I was in Ron Petersons Guns in Albuquerque last Friday and saw two sxs double rifles. One was a Merkel in 9.3x74. The Kriegoff had a 1.5x5 scope and also was 9.3x74. The Merkel was 7200.00 and the Kriegoff was 4900.00. Both were nice rifles if anyone is interested.

Impala, I Googled Ron Petersen and found some not very nice reviews! What is your opinion? I was unable to find a website that showed these guns.
Peter.

Hi Peter,

Ron Petersons has been in Albuquerque for as long as I can remember. It is not a very fancy store, but has a lot of guns. I have never looked at their websight, they may not have one.

When I have done business them at the store, all transactions have been straight forward. All their sales people are very gun savy.

I would suggest calling the store to check out the double rifles I saw. Maybe they can e-mail pics to you.

I dealt with Ron Petersen several times when I lived in New Mexico back in the late 1970's. I was always pleased with the transactions. Fair prices on both guns for sale and trade-ins.

quote:

Originally posted by impala#03:
I was in Ron Petersons Guns in Albuquerque last Friday and saw two sxs double rifles. One was a Merkel in 9.3x74. The Kriegoff had a 1.5x5 scope and also was 9.3x74. The Merkel was 7200.00 and the Kriegoff was 4900.00. Both were nice rifles if anyone is interested.

impala#83, I have no personal knowledge of the store or it's business practices, but I do have some knowledge of the two rifle brands you are looking at, and the cartridge you are thinking of buying.

I have a Merkel double rifles chambered for 9.3X74R. Many of the members shoot Merkels as well, and they are quality rifles. Mine is a model 140E-1. The “E” indicates selective ejectors , and the rifle is a standard Anson & Deeley box lock action. The rifle weighs in at 8.3 pounds with 24 inch barrels. It has two triggers with the trigger for nthe right barrel being a “SET” trigger. The safety is a automatic safety, a feature I do not like on a rifle I may need to defend myself with. The rifle is about 10 years old and has had a lot of shooting, on targets and hunting as well. It is very accurate, and has never failed me even once in the ten years I’ve been shooting it.

I don’t have a Krieghoff double rifle but they are good rifles and very safe to carry loaded, a feature I like in the K-guns. A lot of the members of the DRSS shoot K-guns and they are very good rifles as well. The K-guns got off to a rocky start because we didn’t understand the “DECOCKER” system when they first came on the market. Once it was understood the dooms-day fears were set aside and the value of the safe nature of these rifles has been fully accepted by most double rifle enthusiasts today. I must say I was one who was leery of that system in the beginning. Be advised here thet the Blaser S-2 decocker is not the same as the K-gun and is not a good feature on a rifle to be used on dangerous game. If there is a draw-back to the K-gun it is the fact that it doesn’t fit a lot of people well. If it fit me, I would have one, but for me it would have to be re-stocked, so I lean toward the more classic rifles like the Merkel. The K-guns are not available with selective ejectors and the Merkels are.

However both rifles are quality items, but it would be a very good idea to try these two rifles in the store for fit and balance giving it the ability to swing for instinctive snap shooting with on target accusation naturally. Price differential is a consideration, but not as important as fit, and balance in double rifles. I like the de-cocking system but the fit and balance is off for me! You really can’t go wrong with either of these rifles if they fit you! That being said any quality double rifle chambered for the 9.3X74R is a very good rifle for hunting in North America, or as I said as a back-up for Africa. A double chambered for this round is one of the best choices one can pick for a first double rifle. The ammo is cheap to buy, and even cheaper to hand-load so one can shoot it a lot more than a larger bore, so the instinctive shooting becomes automatic. That makes for making instant shot placement with any double rifle when it counts.


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Thanks Mac for the info. I was not considering either gun at the present time, just passing along where two good doubles were located at a good price. I would like to have a double at some point, but would rather use the money for trophy fees now.