Front trigger first on my Merkel 500NE, otherwise it will double (the front trigger is lighter than the rear). Having said that, a friend managed to double my rifle twice in a row each time when he pulled the front trigger first.


link

This can be the result of pulling the front trigger with just the tip of the index finger, so that the recoil jars the finger off the front trigger and onto the rear trigger. Moving the hand forward on the stock and engaging the trigger with the first joint of the finger should prevent that.

Mine has yet to double. 20 rounds of trailboss reduced loads and 20 full patch (10 4831, 10 RL15) yesterday alone and no issues (including two shooters new to doubles shooting some of the trailboss loads).

I have shot mine a few hundred times with never a double.

I've never doubled any double rifle. I think I might be doing something right only because I grew up with double barreled shotguns and got into the right habits early??? Who knows?

Now, tomorrow, I'll double my .500 N.E.

My Krieghoff Teck O/U .458 Winchester Magnum doubled once on me. It was a true double, because the bullet holes were only an inch or two apart on the paper. I was knocked backward, got my feet tangled up and sat down hard, but no damage either to me or the gun. A trip to the gunsmith and a thorough cleaning evidently cleared up the problem, whatever it was, because it has never done it again, and that was over 40 years ago.

Maybe Will was right about the merits of a single trigger gun.

No, it was a problem with older Merkels that it has been supposedly fixed...or so they tell me and I can tell you these have not been as a result of strumming, especially the one where the gun doubled when pulling the rear trigger first.

Jorge,
Strumming is a nice description.

At age 15, I began shooting a SxS Parker with double triggers and the first and only time that I strummed was my first shot at a dove. I still shoot double trigger Parkers and it has never happenned again. Had it been a gun malfunction, it would have been taken to a gunsmith for correction.
Now that I have my first double rifle, I am quite careful about trigger management and such.
Is there a local smith that is competent to check your rifle?

Friends have doubled my .600, .500, .450 no2. I had a .577 Cashmore doubler on me 20 years ago.
I have never had a double double on my after I began shooting rear trigger first.
Cal

Intersting, I bought a new Merk in 500NE, the firsttime I fired it both barrels fired. I figured I may have bumped the rear trigger in that it is a new gun, loaded again and again it fired both barrels so I went to the one in the right and an empty in the laft, each time both fired, tried it with the opposite live in the left and empty in the right and only the left would fire. I call the factory and talked to one of the gunsmith, he asked if I new how to fire a double, I asssured him that I had considerable experience but he went ahead and explained you must use the front trigger first (right) and then the left. Either way I sent the rifle to him, the repair order came back that the rifle was cleaned and a spacer was installed. I have not had the chance to test the rifle but I surely will do a single round first to make sure it is corrected, funny thing I was shooting a a 18"x18" target at 25 yds and the first bullet hit dead center and no idea where #2 went

quote:

Originally posted by crshelton:
Jorge,
Strumming is a nice description.

At age 15, I began shooting a SxS Parker with double triggers and the first and only time that I strummed was my first shot at a dove. I still shoot double trigger Parkers and it has never happenned again. Had it been a gun malfunction, it would have been taken to a gunsmith for correction.
Now that I have my first double rifle, I am quite careful about trigger management and such.
Is there a local smith that is competent to check your rifle?

I don't own a Merkel, but I see another Merkel owner posted below with the same malady.

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
Friends have doubled my .600, .500, .450 no2. I had a .577 Cashmore doubler on me 20 years ago.
I have never had a double double on my after I began shooting rear trigger first.
Cal

Amen!

My first DR was a used Merkel,it has changed hands three times now,several times to Africa with Nary a problem,could be it had been tuned up when I got it,I have a Heym now,same caliber,it started doubling on me with factory ammo loaded with Barnes solids,had JJ look at it,it was a minor fix,doubling is not the end of the world,usually just an easy fix or shooter error.

quote:

Originally posted by JudgeG:
I've never doubled any double rifle. I think I might be doing something right only because I grew up with double barreled shotguns and got into the right habits early??? Who knows?

Now, tomorrow, I'll double my .500 N.E.

Judge G I have to agree with you, grew up with double shotguns and rifles, do not remember ever doubling any one of those!

quote:

Originally posted by LJS:
Maybe Will was right about the merits of a single trigger gun.

