Best Double for the Money

27 August 2012, 02:43

209jones

Being as I recently ordered a Krieghoff, the process went something like this for me;

Sabatti-nope
Chapuis---interested
Merkel---top end of budget, don't like stocks
Heym---too much
Searcy---hmmmmm, up there in price though
VC---interested
Krieghoff---interested
Blaser-nahhhh, nice,but, nahhh

I started inquiring about a VC and a Chapuis. Sabatti wasn't in the picture due to what I'd read about them. Vendor said he'd had some trouble with regulation on Chapuis, they were a bit iffy in that regard. Wanted to get it equipped with scope mounts as the eyes are suffering the vagaries of aging.
VC dealer surprised me at 2500.00 for scope mount install, and his responses were a bit cold. Thought I'd look elsewhere a bit.
Response from the K-gun dealer was very enthusiastic. The pricing was good, I came out a fair bit better than the VC on it altogether.
I will have the Classic double, with the Big Five buttstock (req'd a wood upgrade), proper length, White bead frt sight, 3 leaf flip up rear, Recknagel swing off mount, 1 " & 30mm rings, a sling, and alum case. Regulated to 100yds with the scope. I didn't mind the idea of the decocker,liked the 100yd regulation and the regulation adjustment feature.
It was the dealer who put me off the VC and Chapuis, and the dealer who made it easy to buy a K-gun.
I can buy Chapuis for 6-12000 up here, VC starts at 9000, K-gun was the same, Merkel at 10
to start.
So, that was the way it went for me. I had set a top end of 15,000 on it incl a scope.

27 August 2012, 03:08

Biebs

209, welcome to AR. Looks like you did your homework and made a good choice. What caliber?

27 August 2012, 05:25

Todd Williams

quote:
Originally posted by 209jones:
Being as I recently ordered a Krieghoff, the process went something like this for me;

Sabatti-nope
Chapuis---interested
Merkel---top end of budget, don't like stocks
Heym---too much
Searcy---hmmmmm, up there in price though
VC---interested
Krieghoff---interested
Blaser-nahhhh, nice,but, nahhh

I started inquiring about a VC and a Chapuis. Sabatti wasn't in the picture due to what I'd read about them. Vendor said he'd had some trouble with regulation on Chapuis, they were a bit iffy in that regard. Wanted to get it equipped with scope mounts as the eyes are suffering the vagaries of aging.
VC dealer surprised me at 2500.00 for scope mount install, and his responses were a bit cold. Thought I'd look elsewhere a bit.
Response from the K-gun dealer was very enthusiastic. The pricing was good, I came out a fair bit better than the VC on it altogether.
I will have the Classic double, with the Big Five buttstock (req'd a wood upgrade), proper length, White bead frt sight, 3 leaf flip up rear, Recknagel swing off mount, 1 " & 30mm rings, a sling, and alum case. Regulated to 100yds with the scope. I didn't mind the idea of the decocker,liked the 100yd regulation and the regulation adjustment feature.
It was the dealer who put me off the VC and Chapuis, and the dealer who made it easy to buy a K-gun.
I can buy Chapuis for 6-12000 up here, VC starts at 9000, K-gun was the same, Merkel at 10
to start.
So, that was the way it went for me. I had set a top end of 15,000 on it incl a scope.

Sounds like you did your homework and I think you'll like that K-Gun. Just wondering about the VC dealer though. Must have been someone other than Ken because he is about as good of a guy as you'll ever do a gun deal with! I've dealt with him on 2 VCs and 1 Chapuis and he will certainly get more of my business in the future.

27 August 2012, 06:14

subsailor74

quote:
Originally posted by Todd Williams:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by 209jones:
Sounds like you did your homework and I think you'll like that K-Gun. Just wondering about the VC dealer though. Must have been someone other than Ken because he is about as good of a guy as you'll ever do a gun deal with! I've dealt with him on 2 VCs and 1 Chapuis and he will certainly get more of my business in the future.

+1
I can't imagine who 209jones dealt with on a VC. I have purchased 3 doubles from Ken Buch to date, and he is tops for customer service. He bends over backward to make sure the customer is happy. And, BTW, I LOVE the 450/400 round action VC I bought from him!
Mangwana

27 August 2012, 06:22

Biebs

He's in Calgary BC, so it sure wasn't Ken :-)

27 August 2012, 06:22

Biebs

Pix of the round-body VC 450-400 needed!!!!!!!!!!!!

27 August 2012, 06:23

209jones

It was in Quebec. Good store, carries VC,Chapuis and Sabatti,Siaci, lots of odd caliber reloading material. K-gun is coming thru Manitoba, he came out to the Calgary gun show and showed me a couple of things on guns that he had with him. I could have bought a gun down south and had it imported.
But. I thought it was worthwhile supporting the shops up here that are willing to do the business.

27 August 2012, 06:27

CCMDoc

quote:
Originally posted by subsailor74:
quote:
Originally posted by Todd Williams:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by 209jones:
Sounds like you did your homework and I think you'll like that K-Gun. Just wondering about the VC dealer though. Must have been someone other than Ken because he is about as good of a guy as you'll ever do a gun deal with! I've dealt with him on 2 VCs and 1 Chapuis and he will certainly get more of my business in the future.

+1
I can't imagine who 209jones dealt with on a VC. I have purchased 3 doubles from Ken Buch to date, and he is tops for customer service. He bends over backward to make sure the customer is happy. And, BTW, I LOVE the 450/400 round action VC I bought from him!
Mangwana

Good evening subsailor74,

Ken IS the best!

I don't think Ken is the dealer of whom the OP was speaking as this occurred in Canada.

