I guess we have all been there...double rifles you wanted that slipped away....and still haunts you..

To me it is about 2 rifles. The first was a pre-WW2 sidelocked Rigby in .350 No2. Bought by a well off industrialist who had a farm in Kenya before that war...came up as a shotgun..

Didnt have the money but should have taken up a loan....what a beauty it was..oh well..and this was mid-nineties...

The other was a german 9,3x74R, a no-name Suhl rifle with a dealer name + Berlin. It fitted me like a glove and had a S&B scope in contr. claw mount. Normally I am not very into german DRs...but that one had a soul..

I hate the person who snatched it before I could make my move !

There is a story of a .577 NE H&H Royal too...but it breaks my heart to tell..

25 years ago, before I knew as much about case forming and load development, I sent back a Holland & Holland, hammer double in some 40 cal neither nor anyone I knew could identify. I had a chamber cast but didn't really know what to do with it. It was a very nice rifle and at a bargain basement price. Still haunts me.

Cased 600 Jeffery underlever, mint, Houston AstroHall show, 80s, $12K.

A Krieghoff 450-400 that went on sale this winter, started at 16,went to 12, ended up going at under 10,on a clearout sale, wish I'd kept a closer eye on it, it was a new demo off the shelf without ejectors, nice engraving and wood. I had no idea he wanted to dump it like that, missed it by about 48hrs.

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Cased 600 Jeffery underlever, mint, Houston AstroHall show, 80s, $12K.

Man...that was the Holy Grail....

I knew it was a great buy, even then, but $12K was beyond my gun budget in those days.
Wife would have divorced me, which she did later anyway.
I have an agreement with new wife: she stays out of my closet, I stay out of hers.

10 yrs ago I let one of the nicest doubles I've missed go through my fingers.

It was a 450/400 3 1/4 William Evans extractor gun built by Webley that according to George Caswell was unfired in its case. It had been lettered as delivered to the Bulawayo Club in 1926 and George had it at DSC.

I was looking for my first double and was convinced it had to be a 470 ejector. I ended up finding my 470 Evans and have had the great fortune to have been able to own and play with many other vintage doubles.

Love to know where that one went.

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I have an agreement with new wife: she stays out of my closet, I stay out of hers.

A beretta 458 win over under that the beretta gallery in nyc sold for $5k.

Mike

One I sold.

Watson brothers 475 no2 (.483) well loved 24 inch barrels, looked rode hard, but shot beautifully. Bought for 8,000 sold for 10,000...still wished I had it.

Hambrush 500 nitro. Offered to me at 10,000. It had both right and left hand stocks with it. I think he ended up selling it to Cabelas. It was about 10-11 years ago...I was 27-28 and just had invested a large chunk in some land...but sure wished I had bought that rifle.

Shul 500/465 clamshell...it was a super clean 20s gun...around 12k if I remember. I saw it later at Bass pro in Vegas...would have been a cool gun...

Ed

Best quality 4-bore Rodda, cased with all accessories. I could not justify at the time 100+K for a rifle. I've kicked myself many times over for not biting the bullet and just buying it.
Cal

I missed out on a 375 flange.

Lyon & Lyon built on an Osborne action.
450 NE.
It hammered at 14K.
I should have raised the paddle once more.
The old hang tag in the leather case was $ 5400.

Oh well.

Nitro

1992 in India - an Army & Navy 450 / 400 hammer rifle in great conditi0on with old license & list of tigers & elephant shot - cased - for less than US$500! I had the money but could not get the license in time.

Then in 1996 I saw a similar one in NZ for around US$1200. Let it go thinking that I could get a hammerless one for around $4k.

Now any DR is out of my league.

10 bore Holland Paradox hammerless underlever best grade. It had a deep pit in one of the barrels. This was before the advent of micro welding.

A Cogswell and Harrison 375 2 1/2 ,30 years ago for $2000.00 Aust dollars in excellent condition ,another gunshop owner who was trying to sell me a BRNO 375 H and H O/U ,told me ''nah you you dont one of them ,not powerful enough'' so passed on it .

My regrets are not the ones I missed but the ones I sold!

465H&H

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Originally posted by 465H&H:
My regrets are not the ones I missed but the ones I sold!

465H&H

Me too