A single trigger double can be accidently double discharged as a well!

We had another discussion on this subject a couple of years ago. In that thread a sporting clays shooter explained how this happens and said it happens often with new clays shooters with single trigger guns.

He said with a loose hold on the trigger hand the gun recoils to the rear pulling the trigger away from the trigger finger and when it recoils back forward the trigger HITS the TRIGGER finger firing the other barrel.

I have a 12 guage O/U with a single trigger that doubled on my youngest son who was only 10 years old at the time. This gun had never doubled before after close to 1000 rounds through the barrels. I took the apart and found nothing wrong. It had never doubled before and till today 40 years later it still has not doubled. It was something that had puzzled me for years, and the clay shooter made the happening Chrystal clear.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,SO! a single trigger will not fix operator error doubling!

Regardless of the make operator caused double discharges are,IMO, about 90% of the double dischargings that the rifle/shotgun gets the blame for. Usually experienced by folks that are fairly new to heavy recoiling double rifles.

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Several years ago I got one of the last 500NE Merkel double rifles out of the first batch of the (then new) rifles imported with ejectors. Doubled right out of the box. GSI's gunsmith Herbert (sadly lacking in people skills) strongly intimated that I did not know what I was doing, but grudgingly had me send it back for him to look at. Got it back with a note that nothing was wrong with it. Yup, still doubled. Yelled at Danny Spahn and sent it back, this time they told me there was a problem with the geometry between the sears and the triggers and that new ones (re-designed) from Germany were needed.

The gun was still at GSI for my Zim elephant hunt, had to take a bolt gun and got involved in a self-defense cow incident with Alan Shearing at water pistol range, turned out OK but really wished I had a double.

Got the rifle back when I returned from Zim, the doubling issue was resolved. Sold the rifle as it just did not fit me properly and was very abusive to manage, I think being too light for a 500NE and having a lot of drop on the stock contributed to the harsh recoil

quote:

about 90% of the double dischargings that the rifle/shotgun gets the blame for. Usually experienced by folks that are fairly new to heavy recoiling double rifles.

And it only happens with Merkels? OR they double EVEN if the rear trigger is pulled first as explained not one but twice here and on the link by MERKEL owners and not me..

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:

quote:

about 90% of the double dischargings that the rifle/shotgun gets the blame for. Usually experienced by folks that are fairly new to heavy recoiling double rifles.

And it only happens with Merkels? OR they double EVEN if the rear trigger is pulled first as explained not one but twice here and on the link by MERKEL owners and not me..

Jorge, I'm not disputing YOUR findings that have been proven by owners of Merkels. However some of the ones you swore were mechanical double discharges have since been proven to have been strummings. Strummings are common with any brand when shot by novices to not only Merkels but big bore doubles of all brands. It is absolutely true that 90% of doublings are because of poor hand/trigger control of double rifles by people who are new to double rifles regardless of brand.

It is evident that a few Merkels left the maker with some problems a couple with soft triggers and most were fixed.

Merkel is not the only brand that has had a problem sometime in their history. However I have owned several double trigger rifles and shotguns made by Merkel over the past 30 years, and have never had one that doubled on ME, that was not caused by strumming.

I did have a couple of new shooters shoot my 470NE using the back trigger first who got a double discharge, but I have shot over 800 rounds through that rifle, with about 1/4 (about 270 rounds) of those fired with the back trigger first without even a single double discharge. The previous owner sent me a PM stating he never had a double discharge with that rifle either.

IMO, that indicates the people who got those DDs shooting the back trigger first were doing something that it is quite evident that I do not do. I don't know what it was but it still the cause is something that needs to be explained so remedies can be made because any double should be just as reliable no matter which trigger is pulled first. I for one would love to know what they are doing that I do not to cause those DDs.

Till that is found, my fix would be double interceptor sears. However, interceptor sears will not stop strumming double discharges because that is caused by actually accidently pulling the back trigger. 14 Merkels is not even 10% of the Merkels sold just in this country, so the 90% being strumming still stands!

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I let quite a few people shoot my Merkel 470 when I had it and no one had it double on them.
It is the same one Mac now has.

Byron

Mac: I'll let this be, but none of the ones I mentioned were as a result of strumming and in fact, I expressly said so and took those off the tally.