Engraved on sidelock of the 12-gauge Franz Kettner external hammer shotgun in photograph 1 above is a wonderful scene off flushing game birds. This photograph also shows the outcome every hunter hopes for in such a situation. The game birds in the engraving are most likely hazel grouse or grey partridge; the photograph shows a ruffed grouse. The scene in the engraving probably came from the Thuringian forests at the end of the 19th century; the photograph was taken in northern Maine this past October.

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There are two general conditions necessary to bring back into the field many of the century-old German hammer guns sitting in gun cabinets in the United States, a large percentage of which were brought here by returning soldiers after World War Il.