Sully2
Well-Known Member
Why is it a double rifle ( side by side) costs so MANY times more than a side by side shotgun...? One might be had for say $1500 and the other cant even be touched for $15,000 american..?
Double rifles and double shotguns??
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J E Custom
Well-Known Member
Double rifles have to be much stronger because of the added pressure and they also have to be regulated so they will hit close to the same POI at much longer distance. Building and lining up the barrels is very difficult.
A shotgun on the other hand is a relatively low pressure gun is not intended for shots longer than
75 yards normally so barrel alignment between the two barrels is not as critical.
This also includes over and under rifles and shot guns.
J E CUSTOM
Sully2
Well-Known Member
I understand why the double rifle costs more...but the ratio is WAAAYYYY out of proportion
shortgrass
Well-Known Member
I don't thnik so when you compare firearms of equal quality. Plenty of double/over/under shotguns that sell for as much as a double rifle will.
Sully2
Well-Known Member
I doubt that! I can buy a carload of shotguns for less than $3000 each....but in a double rifle it dont account for much at all
J E Custom
Well-Known Member
I once owned a Krieghoff shot gun that retailed for $26,000.00 dollars and that was not there most expensive. the wood set alone was over $7,000.00 dollars.
It was hand fitted and everything was redundant (Two of everything to prevent any malfunction)
I traded it for a Merkel 470 express and got some boot back (It sold for $14,500.00)
So any hand made, fitted and assembled rifle or shotgun will cost much more than a production Weapon. A good example would be the difference in a production rifle that can cost as little as $400.00 dollars and a custom rifle that will approach as little $2,000.00 and go as high as $8,000.00
There is no comparing the two.
J E CUSTOM
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
JE is correct, but to take it deeper each side of the gun is a perfect mirror image of the otherside. Very hard to do, I might add. Just to make both barrels impact in the same spot at 100 yards in a real problem. Very labor intensive. You can't just order in two barrels and start assembling a rifle. The bores have to be a perfect match as well as the O.D. How one "regulates" a double is often a closely guarded piece of work. I had a friend who specialized in big bore doubles (African), and new his way around in all the good ones. He got over a hundred dollars an hour to just inspect one twenty years ago, and with his reputation he had a back log of work.
By the way $15K won't get you much of a double rifle these days. I've seen over a million dollars worth of rifles being worked on in his shop (about ten guns). I remember looking at a well used Evans .450#2 Nitro Express rifle that was being completely rebuilt. He said the guy had a tic under $50K in it! He was having a very well known guy cut a new stock for it, and Eric was simply tightening up all the pins and rebuilding the trigger / safety and some external metal. Double rifles are known as dangerous game rifles, and everything must be perfect.
gary
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
They are just so labor intensive. Of course some things are over the top. Like all the screw slots being orientated in the same direction, and all the engraving. Even the tools are engraved and inlayed as well. The case alone must be worth $500! But they work right everytime because there's no room for error at 50 yards.
gary
Sully2
Well-Known Member
"custom rifle that will approach as little $2,000.00 and go as high as $8,000.00"...and thats STILL lots lower $$ that a top notch double rifle.
It must be the man hours of labor thats wrapped up in one. I know I cant afford even an older well used one but I do understand they have a purpose and Im glad that someone uses them if I were ever on safari!
It must be the man hours of labor thats wrapped up in one. I know I cant afford even an older well used one but I do understand they have a purpose and Im glad that someone uses them if I were ever on safari!
Sully2
Well-Known Member
Not really, Brownings shotguns can cost same as Merkel 141 SXS rifle or Blaser S2 ~ 6K. Take a look at eurooptic.com or mad dog guns. Or budget Sabatti doubles ~3K.
And super cheap Baikal mp 221 for less that 1K
shortgrass
Well-Known Member
Take into account that double rifles aren't even a semi-production firearm. Each is made individually. The parts don't just come off the shelf, each can be hand made. Same goes for many shotguns. The first time I needed parts for a AYA I realised I should have just made them myself as what I got I may as well have made instead of buying and paying shipping on. Another customer came in an noticed the shotgun on the bench. He had lost the lever/screw that joins the two side plates on his AYA shotgun. I called the supplier I'd bought parts from and he said, " The gunsmith that does the mechanical fit and finish (metal work) probably makes each and every one, as I've never seen even a blank". Lots of modern custom rifles we see are nothing more than an 'assembly' of off the shelf parts (a custom action not made by the gunsmith, a barrel chambered by the gunsmith, but made by a custom barrel maker, bottom metal that there are hundreds of, triggers that there are thousands of, stocks that come from a mold). Hand fit doubles, rifles or shotguns, aren't made like that at all. As for the 'smith that'll 'time' the screws, If he cared enough to do that, think about what else he cared about while plyin his trade. Hand fit doubles are a whole different 'critter' that go beyond what most of todays 'gunsmiths' can deal with.
