I know at least some of you have double rifles.

Do you shoot true left-hand doubles, rifles stocked for lefties, or right-hand doubles?

George

George,
My Searcy 450 NE was built from the ground up as a true lefty. Ditto for the Heym 450/400 that was ordered in September.

My Chapuis 9.3x74R UGEX has the right hand trigger out front, as a right handed person would prefer. But when I ordered the 30R UGEX Chapuis agreed to make the triggers with the left out front, firing the left barrel.

One of these days I plan on selling the Chapuis 9,3 and ordering another so all the triggers are the same.

Most of the lefties I talked to also prefer to push the opening lever to the left with their left hand to open the action. Surprisingly, this is also the way righties do it as well.

I would not feel handicapped if I were shooting doubles with the right trigger out front as long as the stock fit. But I would try to make sure all my doubles were built the same. But there is no reason to compromise as Searcy, Heym, VC will all build a true lefty for the same price as a righty.

You know you want one So just bite the bullet and order it

I could have had Butch build me a LH .470 for ~$6500 a few years back, but just didn't see myself going for elephants on a regular basis.

I still don't see it as useful to me; besides, I'm scratching a Class III itch right now.

George

I live about an hour from Butch and it just about kills me to drive by and not stop and order a true LH double rifle.

As I think that I have written before in other folders, mine is a right-hand double with a left-hand butt stock.

Before I describe how I acquired it, I should mention that I had Butch Searcy do some work for me back in 1985. I had come back from Zambia, where my LH custom bolt 375 H&H on a 700 action froze after the first shot on a cape buffalo. Not pleasant to have to hammer the bolt open with the butt of my Randall, not knowing what the buff was going to do. At the time, Butch was offering Model 70 controlled feed extractors and ejectors machined into 700 actions so I had him do that. In retrospect, it was probably the ammo, but I was very glad to have this done.

On the double, around that time, my hunting buddy who owned a gun store in the Chicago area had bought several old double rifles, all from British makers, from Jim Bell of B.E.L.L, the man who single-handedly made available many of the obsolete express calibers by offering brass. At that time, the Kynoch cartridges had been discontinued for several years and were getting very hard to find.

Jim had been in the Peace Corps in India, and being from a family that also owned a gun store, he understood the opportunity very well when he found that he could buy old doubles there. One of the ones he let go to my friend was a very nice H&H plain No. 2 or "B" grade in 500/450 3-1/4 inch, one of the original nitro express calibers that was very early banned in India and the Sudan, as we all know.

Jim told me that it had been owned by the chamberlain to one of the big maharajahs there (I forget which) and I later found from H&H in London, when I visited, that it had been made in 1906 for an English expat for use in India. H&H has complete ledgers of its sales and they made me a free copy of the order page in just a few minutes, when I told them the serial number.

Jim was a lefty and he had it restocked by Al Biesen in fine walnut with a LH cheekpiece and cast off so it instantly lined up beautifully like a fine shotgun. The splinter fore-end is original. My friend kept telling me that if I did not want it, he was going to grind off the LH cheekpiece and offer it to others, so I gave in and bought it. As the 500/450 uses easily obtainable .458 caliber bullets (even then) and I reload, I have never regretted it.

We later went over to the Brass Extrusion Laboratories, Ltd. (B.E.L.L.) plant west of O'Hare Airport where I met Jim and picked up some of his brass and his own 500/450 dies. I never asked him directly, but I believe that this rifle probably was the first that he bought and for which he offered brass, simply because he had it converted to LH for his own use -- and had Al Biesen do it -- which demonstrates considerable personal interest! Oh, Yes, Jim had also had it re-regulated and the action trued up by Holland & Hollland itself. It is tight as clockwork and shoots great.

Anyway, that's my story and probably more than you want to know about converted RH doubles. Personally, I prefer the plain No. 2 version rather than the heavily engraved models, but maybe that's just rationalizing my choice after the fact. What do they call that, self-validation?

Norm,

Very interesting story to me as I have a 500/450 Royal from 1904. I'm a lefty and the problem with Hollands is they have the long tang that precludes bending the stock for cast.

Post pictures if you have them.

George,

I have had all my doubles other than the Hollands bent for cast on. That's the only change I've made and I can shoot them great as a lefty.

quote:

Originally posted by 470Evans:
Norm,

Very interesting story to me as I have a 500/450 Royal from 1904. I'm a lefty and the problem with Hollands is they have the long tang that precludes bending the stock for cast.

Post pictures if you have them.

Regrettably, all my hunting stuff is safely packed away 6,000 miles or so from here, since there is no way that I can keep it in Japan. And I do not have any photos of it here.

There have recently been some news articles speculating on the possibility of culling the overly productive deer herds in Nagano Prefecture, but I can't see any change in the gun laws that would permit private ownership of rifles or pistols. Believe it or not, one proposal is for introducing foreign wolves!

quote:

Originally posted by Anjin:

quote:

Originally posted by 470Evans:
Norm,

Very interesting story to me as I have a 500/450 Royal from 1904. I'm a lefty and the problem with Hollands is they have the long tang that precludes bending the stock for cast.

Post pictures if you have them.

Regrettably, all my hunting stuff is safely packed away 6,000 miles or so from here, since there is no way that I can keep it in Japan. And I do not have any photos of it here.

There have recently been some news articles speculating on the possibility of culling the overly productive deer herds in Nagano Prefecture, but I can't see any change in the gun laws that would permit private ownership of rifles or pistols. Believe it or not, one proposal is for introducing foreign wolves!

There's a guy offering bow hunts on Hokkaido;
http://forums.accuratereloadin...751087571#5751087571