More Than Any Other Gun, Big-Bore Double Rifles Symbolize Adventure
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FEATURE THE DOUBLE RI F LE The Lure Of The Double Rifle More than any other gun, big-bore double rifles symbolize adventure. But actually own one …? BY JOHN ZENT, Editorial Director WWW .AMERICANRI F LEMAN .ORG National Archives photo. Inset photo by Dwight Van Brunt. o chalk up another disparity between my mod- totally unfamiliar. Essentially it was like a side-by-side est gunwriting career and the late, great Jack shotgun, though more compact and beefier. Often O’Connor’s. No comely lady leopard hunters in we hear how this or that firearm balances so nicely my past. On my one and only leopard safari, the between the hands, but I had never felt balance as S other hunter in camp was anything but. Rather, intuitive as this. It was as if my hands were made to he was bald as a melon, hawk-eyed and remained red- grip that particular rifle, a sensation akin to the “just- The Lure Of The Double Rifle faced as a lobster due to our daily exertions in the African right” handling of a favorite baseball bat or trusty axe. sun. Appearances aside, he was in every way imaginable At that point muscle memory kicked in, the butt a prince of a fellow who generously offered to let me fire rose and welded itself to my cheek and shoulder, the the double rifle he had brought to hunt buffalo. ivory front bead split the rear V, then settled on an X It was my first go with a classic stopping rifle, and that had been spray-painted on a block of wood. I took I steeled myself for punishment. With the profes- a deep breath and … sional hunters warily assessing our shooting acumen, BOOM! Whoa, wasn’t really ready for that! The wood- I didn’t want to screw up. My first impression was that block splintered and skipped backward. “Good show!” the man’s Rigby .470 Nitro was darned heavy, but not said PH Nixon Dzingai. “Hit the bloody thing again.” “The double rifle is a weapon of romance … [it] connotes ivory hunting, long lines of safari porters, drinking sundowners beside a fire of nyombo wood while lions roar on the veldt, affairs of the heart with comely lady leopard hunters.” —Jack O’Connor in Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, 1961 AMERICAN RI F LEMAN THE DOUBLE RI F LE Almost of its own accord the Rigby was already rifle. No gun I have known is more businesslike, pro- locked onto the target. BOOM! This time the block viding we keep in mind what business the double rifle split. Yeoww! Yeah, I felt the recoil. Yeah, it rocked me. is in. Like any hunting arm, it’s vital that a double can But it wasn’t the whippin’ I had expected. All things strike with precision for clean, ethical kills. But the real considered, my double-rifle intro was love at first bite. measure is how it performs on defense. Since then I have fired several more big-bore By nature, double rifles represent a series of con- doubles, and the inherent grace so evident during tradictions. They must be sufficiently powerful to drop my initial tango with the Rigby has impressed me as a beasts equipped with the size, tools and attitude to common trait. The best of them make shouldering and rip a man apart or crush him in an eye blink, and yet sighting seem almost effortless. No doubt frequent these rifles must handle quickly and fluidly enough shooting has helped to train me—perhaps ironically, to strike like lightning during a sudden encounter. shotgunning more so than rifle shooting—but there’s To make recoil bearable they typically weigh 20 to something almost automatic about handling a double 25 percent more than a standard big-game rifle, but Today’s “Working” Doubles n recent decades double rifles have British gun in handling and reliability. In the vernacular of double-rifle actually become more accessible In that price range, today’s double-rifle fanciers, all of these are “work- Iand, relatively speaking, more afford- buyer can count on a rock-solid firearm ing” rifles, meaning they are boxlock able. So long as you’re not insisting on a likely to eclipse everything else in his gun actions lacking the ornamentation that pedigree from Purdey, Holland & Holland cabinet in terms of fit, finish and workman- typically adorns premium doubles. All or Westley Richards (all still in business), ship. We identified four makers in this cat- contain major components produced you don’t have to head off to London egory whose rifles are available through on high-tech CNC machines, but they and shell out six figures. An investment U.S. importers, and were able to obtain for also receive considerable handwork for of $10,000 to $15,000 will net a perfectly testing a Blaser S2 Safari, Heym