To give Searcy their due, their doubles have improved dramatically over the years, and I certainly like their new rifles far better than I did the old. According to Searcy, they're not the same.

A friend owns two Searcy .470s, one of them an earlier gun, but post-BSS. At our DRSS event in June, 2007, he noticed two cracks developing in it's stock head and returned it to Searcy for repair. It wasn't returned for any functional problems, but came back with new lockwork. When he asked why this was done, he was told that even though he had had no problems, functional issues could eventually develop with the older design, so the action was rebuilt with that of an updated design. I handled and shot the gun at our DRSS event last month. It now has serious functional issues, and has been returned again for correction. Not my gun, and I didn't speak to Searcy directly.

We shoot a wide variety of double rifles at our biannual Double Rifle Shooter's Society events - from the most basic entry level to British bests. In my view, the new Heym PH model is head and shoulders above the other new-built double rifles in this price range.