Many years ago (like 32 or so) I saw an English double rifle on consignment in my favorite gun shop. I always thought that these were beyond cool and I drooled all over it. But the $1,300 asking price might as well have been a million to a starving college student. I know $1,300 sounds ridiculously cheap but in 1974 it was a lot of money for a gun. Remember that at that time a brand new Colt 1911 was about $125. So I handed it back to the clerk and forgot about it.
Two years later it showed up again. The new owner had obtained a leather trunk case for it but otherwise the gun was the same as I remembered it. Now the price was $1,900 and I was horrified at the prospect of letting the gun get away from me twice in one lifetime. By then I had dropped out of college and was working for a living so I actually had some money. Not enough, but some. I could come up with $1,100 that day and I was given 30 days to raise the balance. It wasn't easy. Had to sell a few guns and call in some outstanding loans from friends who were slow in repaying. But I paid it off.
The caliber is .375 Nitro Express (.375x2.5" rimmed). Much less powerful than the .375 H&H, it throws a 270 grain bullet at around 2,200 FPS with a max load. Dies were easy, RCBS made them. But proper .375 Nitro Express brass hasn't been made for 50 years or more. The .30-40 Krag can be blown out but is way short so the cartridge can't be loaded to its full potential this way. Sort of like having a .357 Magnum revolver but you can only buy .38 Special brass. Brass has to be formed from existing calibers and it's a pain. I've tried .40-70 Sharps, 9.3x74, and others with marginal success.
Anyway, took it out today to try some new loads and hadn't shot it in a long time so it was fun. It is just a fun rifle to shoot. Set up at 25 yards and fired 6 shots, 3 from each barrel. It doesn't feel right shooting this rifle from a rest. It wasn't meant to be used that way. But the group was encouraging. Maybe 2 inches, nicely clustered in the bull at the 3 o'clock position. Getting the barrels to shoot to the same PoI is the big problem with doubles, but mine put them so close I couldn't tell which shots had come from which barrel.
I had one round left so I stood up and fired at another target, shooting off-hand. This gun was designed for fast shooting like this and the bullet hit about 1/4" to the right of dead center in the bull.
Like I said, it's fun to shoot.
Two years later it showed up again. The new owner had obtained a leather trunk case for it but otherwise the gun was the same as I remembered it. Now the price was $1,900 and I was horrified at the prospect of letting the gun get away from me twice in one lifetime. By then I had dropped out of college and was working for a living so I actually had some money. Not enough, but some. I could come up with $1,100 that day and I was given 30 days to raise the balance. It wasn't easy. Had to sell a few guns and call in some outstanding loans from friends who were slow in repaying. But I paid it off.
The caliber is .375 Nitro Express (.375x2.5" rimmed). Much less powerful than the .375 H&H, it throws a 270 grain bullet at around 2,200 FPS with a max load. Dies were easy, RCBS made them. But proper .375 Nitro Express brass hasn't been made for 50 years or more. The .30-40 Krag can be blown out but is way short so the cartridge can't be loaded to its full potential this way. Sort of like having a .357 Magnum revolver but you can only buy .38 Special brass. Brass has to be formed from existing calibers and it's a pain. I've tried .40-70 Sharps, 9.3x74, and others with marginal success.
Anyway, took it out today to try some new loads and hadn't shot it in a long time so it was fun. It is just a fun rifle to shoot. Set up at 25 yards and fired 6 shots, 3 from each barrel. It doesn't feel right shooting this rifle from a rest. It wasn't meant to be used that way. But the group was encouraging. Maybe 2 inches, nicely clustered in the bull at the 3 o'clock position. Getting the barrels to shoot to the same PoI is the big problem with doubles, but mine put them so close I couldn't tell which shots had come from which barrel.
I had one round left so I stood up and fired at another target, shooting off-hand. This gun was designed for fast shooting like this and the bullet hit about 1/4" to the right of dead center in the bull.
Like I said, it's fun to shoot.
