One Day...
AH elite
Buying a used double
The "water table" is the top flat part of the action upon which the bottom flat part of the barrels (the "barrels flats") comes to rest when the action is closed.
The "face" is the vertical part of the action against which the breech of the barrel comes to rest when the action is closed.
Two great potential issues with a double can be:
A double rifle "on the face" and with a "perfect water table" or "tight water table" is a rifle that has no gap between face and breech, and no gap anywhere between barrels bottom and water table, especially where the water table meets the face.
You can test this very easily. A double rifle should not be able to fully close, that is the opening top lever should not be able to swing back all the way to the center of the action if a thin wedge of 20 lb. paper (thinnest common copy paper) is placed either between the breech and the face, or between the barrels flat and the water table. In the old days the test used cigarette paper. The action was supposed to fully close and lock, but the paper was supposed to tear when pulled from the closed action.
DO NOT buy (or shoot) a double, used or new, (yes, new!!! you would be surprised by some lower priced doubles........... you get what you pay for ...........) that allows a wedge of paper to slide freely between the breech and the face, or between the barrel flats and the water table, and/or shows light between the water table and a machinist edge placed on top of it. It is either a poorly made double, or a worn double (this can possibly be fixed by replacing the bolts that lock in the underlugs, but not always), or a damaged double.
Check the usual and visual clues:
This can only be tested by firing the rifle, but not everyone can test it. Indeed most of the rifles doubling are not due to defective rifles, but to novice shooters who "strum" the rear trigger under recoil.
Assuming that you know how to shoot a double without hitting involuntarily the rear trigger under recoil ("strumming" it), the way to test (without reaping your head and shoulder off) that a rifle is not doubling is to load a live round in the first barrel and a primed shell (no powder, no bullet) in the second barrel. If both primers are hit when you open the action, the rifle has a problem...
It goes to say that if you think your rifle doubles, and you ask a more experienced shooter to perform the above test, and the second primer comes out pristine, you know what/who the problem is...
And of course, the rifle must group less than 4" at 50 yards with about any commercial ammo, and the holy grail is 2" at 50 yards (Rigby say 1.5" at 65 yards, which is the same as the trajectories start to converge), with your hunting ammo. Yes, yes, I know, I can already hear the slurping of the 1/4" "snipers" licking the stamps for the hate mail about the unacceptability of a 2" groups, never mind 4" groups, but in the real world, where doubles are mostly shot off hand at big targets (including elephant brains) at short range, 2" is a 1/4 minute of Buffalo vitals and 1/2 minute of Elephant brain, and even 4" is OK if your ammo was lost in transit and you can only shot what you find in country.
And the rifle must fit you. In the old days, and still today for wealthy customer's, people were measured for their double, as they were for their suits. But if you are blessed with the "common man" anatomy, neither too tall or too short, anywhere between 5 ft. some and 6ft and a few, and you look good in an off-the-rack suit, you will generally be OK with a double produced by a maker that uses a standard template to shape the stock, which is the majority of doubles produced, save here or there for an artisanal one.
Everything else is just cosmetics... Wood can be refinished, steel re-polished and re-blued, rear or front sight height changed, recoil pad lengthened or shortened, etc. etc.
All of that to say that Green Chile said something really profound when it comes to buy a used double, or even a new one for that matter: getting a rifle that has been "sorted" is an enormous plus.
The "water table" is the top flat part of the action upon which the bottom flat part of the barrels (the "barrels flats") comes to rest when the action is closed.
The "face" is the vertical part of the action against which the breech of the barrel comes to rest when the action is closed.
Two great potential issues with a double can be:
- Worn bolts that slide in the underlugs and that do not draw the barrels flats tightly onto the action water table, and the breech tightly against the face.
- A bent water table, when the action was submitted to excessive force with over-pressure ammo (cordite ammo cooked in the sun was the classic issue; ill-advised maximum reloads are the modern issue) that try to force the action open during firing. As the brass is pushed back on the face and tries to escape upward because the barrels hinge pin is located under the barrels, the barrels that are locked to the water table by the bolts in the underlugs cannot move, and the action itself bends. Remember that double rifles take a lot less pressure (~40,000 PSI) than bolt actions (~65,000 PSI).
A double rifle "on the face" and with a "perfect water table" or "tight water table" is a rifle that has no gap between face and breech, and no gap anywhere between barrels bottom and water table, especially where the water table meets the face.
You can test this very easily. A double rifle should not be able to fully close, that is the opening top lever should not be able to swing back all the way to the center of the action if a thin wedge of 20 lb. paper (thinnest common copy paper) is placed either between the breech and the face, or between the barrels flat and the water table. In the old days the test used cigarette paper. The action was supposed to fully close and lock, but the paper was supposed to tear when pulled from the closed action.
DO NOT buy (or shoot) a double, used or new, (yes, new!!! you would be surprised by some lower priced doubles........... you get what you pay for ...........) that allows a wedge of paper to slide freely between the breech and the face, or between the barrel flats and the water table, and/or shows light between the water table and a machinist edge placed on top of it. It is either a poorly made double, or a worn double (this can possibly be fixed by replacing the bolts that lock in the underlugs, but not always), or a damaged double.
Check the usual and visual clues:
- smoothness of the chambers - cordite used to corrode them incredibly fast; so does lack of proper care today in humid climates;
- absence of erosion of the throats - repeated shooting in excessively long strings;
- sharpness of the rifling - worn barrels from numerous steel jacketed solids, or recent use of too hard modern naval bronze bullets (e.g. A Square Monolithic);
- etc.
This can only be tested by firing the rifle, but not everyone can test it. Indeed most of the rifles doubling are not due to defective rifles, but to novice shooters who "strum" the rear trigger under recoil.
Assuming that you know how to shoot a double without hitting involuntarily the rear trigger under recoil ("strumming" it), the way to test (without reaping your head and shoulder off) that a rifle is not doubling is to load a live round in the first barrel and a primed shell (no powder, no bullet) in the second barrel. If both primers are hit when you open the action, the rifle has a problem...
It goes to say that if you think your rifle doubles, and you ask a more experienced shooter to perform the above test, and the second primer comes out pristine, you know what/who the problem is...
And of course, the rifle must group less than 4" at 50 yards with about any commercial ammo, and the holy grail is 2" at 50 yards (Rigby say 1.5" at 65 yards, which is the same as the trajectories start to converge), with your hunting ammo. Yes, yes, I know, I can already hear the slurping of the 1/4" "snipers" licking the stamps for the hate mail about the unacceptability of a 2" groups, never mind 4" groups, but in the real world, where doubles are mostly shot off hand at big targets (including elephant brains) at short range, 2" is a 1/4 minute of Buffalo vitals and 1/2 minute of Elephant brain, and even 4" is OK if your ammo was lost in transit and you can only shot what you find in country.
And the rifle must fit you. In the old days, and still today for wealthy customer's, people were measured for their double, as they were for their suits. But if you are blessed with the "common man" anatomy, neither too tall or too short, anywhere between 5 ft. some and 6ft and a few, and you look good in an off-the-rack suit, you will generally be OK with a double produced by a maker that uses a standard template to shape the stock, which is the majority of doubles produced, save here or there for an artisanal one.
Everything else is just cosmetics... Wood can be refinished, steel re-polished and re-blued, rear or front sight height changed, recoil pad lengthened or shortened, etc. etc.
All of that to say that Green Chile said something really profound when it comes to buy a used double, or even a new one for that matter: getting a rifle that has been "sorted" is an enormous plus.
Last edited:
