19 July 2021

Guns As Art: And the Art of Defense from Big Game

Worth a look, just for the photos. Double Rifles And Why They Matter - GUNS Magazine

The photos at the link above are mostly from Westley Richards, but that isn't a problem. And they have included photos of a couple of Nitro Express rounds, including the massive 700 Nitro Express.

The photo I've included at the top/right is from the Purdey website, and includes a closeup view of the sort of engraving you often find on a double rifle.

Doubles are expensive, usually starting in the five-figure range and promptly adding a zero when you move into the better-known English maisons such as Purdey, Holland & Holland or Westley Richards. Perhaps because the mechanics of building one make them so expensive, doubles are often finely engraved and built with stunningly beautiful wood since a buyer who can afford $50,000 for a rifle can probably manage the extra expense to make it pretty. It’s ironic to think of hunters caked in dirt, low-crawling through thorns, while clutching a rifle which belongs in an art museum. Chalk it up with the other paradoxes of Africa.

Anyway, click thru and enjoy. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms.)

4 comments:

  1. How they are made. Enjoy.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUXoNUzAyvk

    ReplyDelete
  2. For a double rifle of functional beauty, take a look at Jim Corbett's 400/450 double. It looks as if it was sold "in the white", but there is bluing under the fore-end. The man carried it and used it so much that all the outer blue was worn off. (He killed ten verified man-eaters: eight tigers and two leopards)

    ReplyDelete
  3. https://www.morphyauctions.com/jamesdjulia/item/1038-373/ Here's a link to some pictures of the rifle I mentioned. Should have done that sooner, sorry.

    ReplyDelete

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