his is one of the up scale makes, but most all are made the same way! . The picture with This is a set of pictures take in the Heym factory. The bottom link is to a film made in the Chapuis factory.
The Chapuis rifles are historicly very accurate double rifles, and can be bought for a song, and you can sing it yourself! There is a lot more to building a double rifle than most folks realize. Believe it or not these rifles, as nice as they are sell NEW for around $5K, and cane be bought used for less.
You can find them used on occasion for some real bargain prices, for a real nice double rifle. I have a friend that has one chambered for 9.3X74R, and has a quick detach scope for it. I watched him shoot a coyote with it at 275 yds hitting him a little far back with the first shot, causing the yote to spin in circles, and the second barrel hit him in the chest putting him down for the count. He also killed a Kudu at 225 yds dropping him in his tracks. I think that dispells the opinions that double rifles are only good at very close range! He has taken Elaphant with this little 9.3 Chapuis with a brain shot from six yards, as well as several other large animals.
Click the DRSS website below for a look at some of the guys. On the history page in the picture of the founders I am the little fat man 4th from left (MacD37) The website is still under construction, but there is a little info there! www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
I was just on Chapuis website and apparently they don't offer the Nitro Express rounds in their doubles. Why?
Here is a rifle you shuld look at! I believe that is a Chapuis double rifle chambered for a NE cartridge! There are a lot cheaper double rifles that these. There is a dealer in Salt Lake City, UT that has some real deals on Chapuis double rifles. I'll see if I can find his website.
Ahhh, a .470 now that's more like it. I don't know if I can handle one but if I buy a double rifle I feel it should be chambered for something that says Nitro Express and takes rounds larger than my fingers.
Ahhh, a .470 now that's more like it. I don't know if I can handle one but if I buy a double rifle I feel it should be chambered for something that says Nitro Express and takes rounds larger than my fingers.
Mike I have a 470NE double rifle, and if you get down this way give me a shout, and you can shoot mine to see if you really want one! I have found that most who buy their first double tend to buy more than they bargained for. A little 8.3 pound Merkel Mod 140-1, 9.3X74R double rifle will get your attention when you pull the trigger on a 286 gr bullet. The recoil is about the same as a 375 H&H,with a 300 gr bullet.
I assure you you will not have to ask anyone if my 11.8 pound 470NE Merkel Mod 140-2 fired when you stroke the trigger on it! I shoot a lot of big bore rifles, and the 470NE is getting close to my recoil tollerance for more than a couple of shots! A really good chambering for the double rifle that will take on anything you want to hunt with it, is the 450/400NE 3" in a 10.5 pound double rifle, It was John "Pondoro" Tayler's favorite for hunting Cape Buffalo, but is a real nice chambering for hunting in North America as well. The recoil is not obtrusive, but the power is adiquate, and Hornady is makeing factory ammo for it now, and componants for hand loading are plentiful, as well from Hornady. The chambering is available in Merkels, Heyms, Searcy, Krieghoff, and I believe now in the Chapuis, though it isn't in their websites yet.
Check this out www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
In all honesty, I do feel modern technology could make a quality double rifle
equal to or better than these products for a lower price. However, I do understand they are building for a limited market. But still I wonder what would happen if quality doubles began showing up on dealer's shelves for about $1,000.00?
In all honesty, I do feel modern technology could make a quality double rifle
equal to or better than these products for a lower price. However, I do understand they are building for a limited market. But still I wonder what would happen if quality doubles began showing up on dealer's shelves for about $1,000.00?
I wish it could be done but unfortunately it can't! The only thing that machinery can do is the hog work that is done by aprentices in the makers shop. All makers today use CNC machines, to make raw parts, but they all still have to be fitted by very skilled hands, and the average skilled man hours even today runs in the 600 to 800 man hours. Even the off the shelf doubles that are worth owning start at around $6000, for a bottom of the barrel wood, and fit and finish, that may or may not shoot properly, and the handleing quality will certainly not be much better than a fence post!
The whole idea of a real double rifle is that it fits it's owner, so that when you mount the rifle with your eyes closed,then open your eyes the sights will be automaticlly lined up. You see the rifle is designed to be an instinctive shooter, like a fine shot gun. The ballance has to be proper, with 1/3 of the total weight of the rifle between the hands, and the drop in the stock, and anchor point for your cheek to be exact to automaticly place you eye in line with the sights. The barrels have to be regulated so that the barrels shoot parallel at all ranges with a proper load. Making a double rifle is not an easy task, and you would be suprised how many fine gun smiths, and mechinests who are very capable with waht they know, cannot build a double rifle, or even understand how they work. The O/Us are cheaper because they are easier to build, but they start at around $3K for ones that may or may not soot properly, to about $6K for a field grade that you can depend on, and most are chambered for smaller cartridges, with the top of the list at 9.3X74R, and if the chambering gets larger than the 9.3 the price jumps to just under the $10k range on the bottom. Believe it or not Remington could sell there all machine made bolt rifle for $200 and still make a profit, because tthe only skill involved is chambeing the cutters in the CNC machine, and taking the crate wood stock blank out of the pentegraph, or out of the pastic mold. The profit margine on a workable double rifle however is quite small, regard less of the price.
There are things like the little Baikal double sold by Remington that sell for under $1000, but it requires a lot of skilled hand work to make it into anything anyone would want to own, or depend on. I have shot them and they are certainly nothing more that a novelty IMO! The bolt rifles that cost over $1500, require more that the stamped out bolt rifles as well, but when you get into real well made bolt rifles start at around $3K , and go up to about $10K as well, and that is caused by skilled hand work, by skilled workers, not plumbers.
Thanks Duga! I'd love to try a shot or two with a .470. Shame of it is I've only gotten to Texas one time in my life and don't know if I'll ever get back. But a generous offer nonetheless.
There is a lot more to building a double rifle than most folks realize. Believe it or not these rifles, as nice as they are sell NEW for around $5K, and cane be bought used for less. 
I shoot a lot of big bore rifles, and the 470NE is getting close to my recoil tollerance for more than a couple of shots! A really good chambering for the double rifle that will take on anything you want to hunt with it, is the 450/400NE 3" in a 10.5 pound double rifle, It was John "Pondoro" Tayler's favorite for hunting Cape Buffalo, but is a real nice chambering for hunting in North America as well. The recoil is not obtrusive, but the power is adiquate, and Hornady is makeing factory ammo for it now, and componants for hand loading are plentiful, as well from Hornady. The chambering is available in Merkels, Heyms, Searcy, Krieghoff, and I believe now in the Chapuis, though it isn't in their websites yet. 
