Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa The SXS Double Rifle Mystique

I posted the following on the "Stopping Power" thread on Ask the Gimwriters forum... I've been thinking quite a bit about this since then, so I decided to put my keyboard where my mouth is and post this here in the Africa Forum.



Now, as I stated, I am very familiar with and very comfortable with the SXS double barrel arrangement. I've done more than 90% of my wingshooting since 1977 with one of several 12 gauge doubles. This included hard-kicking magnum loads for high-flying geese, FWIW.

I nearly took a double rifle to Africa, too. Partly because I was enamored of the double rifle mystique, but partly because I am very comfortable with the handling of a double barreled firearm, and I'm very much cognizant of the advantages of the SXS double rifle, not least of which is the fact that one can fire the second barrel in a damn good hurry if it's needed to stop a charge.

With that in mind, I was also not able/willing to spend upwards of $10,000.00 to obtain a good double rifle, and that's the kind of price range we are talking about. Until I was at DSC in January of 2015, and my PH, John Sharp, told me that I should go down to Larry Pancake's booth a couple rows over from John's, and look at the very nice 9.3x74R Sabatti double rifles he had for sale. I asked John specifically if he would recommend that caliber for buffalo, and he said he had no doubt of it, provided I could load it with 300 gr Swift A-frames. So I went down the line, handled one of Larry's BEAUTIFUL rifles, and as Jorge1 will attest (he was there, the enabling sonofabitch, goading me into buying it!) it was one helluva deal. Larry really, really wanted me to take the rifle to Africa, shoot a buff with it, and then write an article about it. He was so eager that he told me he would sell it for an obscenely low price. How could I say no?

So I drove home from DSC 2 days later with this gorgeous double rifle. Purchases were made on the innanet, and within a couple of weeks I had a Trijicon 1-4X scope mounted on it, and some Hornady 286 gr loads. Off to the range I went. Load, aim, and fire. WHAM!!! That little rifle kicked the bejabbers out of me! Huh. I thought I must me holding it wrong, so I tried it again. WHAM! It felt like I'd taken a left hook to the right cheek! Now, I'm not a snowflake when it comes to recoil... I'd been practicing quite a bit with my initial African rifle, a 375 Ruger, with full-house 300 gr loads and I was more than comfortable with the big recoil of a DG rifle.

Well, after I put a slip-on leather butt extension on the thing, I was finally able to shoot it without getting a bruise on my cheek, but the gun still didn't work for me. I loaded up some reduced-power reloads for practice purposes, using AA 5744 and some 250 gr Hornady bullets, but no dice. The bullets would shoot to within 2" at 50 yards off the bench, but when I tried to stand on my two hind legs, the bullets flew every which way. Every time I mounted the gun, I had to hunt for the sights. It just didn't "come up" to my face the way any of my double shotguns do. I talked about it with our pal Patrick at Willougby-McCabe in Dallas, and he agreed this was a classic "bad fit" problem. He suggested he could have his stock maker bend the stock to try to make it fit me, but he was quick to tell me there were no guarantees short of having an entirely new stock made to my dimensions. (Being 6'2" and 210 pounds, I'm not exactly built like your average Italian...)

I put at least 200 rounds of ammo through that rifle before I decided it wasn't going to work for me. I had to consider as well that John Sharp was starting to express doubt about the 9.3x74R for buffalo... he had been doing some reconsidering since his encouraging words in January, and he was now asking me to be sure to bring my 375 Ruger rifle along as well, just to see what's what once I arrived in camp.

I agonized for days, and finally said to hell with it. I sold the Sabatti double to an acquaintance who had been drooling all over it, and sold the Ruger 375 to boot. I bought the Kimber Caprivi in 375 H&H I mentioned in the quote above, and it was love at first shot. I could make that rifle hit, accurately and quickly, from any hunting position. I fired practice rounds and full-power rounds from offhand, standing with sticks, kneeling, and sitting positions at targets anywhere from 10 yards to 200 yards, with the Trijicon scope, with the backup Nikon scope, and with iron sights. The rifle simply came up to my face perfectly every time I mounted it... and don't ask me to explain how that could be, given the difference in height of the irons vs the scopes. It just worked for me. (My reloading and range logs show I bought 100 rounds of loaded Hornady ammo, and another 100 pieces of new Hornady brass... I reloaded each case 3 times, both reduced practice loads and full power loads in a 2:1 ratio, and shot all but 120 of those reloads before I left for Africa, which is how I came up with the "nearly 700 rounds tally, if you're interested.)

