Gratuitous Gun Pic: Holland & Holland – Royal Grade Double Rifle (.375 H&H Mag)

Okay, I’m going to say it out loud:  seventy grand is too much to pay for a rifle, even one made by H&H.

But have mercy:

Of course you can get cheaper double rifles* — not much cheaper, as a rule, but still — and yes, the mighty .375 H&H cartridge will put down any large animal on Planet Earth (even Michelle Obama), especially when the double triggers will allow you to pop two 300-grain bullets into the target inside two seconds, far quicker than can be achieved working a bolt action, and which will arrive at over 2,500 feet per second.  Energy?  Sufficient.

And beauty?  Indescribable.

Luxury:  we may laugh and deplore it, but its attraction is undeniable.


*

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Farquharson (.577 Nitro Express)

Once more, that Evil Purveyor Of Death Steve Barnett shows us this (albeit misspelled) offering:

I talked a little but about the joys of single-shot hunting back here, and honestly, the rifle above touches all my buttons:  history, heritage, challenge, and peerless reliability.  Also, it looks wonderful.  (Here’s the whole story on this rifle and action type, and looking at this particular one, the “NP” — No Patent — stamp means it’s most likely a Gibbs-made rifle rather than an original Farquharson.)

The Farquharson action has been much copied, most recently by Ruger for its No. 1:


…and subsequent models of the same ilk.  But if you do a side-by-side comparison, the older rifle has it over the Ruger by a country mile.  Is that difference worth about $12,000?  Maybe not, but then someone who wants to buy a different rifle (that “history, heritage, challenge, and peerless reliability” thing) isn’t going to worry about such trifles.

Me, I’ll stick to my Browning High Wall — Chuck Hawks compares the Ruger and Browning here — but were I to venture into single-shot-dangerous-game hunting, I’d have to get something else, because the High Wall was never issued in anything larger than .45-70 Govt, and certainly not in the monster .577 NE.  (I suspect that the High Wall could handle the larger cartridge, but I’d only test it on someone else’s gun.)

Not that I’m ever likely to want to shoot the .577 NE, of course.  The Winchester .458 Magnum is about as high as (and maybe even a bit higher than) I would care to handle, according to my shoulder.

But for the collector, this Farq is lovely and in my opinion, worth every penny.

More And More

From the NSSF:

In 2021, according to the findings, more than half of the 21,037,810 total firearms made available for the U.S. market were either pistols or revolvers. In all, 12,799,067 were handguns, 4,832,198 were rifles and 3,406,545 were shotguns. The figure includes firearms domestically produced plus those imported (minus exported firearms).

We should be doing better, of course, but that’s a topic for another time.

Some more good shooty news:

28,144,000 modern sporting rifles (MSRs) have been put into circulation since 1990. [that they know about — K.]

Loyal Readers will recall that I don’t have too much time for that “modern sporting rifle” euphemism but hey, as long as more of ’em are getting into citizens’ hands, you can call them butternut squashes as far as I’m concerned.

Hubba hubba.  Of course, neither of the above are mine, no sir not me.  I’m old-fashioned, as any fule kno.

Just like our Founding Fathers used…

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Holland & Holland Double (.400 Express)

I knew I shouldn’t have done it, but there it is:  scarcely had I finished writing the last GGP when I continued down the rabbit hole that is Collector’s Antique Rifle department, and happened upon this H&H double rifle:

Ah, for heaven’s sake.

As for the chambering:  the .450/400 BPE (in the Gospel According To Frank Barnes) is akin, ballistically speaking, to the typical .450 black powder cartridges of the late 19th century and will put anything down at the shorter ranges.  Calling it the “400 Express”, however, introduces an element of confusion, because no such cartridge exists.  The .400 Nitro Express is the smokeless version of the above, and no doubt the rifle would be capable of handling it (always supposing it fits in the chamber).

Whatever:  this is a collector’s rifle, and as it’s been restored by H&H themselves and (assuming the cartridge confusion can be resolved) is a lovely gun worthy of any collection.

You can expect a lot more of this kind of post in the near future… somebody stop me.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: James Crockhart & Son Double (.450 BPE)

As any fule kno, I am not an aficionado of the black-powder firearms genre, but that doesn’t mean I am averse to pics of same.  This particular beauty was made in the late 19th century — which is very definitely a period of history in which I am interested if not actually addicted to — and I love it.

As the action suggests, this is not a muzzle loader — by then, we’d definitely moved on to brass cartridges [snort of derision from Reader Mr. Lion et al.]  even though smokeless powder had not yet become a thing.  Had I access to a friendly reloader who could make me the ammo necessary, I would jump at it just for the historical sense alone.

Here’s a thought, however, if you didn’t want to shoot this fine old gun.

If you were looking for a piece of wall art — say, for over your house’s mantle piece — and you had a budget of around $12,000 for such an indulgence, would you consider this rifle over a contemporary painting?  Here are a couple of examples of what I’m talking about, by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot:

I have to tell you, I would be torn.

And I apologize if this discussion makes you want to run to the nearest gun store (or art gallery) and buy something.  (See the above two posts for the implication.)

Combo Guns

Among members of the gun fraternity, “combo” / “drilling” guns (multiple-barreled rifle/shotguns) have never been as popular Over Here as they are in Yurp.  Here’s an example of one, the Merkel 961L as seen at Steve Barnett’s Luxury Death Dealers’ Emporium:

This one’s a little different from the norm in that it features two side-by-side 8x57mm JRS (rimmed) rifle barrels over a single 20ga shotgun barrel as opposed to vice-versa, but the concept is the same.  And let it be known that I have absolutely no problem with a pairing of 8mm Mauser with 20ga, no sir not me.

For those who would prefer something a little more manly, here’s a Merkel 96K, with two 12ga barrels over the wonderful 9.3×74R chambering.

Here’s the thing.  Combo guns have always had a devoted following amongst big game hunters of previous generations (much less so nowadays), but I have to tell you that in no way shape or form would today’s hunter be undergunned out there in the bush with either of the above.

Yes, they are heavy, but at around 8lbs unloaded they compare well with, say a modern single-barreled Steyr rifle in .300 WinMag which weighs about the same or even more.

But as examples of the gunmaker’s art, little can compare to the majestic drillings, and certainly not the pedestrian rifles such as the Steyr.

If I were offered one of the above two, it would take me hours to decide between two rifles/one shotgun or two shotguns/one rifle.  (I already have one or two single-barreled rifles, as any ful kno.)

Assuming I were able to go into the African bushveldt again, I’d probably pick the 12ga/9.3x47mm pairing if hunting anything dangerous, but the 8x57mm/20ga for smaller game.

By the way, the price differential ($19,000 for the 961L vs. $9,000 for the 96R) reflects the greater precision work required to register two rifle barrels vs. two shotgun barrels.

I love both, for obvious reasons:  hogsback wooden stocks, exquisite workmanship, manly chamberings… I need to stop now.