I don't know why, but about a month ago I woke up and realized I wanted a double rifle.

I have always thought of them out of my price range, but I can probably go to $10000.

Looked at the Merkel 500 NE at Cabelas in Ft Worth. I have never held a double before but it just seemed to fit me quite well. I have been on 2 hunts to S. A. with another one next May. I would love to hunt buff with a double in the future.

One question. Since the brass seems to be kind of high, how many loadings can one get from the brass? I am thinking about casting my own bullets for practice. I wonder is the 440 grain I cast for my 500 Linebaugh would work? I would want a heavier bullet for practice, though. I want to shoot the snot out of it before I would ever book a buff hunt.

As I said before, I liked the feel of the Merkel. What other suitable doubles are in the price range I am talking about? This is not a something I am doing in a couple of months. I am just exploring the options and would hope that I can handle or shoot some double rifles before I make a decision. Thank you.

RAC
You should be able to find what you want under 10 g. Just keep looking.

Shooting the snot out of it before a buff hunt is a smart idea. Knowing what a prolific deer population you have in Claiborne parish you should not have a problem with finding targets.

Do you know Pete Pearson, Jo Jo Michaels or Jess Robertson by chance?

Yep, all three.

What's your connection to Claiborne Parish?

If you are not in a hurry, I will let you shoot my 470 merkel, or 9.3 chapris. I live about 1 hr away at the foot of the huey p in old jefferson. Gi lives in Homer but is with out a double right now. He is waiting on a new Hyem in 450. The Merkel you should find for 8k keep looking, I got mine for 7 brand new. You may need to change the bal of the gun (mine was front heavy)and the sights. You would the make 3rd DRSS menber within a hour of New Orleans I know of. Does that mean we can have our own chapter?

JD

There is a nice Merkel 470 for $7,500 in the classifieds. Might be worth the drive to save some $$$.

I've heard several people on this forum complain about recoil in a 500 Merkel so you may want to consider the 470.

Good Luck

I have the 470 NE and like you, its what fit me the best. I got some Jamison brass from Mike Davis and have loaded it 4 times.

RAC
I have done architectural work in Homer for many years.

There are a lot of really good people there.

If you are ever in Branson you are welcome to shoot my 450/400 or 470 however I plan to sell the 470 this year and concentrate on the 450 so I may not have that for long.

quote:

Originally posted by J D:
If you are not in a hurry, I will let you shoot my 470 merkel, or 9.3 chapris. I live about 1 hr away at the foot of the huey p in old jefferson. Gi lives in Homer but is with out a double right now. He is waiting on a new Hyem in 450. The Merkel you should find for 8k keep looking, I got mine for 7 brand new. You may need to change the bal of the gun (mine was front heavy)and the sights. You would the make 3rd DRSS menber within a hour of New Orleans I know of. Does that mean we can have our own chapter?

JD

JD, I would love to but I live in the Homer next to the Arkansas line. Long way from the New Orleans area.

quote:

Originally posted by 470Evans:
There is a nice Merkel 470 for $7,500 in the classifieds. Might be worth the drive to save some $$$.

I've heard several people on this forum complain about recoil in a 500 Merkel so you may want to consider the 470.

Good Luck

Yep, I sent him a PM but looks like I am second in line. Funny, I was looking at this as something to do down the road but my wife doesn't give a shit if I get one. Never know how much time you have left. Got to strike while the iron is hot.

RAC I have been working to hard,just caoght the spelling. I was thinking Houma.I am looking for a duck and quail lease anythung up that way.PM if you know of somerhing.

JD

quote:

Originally posted by J D:
RAC I have been working to hard,just caoght the spelling. I was thinking Houma.I am looking for a duck and quail lease anythung up that way.PM if you know of somerhing.

JD

You need to look over towards the Monroe area. We are all hills and pine tree plantations.

let me know when you get 1.. i've got some louisiana license plates i can personalize with the DRSS on them... jd got a texas 1 at the texas DRSS shoot in june...

It's been beat to death and you haven't mentioned it but the Merkel doesn't have ejectors. You can have it converted thru TOMO577 here on AR. He bought some factory ejector components from Merkel. They're for their 12 ga SxS. I hear the conversion works. It'll run $1K. With that you'll have the gun quicker than if you wait till fall for the first factory Merkel ejector guns and you'll save thousands. Personally, I'd never buy a dangerous game double without ejectors.

Chapuis makes a fine gun, with ejectors, and a used one can be had in your budget. It may take a while to find used.

I think the Chapuis may be a bit nicer, in and out, on the used guns. The newest Merkels I've seen lately have looked and functioned better than before so new they are equal. Merkel's 2nd tier engraving has gotten alot better. Chapuis will run you more new but not by much on the new kicker guns.

The Merkel 141(e) in 9.3x74 has ejectores. It is really lightweight and a joy to bring to shoulder. If you shop, you can get one for $5K or so, new (and that's with QD rings). The gun has great metal work and fine wood to metal fit.

I'm taking mine to Tanzania if all the foolish crap about trophy fees/daily rates is resolved.

I'll qualify what most know, that it's the big bore Merkels that don't have ejectors, won't have them until the first ones come in the fall.

there are 6 ejector merkel large bore rifles enroute to usa per a conversation with merkel last thursday.

but there wil be a long dry spell in between shipments they advise.

it seems the germans move surely, but slowly. well, no one wants to be the guinea pig on some untested idea.

our conversion to ejectors works flawlessly and there is no way to tell it was not sent that way from the factory. it will take approx 6 wks to do one - getting the parts and scheduling it into production.

judge g,

good luck on tanganyka.

i seriously doubt there will be a rollback of the new fees.

why should they ? they have been overpriced for years, since the end of colonial times

i'd be booking into a real country if i planned on hunting.

Inasmuch as there is so many old junk doubles out there today, I would advise a newbie that it's buyer beware. Based on that I would buy a Searcy classic. They are light, strong and very accurate.

Hey RAC, I just looked on gunsamerica.com, and they had a NIB Merkel, .470NE for $9800. It is on the 2nd page of the dbl. rifles. Don't know squat about pricing on dbl. rifles, but is in your price range. It may only have extractors, though.

Mad Dog

No condition given, might be used. Classic is a big Merkel dealer. Even used, if minty, that's a good price as it's not a base gun but a 140-2.1 with the better engraving and better wood. There's some confusion about Merkel and grades of wood. GSI bought alot of their own wood, stocked the guns and charged extra. I don't think there's a factory option on wood, just better wood as you get the nicer level of guns. Definitely an extractor gun, of course, but just send it to Tomo577 for kickers.