Now, back to my acquaintance and the Sabatti. This chap is taller than me, and that rifle didn't fit him worth a damn, either. Of course he didn't admit that, and despite the fact that I could see he wasn't hitting his targets any better than I was, he insisted on taking it to Africa the next year. His Facebook page was full of glory pics of him kneeling behind dead critters and holding the double rifle, but he privately told me that he shot almost all his game with his .338 because he couldn't hit [bleep] with the 9.3x74R when he got to South Africa. "The light is really different there, you know," he told me by way of excuse. Bullscheit. The rifle didn't fit him and he couldn't shoot it worth a damn. The only saving grace to that story is that he didn't hunt buffalo or other Dangerous Game with it!

Now, I'm sorry for that long story... but I believe it illustrates the problem with the African Double Rifle mystique. So many of us have been romanced by tales told by Ruark and Hemingway and Capstick and God knows everybody else about how fine it is to take one's trophies with a double rifle that we have lost sight of the first rule of being a good rifle hunter, which is to say, you can hit with it and kill your quarry cleanly every time, or near as dammit. If you read those authors a bit more closely, you'll note that Hemingway and Ruark and Capstick did a damn sight more shooting with a bolt-action rifle than with their big doubles. How the double rifle became the "classic" for African hunting is a bit of a mystery to me, when I re-read these authors who are the supposed champions of the dictum. W.M. Bell, John "Pondoro" Taylor, Craig Boddington, and many other African hunting icons have demonstrated in their own shooting and subsequent writing that a good magazine (bolt-action) rifle was the best rifle for most situations and most hunters.

Yet I see fellows like my west Texas friend and the chap in the above video who gut-shot his buffalo choosing a double rifle that they are unfamiliar with, and often so afraid of that they don't put in enough practice time with it to become proficient in its use. I've had private conversations with a dozen or more African PH's who opine that most Americans who bring doubles on their first hunt aren't very good with them, and are probably better served by a magazine rifle.

I'm interested to hear what you fellows have to say. I already know there will be a lot of chest-puffing and assertions that "I shoot my double rifle impeccably", etc. Fine, I'm sure you're right. But I'm interested in reading some substantive observations and enlightening discussion from the rest of you chaps, especially those of you who own and shoot a fine double rifle.

A couple of things. If I remember correctly, I DID encourage you to buy a double, but I definitively remember I mentioned my huge issues w my Sabbatti that I returned to Cabelas. It was truly a POS. That said, the folks you spoke to were supposedly "under new management" and assured the issues they had were resolved. Apparently not. As to the 10K number, the market is "soft" right now, so that number might just get you a decent English Double. As to new, maybe a Merkel that I would also avoid like the plague. A double rifle is by almost any measure, a highly specialized weapon, as like Craig Boddington says, going after buffalo with a double effectively reduces your chances by fifty per cent, but that I think is determined by the "prism" of the client hunter who in order to increase his chances, is looking at ranges from "right here!" to say 100 yards. A decent (new) double starts at the 16K (or so) range and that would be a Verney Carron (my choice) or a Heym. gut shooting happens no matter what you choose to use, IF you don't practice with it. My Verney was bespoke and as such fits me well and with it, I can routinely smack gallon sized jugs at 100 yards. Ostensibly I agree with your premise that a SCOPED bolt gun is a better choice, but my next trip (date unkown) for buffalo there is no doubt I will take my double...and a scoped 375. Lastly, I hope Jeff (HATARI) chimes in, as with a dozen buffalo under his belt he can offer a much better opinion than I can.

Interesting conversation. The question of a lightweight double vs similar weight bolt-trash.

I haven't hunted Cape Buff yet but it is very much on my list of things to do. It will happen one day. I did "hunt" American Bison with a 9.3x62, for whatever that's worth.

