Alpine rifle reaches the heights
Tom Cackett says the Haenel Jaeger 9 proves that good things come in small packages
Ihave to remind myself occasionally that my job title does not incorporate professional deerstalker. More’s the pity. It also means that I have to fit my deerstalking in around my ‘nine to five’. This isn’t too hard in the summer when we are blessed with beautiful clear mornings and warm sunny evenings, but in the winter when daylight hours are precious it can be difficult. During these months, I end up deerstalking at first light before frantically trying to make it to the office for 9am.
Sometimes, when I’m really pushed for time, the rifle also comes with me to the office, which isn’t ideal, especially as I work in a city and even in a gunslip a rifle isn’t exactly inconspicuous. The solution to all my problems came late one evening when I was watching an Austrian chamois hunt on YouTube. The hunter was wearing a traditional Tyrolean hunting hat but that wasn’t what had caught my eye, it was the rifle he was using; it looked like a single-barrelled over-and-under shotgun fitted with a scope. The best bit came after the hunt when the hunter demonstrated that the rifle dismantled in exactly the same way as an over-and-under shotgun.
A bit of “Googling” later and I’d established this type of rifle was called a Kipplauf, which essentially translates as single-shot break-barrel rifle, one primarily intended for lightweight alpine use. They are beautifully simple and I was instantly taken with the design; I could picture myself owning one of these rifles that broke down neatly into a package no bigger than your average briefcase. A bit more research and I found a Kipplauf that suited my budget – the Haenel Jaeger 9. It retails for around £1,800, so not exactly cheap, but cheap for a Kipplauf. Haenel is a subsidiary of Merkel, and Merkel’s own Kipplauf rifle retails for double the price.
Out of the box
As soon as I unboxed my Haenel Jaeger 9
I was struck by how sleek, slender and light it was. To give you something to compare it against, a normal Tikka T3X Hunter weighs 3kg out of the box and is 1,088mm in overall length. The Jaeger 9 weighs just 2.3kg and is 1,025mm in length. With a rifle as light as this I expected the recoil to be horrendous, but for reasons I can’t explain it isn’t. The standard barrel length is 24in, which certainly helps with muzzle flip. Kipplaufs are traditionally shot unmoderated, so don’t bother asking if the rifle comes screwcut. The wood on the rifle is Grade 1/Grade 2 walnut, and while not hugely exotic, I thought it looked rather nice. The stock has a lacquer finish (which I am itching to take off and give a hand-oiled finish), and is fitted with a decent sized rubber recoil pad. Chequering on the pistol grip and fore-end provide a nice amount of grip. The rifle also comes pre-fitted with a sturdy set of sling swivels – a nice touch.
The loading and unloading process for the Jaeger 9 is exactly the same as for an overand-under. The only difference is the safety; it doesn’t automatically cock itself because it is designed to be carried with a cartridge in the chamber. Instead, there is a tang-mounted safety which, when pushed all the way forward, cocks the rifle. To uncock it and make it safe, you simply bring the safety back again.
The metalwork on the rifle is beautifully finished and marries with the woodwork seamlessly, but you would expect this in a rifle from the Merkel Group. The rifle isn’t particularly “showy” and, in fact, the only bit of the rifle that isn’t plain is the top lever, which has some tasteful scrollwork engraved into it. This minimalism is really an homage to what a Kipplauf is intended to be.
German reliability
What I really like about this rifle is its “German-ness”. What I mean by that is that everything just works in a very no-nonsense sort of way. Everywhere you look on the rifle are small examples of this – the foresight at the end of the barrel is, for example, springloaded, meaning it simply depresses if it gets caught on anything.
Being a European rifle, the rail on the top of the receiver is a “Euro rail”, primarily designed to be paired with quick-release clip-on, clip-off mounts. I know what you are probably thinking: won’t the rifle scope lose its zero if it keeps being taken off the rifle? Well, no, actually; your point of impact might move slightly, and I do mean slightly, but never anything more than you’d notice when shooting deer.
So, how does it shoot? Well, I opted for my rifle in .308 and picked up a selection of 150g bullets. The worst gave me a 2 MOA (minute of angle) group at 100 yards, the best (Sako Hammerhead) gave me a sub-1 MOA group. This accuracy is in part thanks to the tilting block system within the receiver. This ensures that each time the rifle is opened and closed a small L-shaped piece fits the barrel and firing pin together with pinpoint accuracy, giving the same headspacing each time.
Cosmetically the Haenel Jaeger 9 is incredibly basic but it somehow still feels elegant and classy. Having taken it out deerstalking a few times, there is something refreshing about carrying such a light and pointable rifle. We often fit modern guns with bulky moderators that ruin the balance, five-shot magazines that mean we have a back-up shot if needed and plastic stocks to reduce weight. None of this applies with a Kipplauf, so not only do you get a wellbalanced rifle with a lovely wooden stock,
“The rifle is incredibly basic but it somehow still feels elegant and classy”
but the single-shot capacity also makes you take much more care before pulling the trigger. In other words, it forces you to be a hunting connoisseur precisely placing each shot. Shooting a Kipplauf is not just about shooting a rifle that dismantles, it is an experience that heightens your senses, brings you closer to your quarry and because it’s so light you won’t even notice you’re carrying it.