Well Mickey is very protective of his classic English guns and thats OK, he should be.. Some, self included, are convienced the Searcy is a better using rifle..

I can see a used Searcy bringing $8500 if a customer wants a double rifle..I have seen and/or sold Stickley and Chappius guns for that much, and I saw a used Merkel bring $8750, that was worth a chuckle on my part, its a market out there, they sell for whatever they bring.

I do not see a competition here, and Butch is not in competition with the lovely English guns..The English guns are a better investment in the medium grade rifles, no doubt about that..but for a using rifle and one I can haul all over Africa in a tuff case at the mercy of airline baggage handlers, the Searcy is hands down the best rifle and it can be replaced, repaired right here and probably at no cost to the customer...It will outshoot the English guns almost every time. Also I can shoot any monolithic bullet on the market and the Searcy is a much stronger action and barreled rifle..The English guns are trimmer and sleeker, even more so than the PH model, but the PH is heavier and recoils a good deal less in the bigger bores, that's important to me for sure...

The Searcys don't devalue much if at all these days but I am sure some are sold for a quick sale, and some of the early guns on shotgun actions will sell very cheap, and they still work and have obviously held up well, but by the same token I have purchased some nice doubles in the $5000-$6000 catagory and others for $10,000..I won't go above that as a rule on a double because I use them to hard...

I have never lost any money on a English double, you never will unless you get into the really high dollar guns and thats a gamble, you will make a killing on the high dollar guns or lose your a$$ IMO..The market is very limited in this catagory and any high dollar gun is very slow to move unless you get lucky.

I have loved all my English double rifles and I've owned some really nice ones that shot really well, but you guys bilked me out of most of them, but not my Searcy, not in a 100 years, it shoots to damn good!!

Another point of interrest is 90% of the English guns out there are junk, the bores are bad, they have been redone half a dozen times, they require a lot of maintenence, they shoot off the face and so fourth...If you do not know and understand double rifles and what makes them tick then again your better off with a Searcy..and that is not to say a good quality English double is not a joy to own and shoot, it certainly is and Mickeys guns I am sure are of that quality as he knows them very well...

500 grs is a hunter, a shooter and he is right on with his Searcy it fits him and his lifestyle, as it does mine...and I guarentee you he will not lose money on it, because I will buy it because it shoot ALMOST as well as mine!

That's the way I see it for what its worth and that's a cup of coffee, but only if you have a doller to pay for it...