Let's dream...What new gun?

Let's dream AH friends....If you WERE to purchase a new gun what would it be???

I guess I'd like a custom double in .505 Gibbs with beautifully engraved scene of a lion taking down a cape buff. Of course it would have fancy checkering on a beautiful piece of walnut.

Karamojo Bill im totaly with you...a custom double with beautiful engravings would be a dream come true...Im not sure about what calibre, but .505 Gibbs sound good to me too.

Mine would be a Mauser action rifle in 7 x 57 calibre, custom made by Hartmann & Weiss of Hamburg, built for 140 grain bullets, 23 inch barrel. I would want a high grade of wood although minimum engraving; the Hartmann & Weiss name engraved on the barrel would be enough. Barrel band and topped with a Swarovski Z61 scope - what could be better?

I agree a nice double rifle would fit the bill! probably in 450/400 caliber. I could do with out any engraving on it so it would become an affordable gun! I would never take a beautiful engraved gun out in the bush to hunt as I would be afraid to wreck the beauty..
My other fear would be taking it to Africa & getting through the gun registration.. The way those guys drool over regular guns we bring in, I would be scared to death I would never see a beautiful engraved double rifle again!!!

My dream is buy a rifle Ceska 550 in 458 Lott.

Oscar.

My dream rifle is a double rifle as well, and I own seven double rifles, and have owned many more over the years. My favorite double rifle is one I no longer own. It was an Army & Navy 450/400 NE 3". As many of you know A&N didn't make rifles but was sort of like the US miltary PX. It only sells things other make but with their name on it. The double rifles they sell may have been made by any of the English makers. Mine was made on a very good Webley action, and the rifle was most likely made by Westley Richards.

The one thing I can tell you is the 505 GIBBS is not the best choice for a double rifle,being a rimless cartridge, and of fairly high chamber pressure, it is not well suited to a double rifle action. Though it is a fine cartridge a better choise would be a 500NE 3" , with it's lower chamber pressure, and flanged case. The 505 GIBS requires a true magnum action, and a true Mauser Magnum action is a very expensive action, anf hard to come by.

The double rifle new or old are simply 19th century technology, and not well suited to high pressures. All the NE cartridges are fairly low pressure cartridges, toping out at around 45,000 CUP, and most in the 10,000 to 15,000 cup range. The flanged case helps with extraction, because the extractors can be made quite massive, while the extractors for rimless cartridges, use a small retractable pall, that is spring loaded and retracts into the extractor body then pops back up into the rimless extractor cut in the case. These little palls are suseptable to breakage, espacially with high pressure cartridges, and are also suseptable to jamming in the down possition, because of dust, a comodity that Africa has in spades.

A proper double rifle that is to be used for dangerous game should be made with very high quality irons sights, a non-outomatic safety, chambered for a rimmed (FLANGED) cartridge, of low pressure, double triggers, and made to fit the person shooting it, or an off the rack rifle that fits the owner properly. The rifle needs to be ballanced with 1/3rd of the weight between the hands. Selective ejectors or extractors is a matter of choice.

A proper bolt action rifle made to be used on dangerous game shoutld first off be a CRF (controled feed) action, push feeds need not apply, and should be fitted with quality iron sights, and if scoped should be fitted with quality quick detach rings and bases, so the scope can be removed and replaced so that it returns to absolute zero every time. The safety should lock the fireing pin not just the trigger. Any bolt rifle that is to be used to save your bacon should be 100% reliable and feed, and eject "EVERY TIME" with out fail! The bolt rifle can be made to use very high chamber pressure cartridges, and rimless, or belted rimless cartridges, and the finished rifle needs top be made by a man who understands DGRS (dangerous game rifles). No rifle of any kind should be taken out of the factory box at taken into the field with dangerous game with out a real DGR smith going over it to smooth out the ripples in the feeding.

Bolt or double rifle, the weakest part of the rifle is the nut pulling the trigger, and since the owner is the one at risk if it doesn't work properly, the time, and money spent makeing the rifle right, needs to be equaled by the amount of time the owner uses learning to shoot the thing properly!

Champlins has one of my dream guns, H&H in 500-450 3 1/4" with a left hand stock. The wife is out of town, if she does not return soon I may own it.

Champlin Firearms - Gun Vault - Quality Firearms

I would also like a 577 Double in a working gun.

Mac, good explanation of the double gun technology. They are a lot different than a bolt gun. You did leave one item off of your description of a proper double, and that would be the cocking device.

