Why is all double rifles so expensive? Is it possible for a gun maker to build a cheaper double?

Overkill - I'm no expert, but one of the reasons is all the hand work required to regulate the barrels to shoot to the same point.

Double rifles are expensive because they're fine guns, not because they're doubles.

The same make shotgun is about the same value and amount of work, but since there were not nearly as many rifles as shotguns the prices have risen.

THere are several makers capable of making and fitting quality doubles to the old standards, but in today's dollars it would cost what a new Purdy would ($110K or so) and Purdy is a NAME that will resell and the same quality gun made by Leroy McDuffy would be discounted 80%.

It's all economics.
Learn to recognize real quality and pick up an unusual caliber double and make cases for it. By the time you find something you like better the original has gone up a bunch. Mine was a .360 Nitro made by Lang and Hussey. Great gun......worth ten times what I sold it for 20 years ago.

[ 06-30-2003, 04:18: Message edited by: JBelk ]

Actually, the only good reason that nobody has jumped into that market lately is marketing. With todays processes being what they are with CNC machining and a host of other advancements in Statistical Process Control as well as tooling, a double rifle could be made better today than it ever was, with less effort, at an affordable price. However, doubles tend to bring with them a vast amount of nostalgia and old-world craftsmanship that is definitely pleasant to see and admire, and which causes anyone looking for a double to look to the old first, rather than explore a new receiver. Not to say that the old doubles aren't a thing of beauty, but the technology that was available when that industry was in it's hay-day is a far cry from what we can use now to develop a fine firearm.
It all gets back to tradition and conservatism. One reason that the firearms industry is so far behind technologically than say the aerospace, or automotive industry.

I recently took a trip to Winchester and Marlin's plants a few weeks ago, and it makes me laugh when people talk about the way they used to make guns, and how with all this new modern equipment, there's no hands on machining or finishing that takes place. Winchester is still using the same equipment for nearly 80 percent of their work that they were using before WW2. Marlin has over 150 Brown & Sharpe horizontal mills that are manually making their recievers that all date to about 1940. Somewhere around 6-700 individual machines throughout their plant. The newest CNC that Marlin had just purchased when I was there was a 1982 Matsura vertical milling center.
The gun industry is in the stone age, any way you want to look at it, but the reason is the extreme conservatism of it's consumer base.

All I can say is that I'm glad that we weren't as conservative as we are today when John Browning was making his first firearms. They would have probably never seen the light of day.

I have my doubts about modern machinery making better doubles today at an affordable price.

Regulating doubles is an art, not a science. Basically, the barrels were wired and soldered together, with shims between them, taken to a firing point and fired. Then red hot rods were run down the barrels to provide enough heat to soften the solder and the barrels/wires/shims were adjusted slightly, the solder allowed to re-set, and the whole process started over again.
That continued until the barrels were shooting together, both horizontally and vertically. At that point the barrels were "permanently" fixed together, and the processes of final finishing, facing up, jointing, etc., followed.

A good many doubles were also works of art in terms of engraving, and high quality engraving hasn't gotten any cheaper that I have noticed.

Ditto wood fitting, and finishing. When the better quality doubles of before WW II were new the wood quite literally looked as if it had grown to the metal. That fit, of course, also required high quality wood, which is not easily found these days, and not cheap when found...

I suspect if the whole thing was as easily done as by simply purchasing modern machinery, we would be awash in doubles. There is no noticable shortage of market for them...even at today's exalted prices.

[ 06-30-2003, 08:55: Message edited by: Alberta Canuck ]

Overkill

Best Guns in any category are expensive. There are numerous inexpensive double rifles available, for example EAA IZH Mod 94 308 Double Rifle and CZ Bruno models. Having shot a Holland & Holland double, I can tell you only that it is an excellent rifle. The price of Best Guns reflect the best wood, metal, engraving, and craftsmanship..and like others have said -- demand.

The cost of some of these rifles is probably inflated by perceived value, but there are others which are good investments.

You might check out Amazon.com for some books on fine double rifles and the work that goes into the Best Guns.

Good Luck

Take a look at Searcy's doubles. They are in the $10,000-$20,000 range, depending on decoration. They are very reasonably priced for what you get!!