I can't think of a more reasonable, customer friendly and helpful person than Ken Buch (Kebco). He tells it straight about what he sells and is honest regarding his competitors - even praising the good about those products and people selling them.

27 August 2012, 15:13

subsailor74

quote:
Originally posted by Biebs:
Pix of the round-body VC 450-400 needed!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK - as soon as I get back from my business trip later this week I will post a few.

27 August 2012, 17:27

Kebco

209jones- Who did you talk to at Traddex? Did you talk to them or just send a email (more on emails latter)? I am surprised. I have know both owners for approx 15 years and it was at my encouragement they started importing double rifles. I have collaborated with them on several projects and even advertising for the North American market. I completely trust them and we have done many deals with nothing more than a telephonic handshake.
Emails....I receive on a avg day 50-100 emails, since Traddex has a much wider product line I suspect they receive as many or more even though Canada is a smaller market.
In order to get through them I do my best to answer, but I always worry about "tone", I try not to be cold but you have to remember I need to get these answered as quickly as possible while at the same time taking phone calls and trying to get other things done.

29 August 2012, 17:00

BenKK

For me, in Australia, there was no question. I didn't want a Sabatti, and the only other affordable option for me on my primary school teacher budget was a Merkel. We are not blessed with an abundance of double rifles to choose from. Merkel happen to have a very good distributor here, whereas some that you mention don't, or are a time-consuming and expensive special order. You guys also get such rifles for 2-3K cheaper than we do. Anyway, my Merkel .500NE represents good value in terms of the best I could afford, and it shoots very well, I think. Really, I think they must all (the ones in the initial list) be very good, especially when you lean yours up against a dusty, hard-won buffalo bull, and you've just made a grand memory.

30 August 2012, 00:28

subsailor74

quote:
Originally posted by Biebs:
Pix of the round-body VC 450-400 needed!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK - Biebs - here ya' go!

....and it shoots too!!!!

Mangwana

30 August 2012, 00:52

Biebs

Wrap it up!!!! I'll PM my address :-)

Very Very Very nice

PS: 450-400? Is that your wife's gun? :-)

30 August 2012, 01:24

pagosawingnut

Biebs,
I thought I'd say it before someone else did.....
You'd just sell it!

30 August 2012, 01:44

mdstewart

I assume that VC is a round body and not a round action trigger plate like a Dickson?

Beautiful gun nonetheless, very classic looking.

30 August 2012, 02:24

Todd Williams

Very nice Admiral!

30 August 2012, 03:09

Biebs

quote:
Originally posted by Todd Williams:
Very nice Admiral!

Wingnut! Another Turd in the bowl! :-)

30 August 2012, 03:24

pagosawingnut

Admiral,
You need to take that rifle hunting and get some character marks on it!
Biebs
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

30 August 2012, 05:02

DoubleDon

quote:
Originally posted by pagosawingnut:
Biebs,
I thought I'd say it before someone else did.....
You'd just sell it!

No truer words have ever been spoken!!

30 August 2012, 05:04

DoubleDon

Congrats Admiral. Very fine looking double!

30 August 2012, 07:08

Nakihunter

Excuisite rifle - such a classic British look.

31 August 2012, 02:09

jorge

Congratulations sir, lovely rifle (looks like mine

) Can you post a picture of the regulation target and or some of the groups you've fired?

V/r,

jorge

31 August 2012, 05:03

subsailor74

quote:
Originally posted by subsailor74:
quote:
Originally posted by jorge:
Congratulations sir, lovely rifle (looks like mine ) Can you post a picture of the regulation target and or some of the groups you've fired?

V/r,

jorge

Jorge - suffice it to say my targets look pretty much like the ones you have posted using your VC 450 - as in they are awesome! I am also using CEB non-cons and solids, and the rifle shoots better than I can with these loads.

31 August 2012, 05:27

jorge

Nice target! The first thing I did was to shoot my rifle with the factory Hornady ammo and it shot EXACTLY as the regulation target and my friend's 500 did the same. I then moved on to handloads with Hornadys, Woodleighs and eventually the Non-Cons and Solids and that's what I'll be hunting with. Cheers, jorge

31 August 2012, 05:42

subsailor74

quote:
Originally posted by jorge:
Nice target! The first thing I did was to shoot my rifle with the factory Hornady ammo and it shot EXACTLY as the regulation target and my friend's 500 did the same. I then moved on to handloads with Hornadys, Woodleighs and eventually the Non-Cons and Solids and that's what I'll be hunting with. Cheers, jorge

Jorge - I experienced exactly the same thing. My first 2 shots with this rifle were with Hornady factory ammo. The target looked just like the regulation target, and the 2 holes in it were the width of the barrels apart. My handloads with CEB bullets are as good or better. These are great rifles!

31 August 2012, 17:01

jorge

Yessir, the term "best double rifle for the money" comes immediately to mind!

31 August 2012, 18:09

CCMDoc

quote:
Originally posted by jorge:
Yessir, the term "best double rifle for the money" comes immediately to mind!

+1

Might even be able to delete the "for the money" part ...

05 September 2012, 21:47

209jones

I wasn't driven away from Tradex, I just thought I'd check out some other stuff, and the K-gun seemed to be the better deal at the time. So, that was the way it went. Tradex is a good outfit to deal with, no issues with them. I may yet get a gun thru them, I have ordered other things off them.Could also be I was asking some dumb questions at the time. He was up front and pretty simple in his replies, pricing was good, and the price for the scope mount setup was a bit of a budget stretcher on a VC. It was about 800-1000.00 cheaper on the K-gun. This one is a 30R Blaser, so, I wanted the scope option on it.
If I pickup a bigbore, it will be a 450/400 3", and will probably be a VC, without the scope mounting option.