A late reply to Daniel Cary;
I own a Sabatti 92 ejector in 500 NE. It weighed in at 9.3 lbs and with Hornady 570gr factory loads at 2150 fps the recoil is 100 ft lbs and after 8 rounds of factory ammo started breaking the stock. The action tangs started bending up from heat treat stress relief ??? which moved the top edge of the stock into the action and started chipping off the wood. The free play between the trigger and sear disappeared putting pressure toward disengagement after cocking.
After two years of being on the disabled list I located a DR master that sorted it all out and re-regulated it with a custom load running 2050 to 2080 fps. He also added a mercury recoil reducer making it 10.3 lbs. With this new weight and slightly lower velocity the recoil is 75 to 80 ft lbs. In a properly weighing 12 lb 500 NE the recoil would be around 65 ft lbs. Huge difference on the shooter and wood parts.
I believe Sabatti used their shotgun action to build these rifles for Cabela's but a 12 ft lb recoil 12 gauge shotgun is not the same as a large bore dangerous game caliber.
My assumption being if it was built by a gun manufacturer they would not mechanically under build a 500 NE rifle. I was wrong. I didn't have $10K for the used Merkle 140's available at the time so a Sabatti was my only option if I wanted a DR in that caliber.
For me it is now a fun gun in 500 NE. I mainly load reduced power cast lead rounds for it so I can shoot it a lot versus frequent full power rounds and maybe having to repair again or replace a stock.
I've wondered if all Double Rifles in heavy calibers will need a stock replaced after X number of rounds fired. Or if better action designs eliminate that problem.
I doubt PH's fire off a box or two when they are bored between clients.
A wise person once told me, "We shouldn't own some things just because we want one."
Personally, I think God should let everybody that wants a quality DR win a lottery.
Whatever you buy, or have bought, enjoy just owning it even if you never shoot it.
