My old man spoke with Butch this morning. Butch told him that he currently has orders for 60 DRs at this moment!

Way to go Butch!!!!!

Make that 61

Maineguide

and mine is one of them....man, i hope this doesnt hold it up.

That is over a million bucks worth of orders! Sounds like Butch has his hands full. I hope his business continues to grow.

Maineguide1!

Great to hear from you!

What did you end up going with? Pray tell the details!

60 DR's! Looks like Brother Bill Soverns is gonna have ALOT of job security!

.577 Nito Express,

Why a .577 NE Classic of course!

Maineguide

Did he said anything about the current wait for a DR?

Tongo,

He said right now about 12-14 months but he was working on increasing his output. He was very concerned about keeping his quality at a high level and if increasing capacity had a negative effect on quality he would keep the waiting period as it is now.

Maineguide

Mainguide:

You mean Butch is chambering his new Classic action in .577 now??????

If so, that is AWESOME!!!!!! That is one gorgeous firearm - I loved what I saw at DSC!

.577

He is but as you know it's not going to be the same price as the smaller calibers. It's a few grand more.

Maineguide

quote:

He is but as you know it's not going to be the same price as the smaller calibers. It's a few grand more.

Maineguide1 -

Is this rifle that you are referring to different than the 577 Boxlock version that he advertises on his website?

Thanks

Don:

Maineguide can chime in if I'm wrong. The gun Maineguide is getting is Butch's new classic rifle, chambered in .577 NE. It can be seen here: Classic Action

It is NOT the same as the .577 NE Boxlock Delux that Butch offers, which can be seen here: .577 NE Delux Boxlock

577 Nitro Express,

Thanks for the information. So it is the Classic model to which you all are referring. It threw me that the "calibers other than ones listed" line was missing on this webpage (for example, as shown on the "Deluxe" Model webpage.)

It was interesting that my wife just loved the look of the Classic model....hummm....

I think that it is very nice but she really liked it frankly far more than me. She also insists on a 500 NE as she read the South African study about the odds of getting squished when charges were not stopped with anything smaller than a 500.

Don:

When I was at DSC, I saw and handled the classic - the same one Butch has on his website. Personally, I think it looks even better in person.

I have a Merkel in .500 NE and love that round.

Are you considering buying a Searcy Classic?

577 Nitro Express,

I have been struggling with this question for the last couple of years. Frankly I have wanted a 600 Nitro Express since I saw my first Tarzan movie as a 5-year old kid. I eventually thought that I would get a 577, as you are, when I saw that 600s were so hard to come by, but a few calculations as to recoil and after shooting a 458 for all of these years convinced me to get something smaller. (Basically I am following Taylor's advice regarding Ultra Large Bores....)

The main problem I have is living here in Illinois. There are so many complex and confusing gun laws that it makes it hard to find many guns dealers at all, especially those that offer double rifles. I think there is one double rifle (a Blaser 470) in all of the western xburbs of Chicago at the moment. There is a Merkel dealer in the extreme south end of Chicago, but after much consideration of the postings on this forum I am convinced that the requirement for ejectors precludes this make.

Fortunately Cabelas will soon be opening a store just 20 minutes from here which should allow me to see a few more doubles.

I have never handled a Searcy as they simply do not show up in gun shows either here in Chicago or in Boise, Salt Lake City, or Denver during the times that I have lived there.

I was unable to make it to the Reno show due to business demands. Anyway, I might just try to arrange a trip to South Dakota to see a Searcy and go from there.

I am sold on the 500, now the question is whether to go with the PH or Classic model in the event that I do decide on the Searcy.

I sure look forward to hearing how you like your forthcoming purchase.....

Don:

This is slightly off topic so forgive me, but there is the CADA show this weekend in St. Charles at the DuPage Expo center across from Pheasant Run on Main Street. Saturday 9-5 and Sunday 9-2. There are usually a few nice doubles to drool over.

And you are right about Chicago area dealers. Limited inventory despite a large population.

RCG

RCG,

Thanks for the information. I was unaware of this show. I will certainly go. It will be nice to actually see a couple of doubles here in Illinois. I was amazed to even see an A-Square Hannibal (416 Rem.) at a recent show in Geneva.


Thanks again,


Don

Don:

The cost of an airline ticket to Sturgis to visit Butch (when he is there - he is also working in Boron too) and his shop is well worth it.

If you ever make it to DC or Philly, let me know and maybe we can get together and shoot my Merkel.

577 Nitro Express,

Thanks for the very kind offer. It is appreciated. I used to come to DC all the time, but rarely travel there anymore.

I will report on any doubles that I see at the local gun show tomorrow. I hope there are at least a few....

quote:

Originally posted by 577NitroExpress:
My old man spoke with Butch this morning. Butch told him that he currently has orders for 60 DRs at this moment!

Way to go Butch!!!!!

577NitroExpress,

Not meaning to rain on any ones parade, but I hope Butch is ok with his commercial information like this appearing in public??

Regards,

Pete

Butch is very open and has nothing to hide.

Thumper,

I'm not suggesting Butch has anything to "hide", just hoping he doesn't mind what might be commercially sensitive infomatiom given in a private conversation ending up on a public web site...

Regards,

Pete

So Mr. Searcy turns out about one rifle per week at his current steady-state rate. So, I guess we could take his total number of employees and multiply by 40 hours and thereby determine the number of labor-hours required for one of his guns.

(Yes, I know that his employee count will include clerical staff and such, but I am sure that his company has papers that need to be pushed as well...)

Don,

Not quite since each new order that comes in gets a longer estimated delivery time. For example, if you ordered from Butch four months ago your estimated delivery time was eight months, now it over a year. Also some rifles take more hours to build. But you might get into the ball park with your method.

JPK

Hi JPK,

Yes, of course. I was explicitly assuming a "steady-state" condition (constant rate of new orders and constant output of new rifles, basically a constant backlog)and was just trying to add to the overall conversation as to effort required for a double rifle (posted on a couple of threads at the moment and many over the years). Again this was to provide some basic ballpark figure as to total labor-hours for a new rifle.

Don,

You should see them at the NRA convention in Milwaukee next month.

BTW I was at the Aurora Sportsmen's Club last Saturday and had a great time shooting trap over there. After missing out on shooting when we were in Chicago, I bought a home in Des Plaines and hope to join the ASC soon, especially before they move to their new 800 acre premises at Winfield. You're lucky to live by one of the nicest gun clubs I have ever been to.

Cheers!

Mehul,

I have heard that the Aurora Gun Club is very nice although I have not been there. I wanted to go to the double rifle competitive shoot last year, but was away on a project. I will try to make the NRA show, if possible, although again I may be traveling. (This darn work tends to interfere with a lot of fun things...)