license holders (FFL03) in NY as well? If not, you might want to consider applying for a license.
 
Translaton

I got a brief overview of some of the German text in the info you guys provided from my friend. Here's the gist of what Hippolit Mehles was about, sounds like a lot of us in our current times dealing with the same issues we are now:

Mr. Mehles apparently came to America for a while and saw how every American “carried” and was able to protect themselves from bad guys and bad things, so when he came back to Germany being a gun maker, he decided to push for the banishment of the gun control laws in effect at the time. He would go around the country and give speeches and send out ads. Although since his venues were small, it was hard to influence large numbers of people over to his side. One of the sayings he was famous for was “No man w/out a weapon, no woman w/out a weapon, no trip w/out a weapon, and no pleasure w/out a weapon!”. In 1879 socialism started to creep in and gun control and registration became a big deal, which was the beginning of the end for his dreams of all Germans “carrying”.

As far as the gun itself, my friend has a connection in Germany who is meeting with a gun company historian there, to see what he can find out regarding the gun, when it might have been made, etc. Hoping to hear in the next couple of days on that also and will share.
 
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