The Draw of the Sporting Double Rifle

[festuscat]

My 500NE I’ve hunted with 20+ years. It was a great experience in the gun buil.
Great smiths made a very accurate rifle for me

 

[Pondoro]

.475 3 1/4 NE (Straight), made by John Wilkes for Midland Gun Co. (1908 - 1920ish..) An extra set of barrels in .280 Flanged NE, both barrel sets equally numbered.

 

[BeeMaa]

Oh no! You of all people need a double (barrels soldered together) to counteract your R8 modernism!

I'll try harder to convince @Red Leg to sell me his S2, but I don't think he's going to budge.

 

[Saul]

.475 3 1/4 NE (Straight), made by John Wilkes for Midland Gun Co. (1908 - 1920ish..) An extra set of barrels in .280 Flanged NE, both barrel sets equally numbered.

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I am not sure how it started, but I have been completely enamored with the .475 NE for some time. If only it could use the same bullets as the .470 NE. Small bore doubles are also an obsession. You are a lucky man!

 

[Sideshow]

OK, someone donate a double, let's do the comp type draw, great idea.

AND we have a WINNER @Kevin Peacocke has Volunteered congratulations

 

[Sideshow]

 

[Sideshow]

Well I thought it was funny Kevin on the other hand might be laughing with puckering bum cheeks

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Holland & Holland Royal, ex-Mahajarah of Rewa. Originally in .280 Ross, rebarreled to .470NE by Holland in 1999..then regulated for Federal 500 grain solids..

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May I ask the weight, besutiful rifle

Lon

 

[Pondoro]

10 pounds..

 

[Philip Glass]

One doesn't just pick up a double, one handles it, feels it, and it immediately talks to you. There is a balance that puts it between your hands, begging to be shouldered and inviting the eye to align those purposeful express sights to your quarry imagined or real, huge and menacing, and close! A double isn't about dots in the distance, it is about hair and crinkled skin, about tusks and wet noses that would as soon kill you as you would them. A supremely functional tool, nay partner in pursuing dangerous game, and dreams. But for all the intricate mechanism contained within, a double has the impeccable manners to conceal it's magic within a form so smooth, flowing, and gracious as to arouse that place in a hunter's chest where his or her soul lives. Where the senses take their spoils for appreciation, a place that knows the smell of gun oil and of a linseed-rubbed walnut stock. Whether there is history in it, or yet to be made, of one thing there is certainty, the journey with a double will be rich, exciting, and rewarding.

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Acknowledgements to Westley Richards.

Yea and it's this kind of talk that is going to wind up causing me to visit London. And then what? I made the mistake of sitting down with Jerome at Rigby at DSC this year. Big mistake!
Thanks @Kevin Peacocke

 

[PCC600]

Yea and it's this kind of talk that is going to wind up causing me to visit London. And then what? I made the mistake of sitting down with Jerome at Rigby at DSC this year. Big mistake!
Thanks @Kevin Peacocke

Yes I made the same mistake when Jerome and Marc came to Brisbane last year . 12 months into a 3 year wait and already planning a trip to London next year to drop in at Rigby . Getting very excited .

 

[Hamid]

I would like share a double rifle from my collection, from by gone days of shikar. Lyon & Lyon, Calcutta in rare .577 3-1/4 case. Thanks

 

[Rare Breed]

Love this Kevin as without question I am a DR man. Yes it is a John Rigby CA but I have never held a more balanced beautiful DR and I have held a great many. She shoots within 0.6 inches at 50 yards regulation and at 11 pounds is a pussy cat to shoot. Magnificent performance in April on my buff and elephant!!! Every week I take her out of my safe just to enjoy looking at her

 

[sureshot375]

I think I’m settled with my double for a while.

In 2021 I got back into dangerous game after a long hiatus. Life had kept me from getting back to dangerous game, but I never stopped dreaming about it. One of the biggest things that kept me from going was my role as a caregiver for my dad who had a massive stroke.

I managed to put together an elephant hunt in the greater Kruger for a very reasonable price in the Covid age and ended up adding on a Buff. I wanted to hunt with the Krieghoff .500/.416 my dad had hunted with when I was younger, and that’s exactly what I did. I took some plains game, an ele, and a buff with the rifle using open sights.

I knew I would be retiring this rifle after this trip. I couldn’t risk loosing or damaging a rifle that held such sentimental value for me. It was a special moment to hunt with that rifle.

Around the campfire I was talking with my PH about my plans to purchase a new double. I had decided on .500 NE of some variety and dreamed of maybe a combo with some shotgun barrels.

My PH looked at me and said “ Why the hell would you do that??? You shoot that rifle great!! What else do you need?? You just shot a huge elephant bull and sent the bullet wizzing out the other side of its head. I wouldn’t do a damn thing different.”

He had a point.

In 2022 no dangerous game for me, but I did take my pregnant wife and stepdaughters to Africa which was amazing.

In 2023 my buddy put together a trip for us for 18 days in the Save In Zim. Buff and elephant were on the menu for me. I was looking for a new rifle as I still wanted to retire my other one. I also wanted ejectors.