To that end, I have a 20" stainless Montana 1999 in .375 H&H and a 20" Merkel 141 in 9.3x74r. Both rifles are 8# scoped, with the .375 wearing VX6 1-6 and the 9.3 wearing a VX3 1.5-5, both illuminated duplex. The Montana sits in a decidedly ugly B&C aluminum bedded stock with a thick and soft limb saver while the Merkel wears its wood proudly with barely a sliver of sorbathane recoil pad.

I can fire 50 rounds of 300gr. 2,450 fps 375 off the bench with no ill effects. Meanwhile even a dozen rounds of 286 gr. 2,250 fps loads in the little Merkel brutalize me. Cheek slap and purple shoulder...use the set trigger and odds of doubling increase dramatically (*only because my hand slips with that 6oz trigger). I've only doubled that rifle once...damn...that rang my bell, shattered my shooting glasses and missed cutting me by a bare hair.

The Montana is one ugly as sin rifle. Sprayed on black finish, ugly stock, no iron sights to snag...holds four in the pit and one in the chamber. I hate this rifle because it is so ugly. I mean, it's a Thursday night 6 pack, twin bagger of a rifle. Damned if it doesn't group 3 in under an inch and feeds a smooth and slick as baby snot on a sheet of ice.

Yeppers...I have a pretty good idea which rifle I'd take on a buff hunt.

So, back to the story: If the rifle doesn't fit...well, there's just no winning there no matter how lovely the rifle really is.

It's not just the fit, or the expense, or the "shoot-ability" or lack thereof regarding a double rifle...... for a hunter going to Africa, a bolt rifle is a more effective weapon than a double! Don't get me wrong, I love double rifles, and have had 12-15 of them over time. They're nostalgic, powerful-looking, and downright cool! But we tend to confuse our role as hunter versus PH.

A double rifle provides 2 reliable shots with only the move of a finger from one trigger to another. They're shorter and can be handier than a longer bolt rifle, and in a large caliber in the hands of a PH, they can provide the stopping power needed when things get out of control on a hunt, protecting the client and the rest of the hunting party. At the short ranges used, a double provides the adequate "minute of Cape Buffalo" accuracy needed at short range.

The hunting client, however, has different responsibilities....to provide an accurate killing shot on an animal at the range encountered. To accomplish this, a scoped bolt rifle is the ticket. At the ranges generally encountered on a hunt, there's no need for 2 ultra-fast and reliable shots, so a bolt is fine. Accuracy becomes more critical as distance increases, so an accurate rifle and a scope aid in precise shot placement.

Double rifles may look powerful, but being break-open actions, they're limited in chamber pressure. To make up for that, the more powerful versions use very heavy bullet weights, which are a detriment to both range and trajectory.

Double rifles are designed to be used with open sights, which are adequate for short range and instinctive (read defensive) shooting. By the time most folks can afford African hunting, they've gotten on in age, and may no longer have the eyesight necessary to use open sights. Yes, you can add a scope or holo sight to a double, and hope that the addition doesn't affect the regulation of the rifle. But when equipped as such, why not just use a bolt rifle?

The one area where doubles are in their realm for a hunter is in Elephant hunting, where ranges are short and the availability of 2 quick shots is a good safety net.

As I said, I love shooting and hunting with double rifles, even with their shortcomings. But I advise folks to think of it like bowhunting, where you're purposely limiting yourself to short-range shots, using you skills to get within close range of your quarry.

Guys, please don't misread my OP as a condemnation of double rifles... if anything, I'm even more enamored of them now than I was 2 years ago, and if/when I get a chance to buy one, I'll take it to Africa quite happily!

My premise was/is that 1) the double rifle is a specialized rifle, especially for DG, and while it should be revered as such, it 2) is not suited to the average African hunter no matter what size his bank account. If you are going to take a double to Africa, you need to be damn sure you can shoot it and shoot it well.

My friend, I know you know I was kidding you... I considered your questions about that maker very seriously, as we discussed at the time. The rifle I bought was NOT a POS... it was well made, and shot good groups off the bench. It simply wouldn't work for me from the shoulder.



I'm looking forward to Jeff's comments as well.

As for your choice of taking your double, I'm not questioning that choice! If I had your Verney Carron 450/400, I'd take it, too!

Interesting observation. What do you suppose the weight of your Merkel might be? My Sabatti came in at a little over 8 pounds, 9 pounds with scope. I certainly don't consider that a "lightweight" rifle, and should be more than enough weight to tame the recoil of a beast such as the 9.3x74R?

