Dream double rifle cartridge

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7x65R......

Ive been considering getting some full length inserts and some cheap sxs to try build a BAD rifle from. Probably in a pistol cartridge.

My lgs had a couple of 15" long 45-70 inserts for 12 GA break open shotguns. He tried to sell me them, with a SxS as a package for $800. I didn't do it. Although I should have tried to buy one of them...
 
I would like a side by side Pedersoli black powder flint lock in 50 cal with a 1/66 twist.

I will never spend the money on an African Safari, but the muzzle loader would be fun to shoot and hunt with.
that's one gun I would buy if I had the money, but don't think we can use them for muzzleloader here.
 
My lgs had a couple of 15" long 45-70 inserts for 12 GA break open shotguns. He tried to sell me them, with a SxS as a package for $800. I didn't do it. Although I should have tried to buy one of them...
yeah i was looking at some for my citori, then decided a SxS would work better. If it was a cheap one i wouldnt be upset poking holes in the barrels for set screw "regulators"...I guess longer inserts and extended cyl chokes might work with no barrel damage.
 
I'd like to get a drilling, see some old ones for under $1000 before. I would be fun fixing one up. I just wonder with hunting, don't think here you can have bird shot when deer hunting and so on.
 
I'd like to get a drilling, see some old ones for under $1000 before. I would be fun fixing one up. I just wonder with hunting, don't think here you can have bird shot when deer hunting and so on.
In the places I've hunted with my drilling, you just can't have ammo for the bbls. that are illegal, on you while hunting.

DM
 
yeah i was looking at some for my citori, then decided a SxS would work better. If it was a cheap one i wouldnt be upset poking holes in the barrels for set screw "regulators"...I guess longer inserts and extended cyl chokes might work with no barrel damage.

The ones at my lgs had 3 spots on them where 1/2 inch wide strips of leather had been on them to keep them centered in the bore. Usually they use rubber O rings.
 
I've never been much for doubles in rifles - shotguns are a different topic entirely But a double rifle only makes sense to me for dangerous game - for anything non-dangerous they're just worse than bolt actions. For dangerous game I think they're a relic of the colonization of Africa and India by the British and Germans and what rifles they had and the lack of thick skinned dangerous game in the Americas. Had the hunters of Africa been Americans, then .45 and .50 nitro lever action repeaters in longer cartridges would be ubiquitous rather than oddities owned only by a few enthusiasts. This may be heresy, but with modern bullets and loading techniques I'd say a suitably set up 1886 .50-110 is a better stopping rifle than a double .470 NE. If the .50-110s OAL was a couple tenths longer, there would be no question. Of course to do the same with cordite instead of AR-Comp it would have needed to be quite a bit longer... but such a gun would have existed if people and game were distributed differently. The bison just wasn't sufficiently dangerous to push hunters to repeaters, and was gone before nitro powder came in.

But if it has to be a double, I'd take the .450/400. I agree with Taylor that it's how big you have to go so you can safely engage any game in varied circumstances including brush without backup. Larger bores are useful only in very specific situations mostly related to the historical ivory trade. Yes, a .577 will put an elephant down longer on a headshot that misses the brain. But it requires a gun bearer meaning you really can't make much use of it. And the need to keep a wounded elephant down a long time while the hunter addresses their OTHER elephants is just not a scenario a modern hunter needs to worry about. So make mine a .450/400. With a recoil pad.
 
I used a side by side hammer double with Brenneke slugs for a couple years here in Illinois as a poor man's double rifle in deer season. Followed that up with a Navy Arms Magnum double muzzle loader with my own "rifled" slugs. First was good for sixty yards, Navy maybe forty. Built an over/under ml with a 45 barrel on top, 12 ga on bottom. Best of the three. For where I am a 50 ml double would be best.
 
I think a double could be a great brush gun, two quick shots. I believe it's about the same speed to fire 4 round from the double or a bolt gun.
Substantially faster than either from a lever though... with a double the first two are recoil limited, then the not terribly fast reload. With the lever as long as you have more in the tube it's recoil limited. With a bolt you can't really keep up with the recoil.
 
+1 on that. Closest thing here in North America to dangerous African game might just be Russian wild boar. They are aggressive buggers!
yes there are, the hunt I did as a kid were fresh from Europe. 6 people went to the hospital that year. Had good fun with my dad, wish we could go again. Used my Siamese 45-70 then, I'd use a nice old German sporter next hunt.
 
Substantially faster than either from a lever though... with a double the first two are recoil limited, then the not terribly fast reload. With the lever as long as you have more in the tube it's recoil limited. With a bolt you can't really keep up with the recoil.
If it takes more then two shots mind as well have a semi auto.
 
I always wondered what happened to the rifles that were confiscated when South Africa flipped.

My understanding is that a great many of them landed in Australia, and those folks may still be the world leaders in the modern understanding and use of double rifles.
 
I had a brief stint where I really wanted a double rifle. Doubles though are classic Africa and I just don’t want an Africa gun. I think I would want a Whelen, but realistically I can do a lot better for a lot less by getting a big tube smoothbore side by side. 4 bore? 6 bore?
 
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