Exciting thoughts. I have never speed-loaded or reloaded a 500 NE in a stress-like situation, but I have fired about a dozen rounds. Both cartridges have the same case head diameter, I believe. I have heard and felt that, for me, it seems easier to drop the 470 in the barrels due to the tapered shoulders than the 500. It seems and sounds more melodious to me...just my 2 cents.
How does this work in the case of a real charge, where a second may mean life and death
Understood, that's why a double-barreled rifle can make a huge difference over a bolt gun. I believe that's what the OP was alluding to.
He uses both single shots and this double that are essentially custom builds by Herbert Scheiring. Interestingly, Scheiring prefers to not checker his creations but will do so if requested. https://www.jagdwaffen-scheiring.at/en/ They are considered to be very high quality firearms.
I have been shooting double shotguns almost exclusively for the last fifty years or so and use exactly the same reloading technique with a double rifle. It is very fast. I will agree the weight issue offers a bit of a difference, but the stiff opening observation is in large measure a function of the shoddy fitting of the typical production double today - shotgun or rifle. Make it tight to open and the wear-in period will likely last longer than the typical buyer. That lack of hand fitting is also in evidence with the 3" fifty yard shot pair target with which such a rifle is typically shipped. Double rifles usually don't get fired enough - two or three hundred rounds - to loosen the initial tightness during the original ownership.
It looks very high quality. But I woud expect a prince to have only the best.
I may have misunderstood, but having used a British Paradox shotgun and a Belgian one that recoiled like crazy, I found them a lot easier to handle and maneuver. They were right around the 6-8-pound range and felt much more comfortable reloading quickly than my DB. I'm a novice, by the way.
My earlier comment about a “stiff opening” was relative—measured against the shotguns I’ve handled, most of which were well-used. My K-Gun is new, after all. I wouldn’t call it difficult to break open, nor would I complain that it’s tight on the face; quite the opposite—that’s exactly how it should be. It’s a production rifle, not (to my knowledge) fully handmade or hand-fitted, but it is clearly high-quality, CNC-machined, and very well executed.
Not a criticism, just an observation. Some rifles inspire confidence, while others also encourage creative thinking.
