Those thinking about buying a first double rifle

[Forrest Halley]

You are comparing apples and oranges. My SxS shotguns are around 6 pounds. My .500 NE double rifle is over 10 lbs.

Also, I don't get why you think the double rifles are muzzle heavy. Both the shotguns and the double rifles I have balance at about the same spot in front of the action. I think because the rifles are heavier you think they are muzzle heavy. I'll agree to them being slower to bring around due to weight but the application is not quite the same as swinging at a fast moving pheasant either. It is a lot more deliberate.

When I hear a particular complaint about the efficiency of the presentation of a firearm I wonder how efficient the user is being in the presentation. If you are jerky with a light gun then it goes through the sight plane and beyond into recovery land. I would think that a double rifle would come up smoothly and the critical user is not proficient enough to realize that this smooth presentation, although perceived as slower, is actually faster due to the lack of corrective collimation required once in the area if the sighting plane.

 

[Tanks]

One other thing, in Sporting Clay guns people actually prefer heavier shotguns as it is smoother to track compared to a lighter shotgun. The extra weight actually helps. That application is actually closer to double rifle handling as you know where the target is and swinging for it whereas upland hunting the birds can be flushed in almost any direction (assuming a flushing hunt not a pointing dog hunt) where a lighter firearm helps to get in line faster.

 

[double rifle newbie]

DUGABOY1

You need to write a book about doubles. You could name it "Doubles for Americans" If you do not, I may take all of your posts from the various forums and "write" one myself.

enysse,
Bolt actions offer a little better accuracy in general (not always) and are less finnicky than doubles. That being said, smaller scoped doubles like a 9.3 by 74 are more accurate than people realize. (Mac-how far did Tony kill a coyote with his 9.3?) There is also the 500-416 Nitro that has the same basic ballistics as a 416 Rem/Rigby/Taylor. A scoped double in this cartidge would do anything a a scoped bolt gun could plus you have that instant second shot.

The double will never supplant bolt guns in America but they definitely have their place in North America.

I shot my 470 Krieghoff today along with my Palma rifle and AR-15 Service rifle. Being so different, it was almost humurous to look at the K-Gun and the AR next to each other.

agreed. i have a double in 9.3x74r and have a small quick detach scope in case i want to pop it in really quick. it is a aingle lever mount and can be attached in just a few seconds. i can shoot out to 300 yards with mine comfortably.

 

[Rubberhead]

This was intended, from the ground up, as a North American double...single trigger, low-power scope, over/under, .30-'06, and sling...

Amazingly, the first time I pulled the trigger on an animal the under barrel's cartridge was a dud. We always use redundancy as an excuse for digging deeper to get a double but it my case it was the difference between getting a deer and not and on the first time I used it.

It's a single inertia trigger gun so I still had to cycle the safety. There is no way I could have cleared the dud from any other action type and still got this deer.

Here's the dud....

 

[Newboomer]

This was intended, from the ground up, as a North American double...single trigger, low-power scope, over/under, .30-'06, and sling...

Amazingly, the first time I pulled the trigger on an animal the under barrel's cartridge was a dud. We always use redundancy as an excuse for digging deeper to get a double but it my case it was the difference between getting a deer and not and on the first time I used it.

It's a single inertia trigger gun so I still had to cycle the safety. There is no way I could have cleared the dud from any other action type and still got this deer.

View attachment 401962

Here's the dud....

View attachment 401963

Factory or reload? Have you pulled the bullet to check if it's charged?

 

[Rubberhead]

Factory or reload? Have you pulled the bullet to check if it's charged?

It was factory. Unfortunately my stand was in 3 inches of water, willow oak leaves and pine straw so when the dud and the empty ejected I couldn't find them until the water dried up. It did have powered but water had seeped in so I'm not really sure why it didn't fire.