The Merkel.

I bought the third .500NE made by Merkel - SN A500003 in April 2004. At that time I was told by the Merkel importer (GSI) that only 4 such rifles were in existence and they were having some trouble getting the .500 doubles into the U.S. because of some nonsense about it being .50 caliber and possibly a weapon of war.

I was skeptical when I bought it. I figured it would be poorly made. Word on the street was that the Merkels would come off face in only a hundred or so rounds. I thought the stock would likely crack or break under recoil. After some long conversations with my contact at GSI I was assured that their "bumper to bumper" warranty would be faithfully honored. The warranty period was 1 year, and I set out to put as many rounds as I could through that rifle within the year. I wanted to see if it would hold up; and if I could break it under use, I intended to do it in the warranty period. I fired hundreds of rounds. At first I was keeping a log of when and how many rounds I fired. Then I lost track but kept shooting the rifle. It's fun, you know! My limit is about 16 rounds per session; sometimes 20. Then I need a few days before shooting it again.

Long story short, the Merkel performed quite well with only a couple of very minor glitches, easily corrected. The action is still very tight and on face. It has to be closed smartly to make the lever come sufficiently toward center. The stock is not broken or cracked. It's ready for many years of hard use. I don't know how many hundreds of rounds I have put through it, but I'm still at it to this day. In the game field it has taken a white tail deer and a groundhog (headshot on the groundhog).

If you search the DR forum here you will run across my reports of this rifle back in those years. I still have my Merkel and plan to keep it. I own many doubles much finer, but I consider the Merkel a fine rifle in its own right. Merkel has been making fine double rifles and shotguns for well over 100 years.

I will not buy a Sabatti.

By the way, the old internet gab about Merkels having soft actions that would spring loose was silenced many years ago. You don't even hear that suggestion any more. Simply wasn't true.

Curl