RxHelix schrieb:
I can accept that not everybody likes it - estethics is a very personal matter - but to say it is a bad rifle not even worth 300 euros is perhaps a bit harsh?
No, it's not. 500 € might be adequate at the very most. Aesthetics is one issue (and of course the KR-1 cannot compare in this field to such elegant and fine arms as the Mod. 97 Schultz & Larsen, or - yes - the slightly more pedestrian Kongsberg); but mechanical over-design, usage problems (see the earlier misfire incidents discussed on the 'Net) and downright sillyness are the other issues, and these two speak against the gun. Handling the gun practically - as I of course did - is a near nightmare and leaves you with your head shaking like a metronome, in bewilderment. That a very BADLY DESIGNED gun can still shoot very accurately on the range, is of course no surprise, and has nothing at all to do with the mentioned issues.
Here in this forum, we have had various very critical threads on this gun, over the years. Dogfather remarked already in 2004: "Denn das Geschreibsel, wonach einfach jede neue Waffe irgendwie toll und immer zu empfehlen ist (aktuell der große Reb zu der sehr fragwürdigen Merkel KR 1 in der PIRSCH), mag ich persönlich nimmer lesen."
Similarly this very instructive and substantial older thread:
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=19990&start=45
(And another case of wanton and reckless German engineering playgrounds for play's sake is the Krieghoff Semprio, but that's another field...).
Carcano