A scoped double rifle?

[shotgunkevin]

Saw this on Cabela's.
For the life of me, I've never seen a scope on a double rifle. Is this common?

 

[CBS220]

Ruins the lines

 

[MAURICE]

Beautiful rifle. The scope boogers it up, though.
There was an article in last months G&A (iirc) about this very subject.

 

[rangerruck]

the german's , before and during ww2, gave their pilots a survival rifle, usually a beautiful double or even a drilling, that came with a metal briefcase, that included among other things, the scope for it, it was usually a krieghoff made rifle with a krupps bbl(s), and they were beautiful, and stunning and if you have the rifle with the origional metal kit, to include the scope, they are worth a metric ton of money.

 

[LAK]

More than a few twentieth-century europeans and others have fielded scoped doubles in Africa and elsewhere. Even on a bigbore a very low powered scope makes sense for a clear sight picture - especially if the shooter has less than normal vision. And it must be remembered that these guns have been chambered in everything from .22 LR on up. Many doubles have been made chambered for smallbore cartridges like the .300 H&H, .303 British, .318 Westley Richards .275 Rigby etc and metric counterparts.

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[Jim Watson]

If you buy your guns for style, the scope does kind of break up the lines; but if you want to see your target, a scope is a big help. John "Pondoro" Taylor described such an outfit many years ago. A tycoon had a lot of money and not much spare time, so he kept a suitcase and a gun case packed for whenever he could get a chance to go hunting. It was a Holland's lightweight double .375 H&H Magnum, probably flanged rather than belted, and had a Zeiss scope in QD mounts.

 

[Vaarok]

It's pretty common to see German drillings and double-rifles with claw-mounts. The really neat ones are the side-by-side drillings with the claw mounts offset over the rifle barrel.

 

[Reddbecca]

Aren't double rifles usually meant for dangerous game at distances of 100 yards or less?

How hard is it to really see a cape buffalo at 100 yards?

 

[Jim Watson]

Double rifles have been made in nearly any caliber you can name, for about any size game. A visitor to Darra reported seeing a neat little double in 7.62x39. A good medium caliber double is accurate enough to be worth a scope.

My eyes, I would need a scope to hit a buffalo IN THE RIGHT PLACE at 100 yards.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

the german's , before and during ww2, gave their pilots a survival rifle, usually a beautiful double or even a drilling, that came with a metal briefcase, that included among other things, the scope for it, it was usually a krieghoff made rifle with a krupps bbl(s), and they were beautiful, and stunning and if you have the rifle with the origional metal kit, to include the scope, they are worth a metric ton of money.

I have heard (don't know if true), that one common configuration of this survival gun was a drilling - SxS 12 ga, with a 9.3x74mm under - IIRC.

Never seen a scoped double before this thread, but evidently they're not that uncommon. The potential problem (other than scope-eye), is employing the rifle very very quickly to brain a charging DG animal like an elephant - potentially the scope is slower than irons and could get you killed. BUT, if you're *trained* on it, and keep it on 1x when close-in to the game, as you certainly would, then it would be just as fast as irons - I think it would anyway.

Obviously, the scope with a little magnification would come in extremely handy past 30 or 40 yards.

 

[Jim Watson]

The Official Luftwaffe Survival Rifle was a J.P. Sauer drilling, 12 - 12 - 9.3x74R. About 2000 produced. The only picture I can find of a cased outfit does not show a scope and I do not see scope bases on any illustrated gun. One sold at a big auction for $36,000 a couple years ago.

 

[Seafarer12]

Sounds about like Cabelas. I would tell them the only way I would pay 12k for that gun would be to remove the scope and cover any trace of it being there. Its like throwing a 3x9 on a Sharps.

 

[ClarkEMyers]

A scope suits me.

A scope suits me.

I have a relatively cheap set of .30-'06 barrels on a shotgun receiver for a convenient no tools take down rifle - bought for easy carrying - especially while packing out but also for raft or kayak access in Idaho.

I find a fixed low power -shotgun style - scope suits my needs far better than iron sights and with ample eye relief is mounted far enough forward that the lines and balance isn't spoiled.

 

[moooose102]

i always thought of double rifles as safari guns also. meant for BIG, DANGEROUS game, that was at close enough range that you would never get off more than 2 shots anyway. so a scope on a rifle for that close of range makes no sense to me. now, if it was one of those new holographic sights, that would make a LOT of sense , at least for me!

 

[Girodin]

potentially the scope is slower than irons and could get you killed

I dont know if I am alone in this but I find a scoped rifle to be faster than irons as long as the magnification is not too great.

I use a scoped 22-250 for hunting jack rabbits that often require very quick and accurate shots to be taken and I find that I am faster with the above set up than with the iron sighted rifles I use.