Model 88B barrel regulation and fit and finish. Each capable German double comparable to a PH, Krieghoff Classic and Merkel 140A. one boasts its own special features. Blaser S2 Safari BLASER S2 SAFARI A relative newcomer introduced in the piece and returning it rearward. As IMPORTER : BLASER USA, INC .; 2001, the S2 action takes an innovative such the rifle can be carried loaded but (210) 377-2527; approach by centering on what Blaser uncocked. The barrels are indepen- WWW .B LASER -U SA .COM calls a “tilting block” system adapted dently free-floated and not soldered CAL I BER : .375 H&H MAG . (TESTED ), .470 NI TRO EXPRESS , .500/.416 NI TRO from its single-shot K95 model. The together, and the direct trigger pulls EXPRESS , .500 NI TRO EXPRESS tilting block is in essence a pivoting measured 4 lbs., 4 ozs. and 4 lbs., 12 BARREL LENGTH : 24.5" breechface containing the firing pins, ozs. Blaser says that the balance point SI GHT S : RAMP FRONT , STAND I NG B AR REAR and upon lockup it engages the stand- varies depending on caliber, so weight SAFETY : TOP TANG ing breech, a protruding barrel shroud distribution is individually tailored to STO C K : WALN U T WE I GHT : 11 L B S ., 11 OZS . and the two-piece extractor block (no the specific rifle. The rear sight blade METAL F I N is H : B L U ED B ARREL ejectors). A square underlug protrudes contains a thin notch that aligns with MSRP: $10,682+ from the tilting block to engage the the front post, both of which were receiver floor. The S2 features a man- marked with white. Also, the rounded, moderate drop and was configured ual cocking piece located on the tang. upraised quarter rib is notched for with a straight-lined comb, as well as a Slide it forward to cock both hammers, scope mounting. Pachmayr Decelerator pad and an in- or disengage by pressing on the tail of The well-figured stock exhibited board Kickstop that help manage recoil. Blaser’s S2 utilizes a unique “tilting block” lockup that engages the receiver, standing breech and barrel shroud. A muzzle adjustment fine-tunes point-of-impact. WWW .AMERICANRI F LEMAN .ORG Photo by Ross Van Brunt it is not unusual for the hunter to have to lug one many miles over rugged terrain in equatorial swelter. Although shots are taken at comparatively close range on animals possessing sizable vital areas, the hunter’s ability to shoot his rifle accurately is too often compro- mised by lack of practice, recoil flinch and adrenaline overload. Foremost, the dangerous-game double must Dwight Van Brunt realized a lifelong dream, dropping a be utterly reliable no matter what. 51" Cape buffalo with a John Rigby double rifle. Yet in the hands of a capable hunter, good double rifles resolve all the contradictions. and elegant, minimalist stocks—to rifled arms. The frames and barrel walls had to be bulked up, the Roar of the Empire lockups strengthened and the finest steels employed The perception of double rifles being a British exclu- to accommodate the roaring big cordite loads these sive is a bit of a stretch, but not completely unfounded. rifles were chambered to shoot. The result was a Though multi-barrel guns had been around for centu- somewhat specialized tool that mirrored the speed, ries, the double-gun form attained near-perfection in grace and pointability of best-quality side-by-side late Victorian-era shops in London and Birmingham. shotguns. What the classic British double rifle lacked Smoothbores produced by Greener, Purdey’s, Rigby as a long-range sharpshooter, it more than made up and others set the bar for handling, accuracy and for by being the ultimate close-quarters arbiter. aesthetics that far exceeded previous standards and It was as if the British had created a firearm to reflect literally transformed wingshooting into an art form. their zeal for conquest. Quite purposely, the double Before long the great gunmaking houses adapted rifle was a brash, no-quarter-given firearm, as much the same structural architecture—hammerless side- firepower and overkill as a man could deliver with one locks and boxlocks, sliding crossbolts, underlug squeeze of a trigger. Armed thusly, ruddy Englishmen “lumps,” top-release levers, full-bodied extractors had the cheek to march right up within snarling distance Heym M88 PH HEYM MODEL 88B PH The mid-1980s debut of the Heym and intercepting sears help pre- IMPORTER : HEYM USA; Model 88B Safari helped to kick vent “doubling” under recoil. Heym (214) 606-2566; off new-generation double rifles, boasts the broadest range of calibers WWW .H EYM U SA .COM and now the base-model PH offers offered in a production double rifle CAL I BER : .375 FLANGED , .375 H&H MAG ., .416 RI G B Y , .450/400 NI TRO intriguing value.