I had seen a newer Krieghoff In 500/.416 sell at auction a year or so prior to a fellow member on here. I reached out and made a deal. I really didn’t put much thought into how the rifle looked. It was the make and caliber I wanted with ejectors for a reasonable price.

I really fell in love with it after I received it. It has the black receiver rather than the more popular nickel. It’s a fine looking rifle if I do say so myself. It also regulates perfectly with Hornady ammo which is readily available. I felt like I hit the double rifle lotto.

Buff eluded me after many failed stalks in noisy conditions and swirling wind. I had better luck with cow ele and a variety of plains game I was shooting to keep my buddies in bait.

In short I’m hooked on getting close with a double with open sights. Hoping one day my kids will share the same excitement of hunting with their dad’s rifle. I also hope it has a few more notches and battle scars by then.

It may not be a holland and holland, but I’m making the most out of this working man’s double.

 

[matt85]

I've already plastered pictures of my W.J. Jeffery 8-bore rifle all over the place, so I will spare you all more pictures. But, I've been a big fan of double rifles for years! My favorite rifles are the old hammer guns from the late 19th century... But in truth I pretty much love them all. There is a gorgeous Holland and Holland 577 3" Express on GI that really makes my current financial slump hurt even more!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Love this Kevin as without question I am a DR man. Yes it is a John Rigby CA but I have never held a more balanced beautiful DR and I have held a great many. She shoots within 0.6 inches at 50 yards regulation and at 11 pounds is a pussy cat to shoot. Magnificent performance in April on my buff and elephant!!! Every week I take her out of my safe just to enjoy looking at her

Absolutely beautiful! One of our salt of the earth PH's here has a 500 CA Rigby, I have shot it, magnificent!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I think I’m settled with my double for a while.

In 2021 I got back into dangerous game after a long hiatus. Life had kept me from getting back to dangerous game, but I never stopped dreaming about it. One of the biggest things that kept me from going was my role as a caregiver for my dad who had a massive stroke.

I managed to put together an elephant hunt in the greater Kruger for a very reasonable price in the Covid age and ended up adding on a Buff. I wanted to hunt with the Krieghoff .500/.416 my dad had hunted with when I was younger, and that’s exactly what I did. I took some plains game, an ele, and a buff with the rifle using open sights.

View attachment 610886View attachment 610887

I knew I would be retiring this rifle after this trip. I couldn’t risk loosing or damaging a rifle that held such sentimental value for me. It was a special moment to hunt with that rifle.

Around the campfire I was talking with my PH about my plans to purchase a new double. I had decided on .500 NE of some variety and dreamed of maybe a combo with some shotgun barrels.

My PH looked at me and said “ Why the hell would you do that??? You shoot that rifle great!! What else do you need?? You just shot a huge elephant bull and sent the bullet wizzing out the other side of its head. I wouldn’t do a damn thing different.”

He had a point.

In 2022 no dangerous game for me, but I did take my pregnant wife and stepdaughters to Africa which was amazing.

In 2023 my buddy put together a trip for us for 18 days in the Save In Zim. Buff and elephant were on the menu for me. I was looking for a new rifle as I still wanted to retire my other one. I also wanted ejectors.

I had seen a newer Krieghoff In 500/.416 sell at auction a year or so prior to a fellow member on here. I reached out and made a deal. I really didn’t put much thought into how the rifle looked. It was the make and caliber I wanted with ejectors for a reasonable price.

I really fell in love with it after I received it. It has the black receiver rather than the more popular nickel. It’s a fine looking rifle if I do say so myself. It also regulates perfectly with Hornady ammo which is readily available. I felt like I hit the double rifle lotto.

Buff eluded me after many failed stalks in noisy conditions and swirling wind. I had better luck with cow ele and a variety of plains game I was shooting to keep my buddies in bait.

View attachment 610888View attachment 610889View attachment 610890

In short I’m hooked on getting close with a double with open sights. Hoping one day my kids will share the same excitement of hunting with their dad’s rifle. I also hope it has a few more notches and battle scars by then.

It may not be a holland and holland, but I’m making the most out of this working man’s double.

You sir, 'get it'. Both beautiful doubles, and to hunt in the Save is a treat. I have just booked my buff hunt there with my Heym for October, I can't wait.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I've already plastered pictures of my W.J. Jeffery 8-bore rifle all over the place, so I will spare you all more pictures. But, I've been a big fan of double rifles for years! My favorite rifles are the old hammer guns from the late 19th century... But in truth I pretty much love them all. There is a gorgeous Holland and Holland 577 3" Express on GI that really makes my current financial slump hurt even more!

Do it! If it hasn't got wheels it should have two barrels.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Westley Richards just posted this, a 500 and a 470. Their photographic department is as good as their gun making shop.

 

[matt85]

Here is a picture of the 577 3" Express that I have been lusting after on GI. Hopefully someone will buy it soon, so I don't do something stupid.