A few months ago I picked up a nice Simson Cape gun/shotgun combo, built in Suhl in November 1931.The gun has two brass pins through the wrist of the buttstock, as shown in my photo below. I assumed that this was a repair, but I wasn't thinking very clearly. There is not a single crack anywhere in the wrist nor behind either the upper or lower tangs. When I bought the gun, the checkering was so badly worn as to be non-existent in places. I re-cut all of the checkering and this process would have exposed any hidden repair in that area. Also these pins are perfectly flush with the surface of the wood and are perfectly contoured to match the compound curves in this area. Now I see a post below, by Jaeger01, concerning a Simson, Suhl, Cape gun which shows what looks like an identical brass pin in the exact same location as the forward pin on my gun. So now this makes me wonder, was this actually an option which was available from Simson in order to preclude cracking in the wrist area? I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who has a Simson Cape gun with the same brass pins or from Raimey who has forgotten more about these matters than most of us will know.

Best,
Ron Vella.