Double rifle

M

muleshoe

New member
Okay, here's a dumb question. Do you ever scope a double rifle? If so, do you sight in with one barrel hitting 3/4" to the right and the other barrel 3/4" to the left? Or are the barrels not inline enough to be able to do this? If not, do you sight in your first barrel dead on. Using the second barrel to shoot behind you as you sprint across the African plains wishing you had brought your mother inlaw, becaue you know you can outrun her? Are these guns fairly accurate open sighted? Would a scope just get in the way?
Just wondering....

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bullet placement is gun control
 
You sight in at the distance the maker regulated the barrels for and take what you get at other ranges.

A low power variable Zeiss or Swarovski in QD or claw mounts on a .470 Searcy double would be a nice touch. If it gets in the way just take it off and leave it in the Land Rover while you put the sneak on that SCI Gold Medal Cape Buffalo.
 
The barrels are typically regulated, that is, made to impact at the same point at a designated range with a particular load. That is one of the reasons Double Rifles were so blamed expensive in their heyday, the fact that the gunsmith had to regulate 'em. HTH

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Be mentally deliberate but muscularly fast. Aim for just above the belt buckle Wyatt Earp
"It is error alone that needs government support; truth can stand by itself." Tom Jefferson
If you have to shoot a man, shoot him in the guts, it may not kill him... sometimes they die slow, but it'll paralyze his brain and arm and the fight is all but over Wild Bill Hickok
Remember: When you attempt to rationalize two inconsistent positions, you risk drowning as your own sewage backs up.
45 ACP: Give 'em a new navel! BigG
 
The regulating process involved taking the gun, with the barrels soldered together at the rear and using wedges to force the barrels apart until they were both hitting at that magic point (usually 50 yards or less) which the customer wanted. Since almost all double rifles were (and are) custom made, the range was the customer's call. So, it was fire, tap, fire, tap, until the two bullet holes were touching. You can imagine how tedious this was, and the skill it took.

Then back to the shop to solder the barrels together. Then back to the range to make sure nothing had gone amiss. If it had, back to the shop, break the solder and start again.

Even in Jolly Old at the last turn of the century this got costly; today it is nearly prohibitive. (At that time, with no income tax, a few people had a lot of money. By an estimate I did for another purpose, one dollar in 1900 equaled $40 today; one English Pound equaled $200 in today's dollars. A one-way ticket in the Titanic's first class suites (they weren't supposed to all be one way) cost the equivalent of about $200,000. And we think the Concorde is expensive. And some duke lost 5000 pounds in a card game and thought nothing of it! How's that for high stakes?)

Jim
 
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