I was looking into Krieghoff, but i heard that they are only good for about a 1000 shots, and then after dint function so well anymore...but i guess 1000 shots is a lot. I have an old Francotte side/side shot gun from my father, as well as an old Holland&Holland side/side shot gun, and they are really magnificent guns.
Thanks for all the input
Oliver The Krieghoff rifles are capable of far more than 1000 rounds of proper loads. The coming off face in a double rifle is far more frequently caused by poor care of the rifle than anything else. Sure serious overloads will damage any rifle, but as long as you care for the mateing surfaces in your rifle, and use proper regulating loads in the K-gun, you will have little trouble with it.
If you are new to double rifles, then the learning curve will be very shallow for you with the K-gun. The Combi-cocking system of that rifle gave some of us pause when it first came on the sceen, but with a little time, and some learning the difference between the older calsic double rifle and the K-gun, it became evident that the K-gun was not a bugger man it was first thought to be. The K-gun, and the Blaser are the two safest double rifles on the market today to carry fully loaded, but that is where the comparison of the K-gun and the Blaser ends. My reccomendation is, if you want to use the rifle for hunting the bite-backs (dangerous game) then the Blaser will stay in the store. The Krieghoff, however is fine for that purpose, design wise.
When loading the K-gun, you simply push the combi-cocking lever ( it looks like a treditional safety switch) forward slightly, and release, this uncocks the rifle. To cock the rifle you need to push the switch forward all the way to cock. This takes some pressure, but you will get used to that. If you fire one, or both barrels, the rifle re-cocks it's self on opening, so that just like the treditional double rifle, the rifle is ready to fire as soon as it is closed. If no more shots are required, then simply push the switch forward a little and release, and the rifle is un-cocked again, and safe to carry loaded.
The Blaser doesn't work that way! If you open the rifle for any reason the rifle de-cocks it's self, and must be manually re-cocked before it can be fired. This is a feature that makes it safet to carry loaded, but not safe, IMO, when faceing a dangerous game animal. the last thing you need when a lion is close to makeing contact with you skin, is to have to remember to re-cock your rifle.
There are several good double rifles on the market today, that are, for double rifles, cheap, but well made, and accurate. I own several double rifles, but my paire for Africa today are a pair of Merkels, a Safari 140-2, 470NE, and a 14E, 9.3X74R. The are very accurate, and trouble free, and I bought both for under $12K. Of course I bought both several years ago!
Good luck with what ever you choose, and welcome to the DRSS!:worship:
I am one of the four founders of the DRSS (Double Rifle Shooter's Society)
And like most members we hunt almost everything with double rifles!