100 years old this month.

[SaxonPig]

According to the letter I got from the manufacturer many years ago this rifle was built in February of 1910. It is now 100 years old. Still tight and shoots great.

Sold in London in June of that year for $76. That was a lot for a gun in 1910. The buyer was 007 author Ian Flemings' father in law, George Charteris. He put it on consignment in 1923 and it was sold to a prince from the royal family of Afghanistan. I bought it in California in 1975. No clue as to its travels between 1923 and 1975.

 

[Bullnettles]

That's amazing! Good to hear she's still in use!

 

[19-3Ben]

If I look that good when I'm 100 I'll be quite pleased with myself.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I'll bet that's worth a dollar or two.

 

[Kman]

What a rifle, unbelievable, fifty years of it's history you need to unravel.

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

There is a story in there somewhere?

 

[Roo]

That's got to be the rifle of the SaxonPig dynasty, if ever there was one. You should do some detective work and uncover the whole story about that wonderful centurion of yours.

 

[Chief Engineer]

May I foreward my FFLs' mailing address?

 

[SaxonPig]

It is a fun rifle to shoot and I made the best shot of my life with this gun.

About 25 years ago I went with some shooting friends out to a remote spot in the desert to do some plinking without fear of where the bullets went. Set a soft drink can on the ground and from about 50 feet fired the left barrel. The bullet hit the can near the bottom rim causing it to spin wildly and flip about 30 feet straight up in the air. As it reached the apex of its flight I fired the right barrel and sent the can flying 100 feet from a dead center hit.

Fortunately I had witnesses and they were suitable impressed by the display.

I did decline all requests to try to repeat the performance.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Beautiful! What'd you give for it in 1975?

 

[SaxonPig]

$1,900 which was a fortune to struggling college student but I wanted it very badly. No idea what inflation has done to current value.

 

[eXtrudebg]

Awesome piece

 

[peptoe]

You know that could be worth something.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Dumb question, but on a DG rifle, is it customary to use the front trigger first, or the rear trigger first?

 

[MachIVshooter]

Dumb question, but on a DG rifle, is it customary to use the front trigger first, or the rear trigger first?

Usually front, as I understand it. Just more natural for taking the second shot. I don't suppose it much matters, though.

 

[Kman]

I was betting around two in 1975, where did you find it? what length are those nitro shooting tubes?

 

[Beetle Bailey]

Wow! Very nice double rifle. BTW, my parents bought their first house around 1975 in Southern California and they paid $10,000 for it.

So, are you gonna take it out for something special on its birth month?

 

[SaxonPig]

IV- The rear trigger controls the left barrel and that one is always fired first because if you pull the front trigger first the recoil can cause the rear one to be tripped resulting in what's called "a double."

K- Barrels are 25". Advantage to a breech-loading rifle is long barrels and still relatively short overall length.

The 375 Nitro Express caliber is a small (2.5" case), rimmed 375. Original Kynoch load was a 270 at 2,000 FPS. I have loaded 235 grain Speers to 2,300 which would do for any medium size game. I have heard that this caliber was popular in Asia for tiger hunting.