Data & Double Rifles

[Rubberhead]

Objectively, double guns, and double rifles in particular, are simply one choice out of two or three other legitimate choices of action types. Staying objective, we should analyze our hunting tendencies, both actual and planned, and make an informed decision on which action type is clinically best for our purposes. But, we all know it doesn’t work that way…we love doubles.

Because we love doubles, we over emphasize their advantages and repress thoughts of their disadvantages. We justify instead of analyze. We adapt to the gun instead of getting a gun adapted to us but it’s all okay because we’re in love.

I got my first double shotgun in 1984 and have pretty much shot nothing but double shotguns since then. I have taken more than a thousand ducks, equally more doves, and other game birds. I got my first double rifle in April of 2020 and have killed 12 caliber-appropriate big game animals with it. I'm not going back to bolt guns anytime soon...

On a serious note, I have kept detailed records of every shot I’ve run through my double rifle. Sighting-in and at the range, I have a spreadsheet of every shot including its XY distance from the bull’s-eye and any changes made to the scope. I can say with certainty which loads offer the lowest standard deviation (ie, most consistent from shot-to-shot) in each barrel. As an aside, Nosler, that I had never considered before beginning this process, showed the quantitatively best accuracy so I’m now a Nosler fanboy.

Back to the game, I’ve also kept equally detailed records on shots at game so everything from this point on is as factual as I can humanely make it.

• Of 12 animals, eight were whitetail between 152 and 200lbs, and four were African species: blue wildebeest, zebra, impala and warthog.
• Three of the 12 animals (25%) including one whitetail, the wart hog and the gnu were given the courtesy of a “ground shot” to hasten their passing. I am not counting these three ground shots as part of the process since none of these animals was attempting to get up and I think they would have expired rather quickly anyway. I just take no joy in watching something die or suffer. I will always do this. Everytime.
• Four out of 12 animals, 33%, were taken with one shot from the under barrel including the impala,
• Four of the 12 animals, 33%, were taken with one shot from the over barrel including the zebra and wildebeest,
• That leaves four of the 12, 33%, where there was more than one trigger pull involved. Here are their stories including my thoughts on whether or not a double rifle played a significant role in how the stories ended…

11-23-2020 – Two back-to-back tropical storms kept my deer property flooded from late September to mid-November. The rut was a literal washed out and my wife actually used the words “meat crisis”. A dry ridge finally formed about 80 yards from a favorite stand right before duck season started so I didn’t have much time. A young 8-point I had passed up earlier in the year walked that ridge on his way to a thicket. I only had a narrow window so I mouth bleated to stop him and took the shot. All I got was a dry metallic click before the deer convinced himself that he really didn’t hear anything and started walking again. I mouth bleated again while I cycled the safety to reset the trigger. The buck stopped for a second time and I dropped him in his tracks with the over barrel. I honestly believe, 100%, that I would have gone deerless for the 2020 season if I had been using a bolt, autoloader or lever gun. The deer was close enough that I would have easily spooked him if I had worked the bolt or lever fast enough to let the dud cartridge fly. And, I didn’t have time to quietly work the action and catch the dud. Besides, there’s no way I’m catching a misfired cartridge in my hand especially just a second or two after the primer was dinged. In this almost unbelievable scenario, a double rifle was the difference between venison and a McDonald’s drive-thru.

This ain't much proof but here's the dud bullet. It looks like light primer hit but that's a result of the post-processing on the photo. This was the only time the gun has ever failed to go off.

