It’s true. In 2003 I spent a couple of months talking to GSI about importing some 470 barreled actions in the white from Merkel. We never got from "here to there," but the fact that GSI imported 20ga shotguns for Rigby in California (as the basis for their DRs) came up in our discussions.

As to the other often reported rumor that Merkels are built on their 20ga shotgun actions - I visited the Merkel factory last October and they are the same receiver. In fact if you pull the stock off of a big-bore Merkel DR, there is a "20" cast into the back of the action forging.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with either, just verifying Dan's previous statement and noting what I saw and discussed at Merkel.

The other rumor often reported is that the Merkel is made with Chopper-Lump (Demi-Bloc) barrels. Either way it doesn't really matter, but - for the record - they are not Chopper-Lump.

As can be seen from the photo below, they are shoe-lump.