I actully think there may be a bunch of truth to this.

From a modern perspective, doubles have a lot going for them:

1} "Legislation-Proof"; or at least, less attackable as a "milspec" gun with anti-human tendencies...

2} Few people have them, so there is a large open market. Remember, most guns are sold to fellows who already have many guns. At some point you'd think guys would get bored buying "another bolt gun". I know I have...

3} There is precedent; Ruger's No 1. "Everybody" said it couldn't be done, but there was Bill, ignoring them all, making a modern pseudo-Farquaharson that has now become something of a classic in its own right.

4} At no point has a truly high-quality MASS-PRODUCED double ever been made. Somebody CAN engineer a regulation system that would be useable by the average Joe, and THAT in my opinion is the biggest obstacle to be leaped.

5} Easier to travel with due to the breakdown feature. A small point, but one none-the-less.

I'm guessing that in 25 years, there WILL be a good-quality,mass-made, affordable double available to hunters, assuming there is anything left to hunt. And will that double look like a fine British double? Ys'know, I think it might not. It might, however, in some way reflect the technology used to make it, just like the British double itself does.

As Daniel Patrick Moynahan said, there is a 200-year supply of guns in the USA. But how many of them are doubles?