10-5-2021 – I had a midnight buck on camera that I had gotten interested in. The camera was in a trough that is grown up with 15-year-old pines. The ditch, as I call it, dead-ends at a grassy road about 10 yards wide before going into a thicket that the local does (female deer) use to keep their halflings safe. Out of 130 or so photos of the buck all of them were from the middle of the night between 10 pm and 2 am. I patiently waited for a new moon. It was raining on the day of the new moon so I pre-decided to take a high shoulder shot from the under barrel if the deer stepped out of the ditch and onto the grassy road. A heart/lung shot would surely send him into the impossible thicket and, worse, the rain would make following a blood trail close to if not impossible. As luck would have it, the deer stepped out onto the grassy road and I took the high shoulder shot. As his neck and chest fell to the ground, his back half stayed up and started pushing him to the thicket. If you have ever seen a deer push his front half like a dog sled, you’d know that I had, at best, a split second. A follow-up from the over barrel pinned his neck vertebrae and immediately ended any escape plans. Did I need a double? Yes and no. The first shot did enough damage that the deer would have been recoverable but with what amount of effort? If he had made it into the thicket and pushed himself 50-100 yards, it would have been a long, wet, thorny chase through that stuff and an equally long, tiring, wet and thorny pull to get him out. I’m glad I had a double and the presence of mind to use it like a double.

Here's the midnight boy in the pine-lined gut...

You can see the first shot as the dry nick on his shoulder. The immediately fatal shot is a little more obvious.

6-30-2022 – My first three African animals had gone extremely well. I bang-flopped a Roland Ward Wildebeest with then split the top of a zebra and an impala’s heart. None of the animals ever got out of our sight. I have the PH on camera saying, “I wish everyone would shoot like that…you smoked him…” The fourth time was not the charm. I made a mental mistake and shot a warthog too far back. It wasn’t a gut shot but it wasn’t going to be immediately fatal either. The pig turned and ran back across in front of us, forcing me to spin around my right shoulder to get a second shot at him before he reached the thornveld. The only shot I had was at his backside so I aimed at the left femur with a straight line trajectory to his right front shoulder. He disappeared. I won’t rehash the story here but we had a tense few moments first in deciding, then wading into the thick stuff to look for him. We found him with 50 yards of the second shot, laying on his side and barely breathing. I used a third shot as mentioned above. Did I need a double? Probably not. I could have worked easily worked a bolt when I turned to get the second shot. I must say, though, I really think the photo came out better than if I had killed him with a nasty new bolt gun…

11-7-2022 – Doubles aren’t made for distance. Mine isn’t either although it does have a 1.5-5x Scope. I sighted it in for 100 yards and ran computer trajectories on the two barrels out to 500 yard taking into careful consideration that the under barrel is 2.2” below the scope’s line-of-sight and the Over barrel is a more traditional 1.5”. I didn’t commit the bullet tables to memory since it was more a result of curiosity whether the bullets would stay convergent and I never intended to shoot much beyond 100 yards anyways. The woods in my lowcountry SC home are close and quick. It’s why a double made sense in the first place. During the green part of the 2022 season, I moved a stand to overlook a hot corner of an orchard making sure the shots were all within my comfortable range. But, as the leaves fell, a much longer shot opened up almost behind the stand. I hadn’t even bothered to cover the metal safety rail looking in that direction. The first time I sat and noticed the new shot, I took the time to “range” it using Google Earth. It was 175 yards but what were the chances? Well, because I live this blessed, fairytale life, the chances were pretty good. It was still good daylight when a bedded buck stood up at the end of my new shooting lane. I remember enough about the computer tables to know I was still point-of-aim at that distance so I turned to take the shot remembering not to bang my nice gun on the metal shooting rail. This is where the double rifle comes in. I missed the first shot clean but didn’t know it at the time. A 175 yard deer is awfully small in a 5x scope. The deer sprinted to the edge of a hedgerow and stopped just long enough for me to line up the Over barrel on his aorta. He disappeared at the shot. I was a shaking mess as I climbed down. God, I love this sport. There was blood where he cut through the hedgerow and, in the places where he paused in the orchard, there were tea plate sized piles of blood each connect with a red scrawled line. The red streams turned into dark chucks then dried up as he made the woods. There was little doubt that the deer wasn’t already dead but, to be on the safe side, I didn’t risk pushing him and called a friend with a tracking dog. It was an easy find. Did I need the double? Good question. I don’t know. My dad and nephew were at the club that evening and, since it was a blur for me, I asked them how much time there was between the two shots. Dad said something to the effect “no much” and my nephew said, “I knew it was you”. The truth is that a good bolt hunter probably wouldn't have need a double gun but I certainly did.