My approach on my first one was to find a proven load that regulated well and start shooting. Nothing fancy, did not try to find another 100 FPS of velocity. It shoots fine and extracts great.

Has anybody ever attempted to build an underlever double with an action built like a Ruger No. 1

Originally Posted by Mike70560

Has anybody ever attempted to build an underlever double with an action built like a Ruger No. 1

Mike I'm a lover of the Number 1 rifles, and own several. I have been playing with a double with the basic No 1 action but with a break top modification! The No1s ejector system handles rimless, and belted/rimless cases, and high pressure very well. I have a book of machanical drawings that I've been improveing for a few yrs now, And I just about have it ready for a soft metal machine working model of the real thing. Maybe next yr!

For years my pair of rifles for Africa were a S/S double rifle, and a Ruger No1 re-barreled and chambered for the same ammo as my double rifle. The scoped Ruger was carried by a tracker, and I carried my double. that way If a percise shot was needed I traded the double to the tracker keeping the ammo, with an instant choice of soft or solid for the tight shot. Worked like a charm. Not some of the countries will not allow you to bring in two rifles of the same chambering, so now I use a pair of Merkel double rifles, a 9.3X74R, and a 470NE . Both are fine for Buffalo, and the 9.3 is perfect for plains game!

Hmmmn, a dream rifle - high class double with all the trimmings in a classic calibre, probably a 404 for me.

I want a classic double in 577 BPE. There are a few out there, but until I can fund it, my Kodiak 45-70 is doing me fine. Also EAA is starting to import some affordable doubles, so I may be getting a big bore sooner than expected.

A working man's double in 470NE or 450/400 NE 3" ..... nothing fancy, just a great shooting, solid, dependable double that shoulders and points well ... like a B. Searcy Field Grade or Classic.

Originally Posted by BangFlop

A working man's double in 470NE or 450/400 NE 3" ..... nothing fancy, just a great shooting, solid, dependable double that shoulders and points well ... like a B. Searcy Field Grade or Classic.

A better choice would be hard to come by in that price range! Butch stands behind his product, and the new FIELD GRADE double is money well spent!

Hey Guys,,

Ouestion?? Opinions on Fixed Lock..Boxlock...Sidelock...on top quality Doubles

also how critical are ejectors Thanks Butch

A double rifle in 505 Gibbs, not in this world, never have seen one, never heard of one being built, and I sure wouldn't want one..

Maybe a 500 N.E. is what your thinking..Doubles should be rimmed cartridges so they don't jump the rim and lock up the rifle so bad that only a very qualified gunsmith can repair them..That is why the .375 H&H, .416 Rigby and 458 failed so miserably in sales of double rifles, they just were too hot pressure wise, and functioning was less than desirable, and they have mostly been discontinued.

The 505 Gibbs, 416 Rigby, .458, and 500 Jefferys are traditional bolt action calibers, and fine ones they are.

My favorite double has always been and will always be the wonderful 450-400-3" and the 450-3 1/4", both outstanding calibers for the doublegun. The .470 is probably the most popular but it is losing ground to the 450-3 1/4 rapidly I am told by the powers that be who keep the scores..

Originally Posted by mbogobutch

Hey Guys,,

Question?? Opinions on Fixed Lock..Boxlock...Sidelock...on top quality Doubles

also how critical are ejectors Thanks Butch

If money is no object, and you are buying for an investment, then the side lock will cost you more but will appreciate more in the long run.

If, however, you are just asking which is best on a practical basis, there is no need to buy anything but a Boxlock. A boxlock rifle will do anything the side lock will except supply a place for engraving, and the sidelock will actually make the stock weaker in a very critical area, the wrist will have too much wood removed for the inletting of the locks behind the side plates. The false side lock plates on a box lock actually strengthen the wrist of the stock, by acting as a clamp over the wood in that area, and no wood is removed for the lock work, yet supplies a place for engraving if that interests you.

IMO, the best removable lock system is the German BLITZ action, where all the lock work is built on the trigger plate and is removed from the bottom of the action, and is completely surrounded by steel. Even the Blitz action removes lots of wood from the wrist area of the stock. SO! the box lock is my favorite!

Dugaboy 1,

Thanks for the info and reccomendations..most of all thanks for the help..this helps answer some questions .....Butch

Either a Butch Searcy double in .500 NE or getting my .458 built.