The rifle has to fit you. I am fortunate in having "standard" body dimensions so that most rifles and shotguns right off the shelf mount and swing easily for me. Same can be said for golf clubs. I can get them off the rack.

I have 2 doubles. The favorite is a .450/400 Jeffery's. I can shoot it much like a shotgun meaning that I practiced snapping it up to shoulder and banging off two shots as quick as I can without taking the time to fine aim with the sights. Call it shotgun style. Practice in case of a charge at short range. As long as I mount the rifle and get a good check weld, I can hit a 4 x 6" index card at 25y with both shots every time. Is it NOT my expertise, but rather the fit of the gun. I have a SxS 28g scatter gun that I'm pretty handy with. I have a Spanish made O/U AYA that I got at the factory and the craftsmen there fitted me personally. I can't hit jack with it. Got another O/U I shoot fine.

There are 2 great attributes of a double. First is the instant availability of a second follow up shot. The second, and let's be honest, is the romance and mystique that goes with them. Maybe we should add the man sized big bore cartridges that they swallow are an attraction. Also, a double with 24" bbls is shorter and handier in the thick stuff than is bolt gun, especially with a scope. So it does have some advantages.

Is it essential for DG and Africa? No. Doubles were the choice for thick skinned DG back when the Brits ruled East Africa. The advent of the .458 Winchester changed the game to the point that by the mid 1960s the double gun industry was more or less dead. A rifle in .458 could be had for 1/20th the cost of a British double of any grade.

I am also a big fan of British made doubles. Those from the Continent do not seem to fit and point as comfortably. The Brits do it better. Better than Heym, Merkel, Ferlach Guild, Sabatti, Chapuis or any other I've handled. My Jeffery's was built in 1909 and shows that at one point in its life it was used regularly and often. I wish it could talk. The bores show abuse from the mercury primers in the old cordite loads that Kynoch made, but the gun is tight and regulates as well as it did the day it came from the factory.

Scope on a Big Bore double (sigh). I will personally horse whip any of my buddies that try stunt. That would be like Marilyn Monroe with a strap on. Somebody might be into that, but not me! Beats the purpose of having Marilyn Monroe. (Kate Upton if you can't bring back a 25 year old MM from the great beyond).

I have killed Cape Buffalo, and their cousins the NW Red Buff and Forest buff with a wide range of cartridges. I've brained one with an 8 mm wildcat. Killed one with a 9.3 JDJ (once was enough, though it was effective). I have taken down a couple of buff on the run after they received a shot with a bigger bore with a .338 WM. Both high shoulder shots that collapsed them instantly. I have had very good results with the 9.3 x 62. However, when I went on a multi buffalo safari in Tanzania, I took the Jeffery's. Walking in tall grass, tracking along thick riverine bush all made me appreciate the double's instant available second shot as peace of mind. Same for Forest buff in Cameroon.

I'm a sucker for the romance of the double rifle for DG, but anything from 9.3 x 62 to .375 to .416 are good. Hit them where it counts and the rest is easy.

Thanks, Jeff!

I must say that since I came back from Zim I've been dreaming of a 375 H&H Rimmed double, which as far as I can see seem to run a little less spendy than the .400's and bigger.

My Merkel is 6# 13oz naked, 8# even scoped.

It is a light, thin barrel'd demon.

At an SCI show Butch Searcy personally measured me for my LEFT HANDED 500 nitro DB. $7000. Fits like a dream. Kicks? Hell yeah! But I would hunt buff with it. Took elephant with it. He made it in 3.25 chamber-old school instead of the common 3" everybody makes. Man does it pound a jumbo!

I hunted in Zimbabwe and Namibia last year with only one rifle, a .375 H&H bolt action. I shot it a lot before left and had great luck on buffalo, leopard and plains game. I had great confidence in it and in Namibia made some relatively long shots. This year I went back to Zimbabwe for elephant and thought if I'm only going to shoot one elephant I want to do it with a double. Bought a .470 and throughly enjoyed working up loads and learning how to load and regulate a double rifle. The irons were a challenge to my 59 year old eyes so I used a red dot to work loads but was pretty determined to use the irons. I was successful in getting a nice bull with the double but upon reflection I think I'm really better with a scoped bolt action. I haven't killed a lot of buffalo but I think most of them would have been difficult or at least I would not have tried with an iron sighted double. There is also having to take two rifles if you hunt anything else and that's a pain. I also think rifles are for using but the double I used was so nice that I was concerned about the wear it was getting as well as what might happen to it while in transit.

