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Here are some pictures of a lightweight,(2 1/2 inch), 16 ga. Nimrod shotgun by Thieme & Schlegelmilch that I own and use for Turkeys. It weighs 5 pounds 10 oz. unloaded, and has the stepped water table that is a feature of the Nimrod which is supposed to take recoil pressures off the hingepin and the Greener crossbolt. I think it does do that to some extent, but I am going to show you guys why it is one of my favorites, both in design, and to use and carry for hunting.

Nimrod is the model name and refers to the "stepped" type of action table that the Germans call a Verschlosh action, or something along that line. Nimrod, by the way, was a great bowhunter in ancient times that is mentioned in the Bible.

The first picture shows the gun assembled, the next ones show it taken down step by step. This is accomplished with just a screwdriver to remove the lockplate cross bolt. The piece I am pointing at with the pencil is a mainspring clamp which is inletted into the recess under the lockplate. The lockplate screw screws into a threaded hole in the hammers for cocking it past the normal full cocked position so that the mainspring clamp can be installed onto the mainspring. After getting it in place, the bolt can then be used to relieve the pressure on the sear, while the trigger is pulled and the hammer is gently let down with hand pressure on the screw and all the spring tension is held by the mainspring clamp.

Next the mainspring can be removed and then the hammer can be pulled out. Finally the sear is removed from its recess. The whole thing is done with just finger pressure and is reversed to put it all back together. Because of the shape and design of the sears, this gun has very nice trigger pulls. Also, we are looking at all the internal mechanisms except for the spring loaded cocking indicators that drop down from the top and interact with the hammers as they are cocked and fired.

The whole setup is lightweight,strong and simple, and because the parts are partly held and supported by the action, it is easy to access and clean it out in the field with just one small screwdriver. I wish that some company would build a lightweight double shotgun on this principal today because it is light and efficient with a minimum of parts and would surely sell very well. I hope these pictures will tell the story better than I have. I hope you enjoy them.

I guess I should tell you guys the rest of the story. I was working on this gun at my kitchen table and had it dis-assembled and spread out all over the work area. I had just started a new relationship with my new girlfriend after a nasty divorce. She was watching patiently over my shoulder and was asking some very pertinent questions from time to time. I told her that I couldn't figure out why the maker of this gun had inletted a seperate piece into the wood under the lockplate. I had at first thought maybe it was supposed to be a support piece for the lockplate of some kind, but that didn't really make much sense. I had never had it out before and didn't know it was slotted. She got to messing around with it and managed to get ahold of it with her long fingernails and extracted it from the stock, that's when we found it was a spring clamp. She also noted that there were threads cut inside the holes in the hammers, that's when the light finally came on in my head and I tried the lockbolt in one of them and found out it was a fit.

I have used spring clamps for years on muzzleloading mainsprings so it wasn't much of a stretch to figure out how this one worked. All very compact and convenient, and it could be worked on out in the field if necessary, with just a screwdriver.

You may have noticed that this is an old gun, on the barrels there is a loading inscription on both side that states "2G Sch.P. 27g Bl." I think this refers to 2grams of Schultz semi-smokeless powder OR 27 Grains of Black powder, in other words, this was made during the period when they were in the process of changing over from black to semi-smokeless powders and they didn't want anyone to get confused about the proper loading of this gun!

I decided after this experience that Marie was a keeper and we later got married. She has helped me many times to figure things out or to offer and extra hand when needed during the disassembly or re-assembly of guns. She was raised in Holland and knows German as well as a couple of other languages and that has come in handy more than once. We have now been together over 11 years and she still surprises me once in awhile. She just told me that "Verschluss" means "lock" in German, so "Nimrod Verschluss" means "Nimrod Lock". She also keeps track of my appointments, and my meds, and also takes these pictures for me, (I am not a good photographer). I think I'll keep her awhile,yet. Bob H.

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Note by CptCurl:

The discussion of this gun and the Nimrod Verschluss began on THIS THREAD.

At my request, Bob H. graciously added his post and photos to this permanent photographic forum.

There are more photos, informative discussion, and some interesting links to be found on the original thread.

Once again, thanks to Bob H.

Curl

Edited by CptCurl (08/10/08 10:20 PM)

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