Just a question but can anyone give a reasonable idea of how much a working grade double rifle in say .38-55 or .30-40 Krag would cost to have built.

I am looking at this as a "Bucket List" purchase. Not interested in any fancy wood, just good grain in the grip. Regular forearm, not beavertail or splinter.

18 or 20 LPI checkering, no engraving on any of the metal. Ramp front sight 3 leaf folding rear, 50/100/200 yards, recoil pad on butt, dbl. triggers, side x side. 26 inch barrels preferable. Finished weight of rifle 8.5 to 9 pounds.

Is something like this doable?

not trying to rain on your parade about building a double, but you can still find the Baikal 30-06's for less than $1k... ive got 1 that will shoot anything.. milsurp, Remington 150's, 170's, 180,s... its scoped also... I got it from Hizzie (another AR poster in Houston) a couple yrs ago in a trade.... I've also got the 45-70 that Baikal imported as the remigton.. I shoot factory remington 405gr springfield loads in it... it took about 8 shots to regulate it... funny thing about these Baikal guns.. the scopes don't seem to change regulation any at all... several others have shot my 45-70 at Hogkiller's DWJ shoots...

Why not just get a 45-70, Siace makes a really nice one. They have three different grades and would be cheaper than building one. Chapuis makes a 30-30 also. You can sometimes find old Belgium guns in 8X57R at really good prices too. Stay away from the cheap stuff as you will not be happy in the long run.

I have owned a Pedersoli exposed hammer double in .45-70. It was a good gun and I enjoyed it, but for some reason over the years I have owned 4 or 5 .45-70's and just can not stay hooked up with that caliber.

As for the .30-06, it is a great caliber, in fact it is one of the three calibers I recommend to hunters just getting started, it along with the .270 and .308, and unless they are a Gun Nut, and just want more guns, any of those three will and has killed every animal that walks the face of this planet.

And, for my personal use, I will not ever own any of the 3.

So, it is not a case of raining on a parade, and the only reason I listed the .30-40 Krag is because of the nostalgia of the round. I like the .38-55 and I think as possibly a last rifle for me a well proportioned double in that caliber will handle all the hunting I will be doing in the future.

Many Thanks for your comment however.

You might look at a Chapuis in 30-30 and rechamber it for 30-40 Krag. I think this would be cheaper than having one built. Ifprice doesn't bother you I'm sure Heym or Verney Carron would build what you want.

That is true. But, as I said, the .30-40 chambering was just an option. My real desire is a .38-55, and I don't know of any factory made doubles that could be re-bored come with 26 inch barrels.

I've been playing around with the idea of sleeving a 20ga double to .358 Winchester. I've seen 12ga double redone in 45-70. Then recently I found a set of .410 barrels that also fit the double receiver. So now I'm also thinking maybe a double in .22hornet as well...
It seems to me as long as you have a competent 'smith(it helps if he's a friend who does things for you for trades) and stay with lower pressure cartridges... why not?

The 358 Win is a rimless cartridge. That rifles extractor will not work well.

If you must convert it use a rimmed cartridge.

Sabatti made some double barreled rifles recently and Cabelas had them. They looked ok.

Sabatti

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
Just a question but can anyone give a reasonable idea of how much a working grade double rifle in say .38-55 or .30-40 Krag would cost to have built.

I am looking at this as a "Bucket List" purchase. Not interested in any fancy wood, just good grain in the grip. Regular forearm, not beavertail or splinter.

18 or 20 LPI checkering, no engraving on any of the metal. Ramp front sight 3 leaf folding rear, 50/100/200 yards, recoil pad on butt, dbl. triggers, side x side. 26 inch barrels preferable. Finished weight of rifle 8.5 to 9 pounds.

Is something like this doable?

Any thing is doable but first things first. What do you want to spend for the rifle?

375 Winchester Valmet O/U looks like it could be re-chambered to 38-55

If a 38-55 is what you want here is what I'd do. Buy a Sabatti or Siace or Rizzini 45-70 and then send it to JJ Perodeau or Ken Owen to have a new set of barrels made. You would then have a two barrel set in two nice calibers for North America. The barrels will probably cost you what the gun cost.

quote:

What do you want to spend for the rifle?

5K or less if possible.

Best to keep dreaming.

quote:

Originally posted by Savage_99:
Sabatti made some double barreled rifles recently and Cabelas had them. They looked ok.

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quote:

Best to keep dreaming.

Had it not been for dreams, we would still be living in caves and eating bugs.

Ive got a relatively modern Spanish 20ga H&H style sidelock that would make a good conversion. Has bushed strikers, articulated trigger, southgate ejectors, safety sears, hand detachable locks, factory engraving, decent action colors. It needs a restock and rifle barrels sleeved.

I was thinking of making it into a .303 as an advertising piece. One would need to spend around $7,000 for a project of this scale.

quote:

Ive got a relatively modern Spanish 20ga H&H style sidelock that would make a good conversion. Has bushed strikers, articulated trigger, southgate ejectors, safety sears, hand detachable locks, factory engraving, decent action colors. It needs a restock and rifle barrels sleeved.I was thinking of making it into a .303 as an advertising piece. One would need to spend around $7,000 for a project of this scale.

See, had I have thought about this sooner, say before I sold the pedersoli, I could have simply had a new set of barrels worked up into what I wanted.

The difference in the base of the .45-70 and .38-55 is not enough that the gun would have been modified that much. A center-fire cartridge is a center-fire cartridge, so the firing pins and hammers would hot have to be moved.

The problems I had with the Pedersoli were barrel length and weight. The stock design/length of pull/drop at comb were all fine. The shape of the forearm was acceptable.

It was the caliber I was not satisfied with, and the .45-70 is a damn good caliber.