Would love to own a double rifle in either .470 or .500 NE to use for buffalo and elephant. But,I grew up using bolt action rifles and am decent with them. I figure I'll just stick with what is comfortable for me,and that is a bolt action. Besides,it is a great joy taking the .460 out and hunting jackrabbits with it.

My observation on this is that most hunters should shoot a scoped bolt gun for DG. It's simple everyone has used a scoped rifle on most game there whole life why change it up when you go on a hunt of a lifetime. It's your job to make that first shot count it's your PH job to stop a bad situation. Had many talks about this around the fire over there and every PH I have been around will agree. I have seen more guys buy a double practice with it and when it was time to get on the plane and go they took there bolt gun because they trust there self with it.

The exception is the guy who has spent the time in the bush been multiple Safaris can afford a proper double and has learned to use it under hunting pressure. This group is a very small amount of hunters. Especially when talking Cape buffalo hunts. Number of double used on elephant rise quite a bit because you want the power and the range is a lot closer.

As a PH goes on DG in my opinion should carry a double. If they need to use it it's a close situation that needs ended quickly. Now some of the great PHs have carried bolt guns but the double just makes more sense. if you ever read Geoff Broom Lifetime on Safari he mentions even thought he carried a bolt gun a lot in his career a PH should carry a double in his opinion.

I decided a bit over a handful of years ago that a M70 416 Rem would be what I would take and bought an early one not long after. I bedded it in a McM stock, swapped the sights for an NECG banded front and Wisner pre-64 African rear and swapped to a Willliams extractor. It feeds/ejects bare brass as well as a multitude of handloads I have tried. It is more than accurate enough and in five or so weeks we will be in Zimbabwe chasing buffalo and sable with the 350 gr TSX over RE-15. I owned a couple of doubles and my eyes just struggle being precise with open sights anymore.

Good luck in Zim....you have the right weapon!

Great thread gentlemen.

I have very limited experience compared to those who have posted above, however I have always been adamant that regardless or where and what one is hunting that fit is a rifle matters as much as with a shotgun. Again I agree most heartily with the comments about practice. with any new rifle I do a great deal of dry firing and live fire practice until the rifles functions instinctively. Live fire practice includes precision shooting, field position, speed drills etc. With a bit of practice a bolt gun can very fast with the second shot.

All the best gentlemen.

GRF

I'll tell you I was beyond s@##$$ kittens when my double 500 didn't show up in Atlanta!!!! Made it back stateside a few days later. No fun!!

Fascinating conversation. Thank you. I've never shot a double rifle, have hunted a lot with a side by side double shotgun.

I own a real nice .375 H&H, on the chance of someday being able to get to Africa for a cape buff hunt, or perhaps tuskless elephant. Budget being what it is, I might be able to afford the African hunt, but not if I buy a double! So, I'll have a Model 70 instead, if I can make it happen.

But please... Continue with the tales of those beautiful double-barrel African Rifles! Love seeing them, and learning about them.

Regards, Guy

The confidence one gives you is impressive. Slamming 2 570 grain solids:BAM BAM!! Into a tuskless cow is a memory. And that unmistakable "ping" that they make as the eject out those empties is worth the price of admission.

Now this is interesting, I hunted in Dande South with HHK safaris. A 1st class operation in a truly nice slice of Africa. Lion footprints over ours, wild dogs, camp leopard etc.. And the PHs are absolutely 1st class. Mine carried a 458 Lott Win 70 but feed it normal 458 solids. We had a apprentice pH that used a BSA 458 win mag. Some other client that was in a fly camp after lion(he got him) came into camp for a @##$,shower and a shave had an old school Rhodesian elephant cropping officer turned PH. A real ornery bastard!! But he used a 450-400 on something like 4000 elephant I was told. I think it was a Westley Richards or Rigby. I did not see it, it was in his truck and he was ranting and raving about how America sucks. He did handle my Searcy field grade 500 and gave it nice compliments.