Curl, I haven't yet bought the rifle. I've been agonizing over it for 8 or 10 days, which is what prompted this whole line of inquiry. I have to say that your writing about the joys of shooting nitro for black in the Woodward is not doing anything to dissuade me! If I do buy it, it will be my first double rifle, which I think is what is causing the indecision. My thinking had been that a first double rifle ought to be a nitro proofed gun in something like 360 no. 2 or .375 flanged. Now I'm not so sure about that.

Re: nitro for black ammo, are you aware if anyone sells the Kynamco nitro for black loads in the US? The idea of stuffing a handful of Dacron in each cartridge when making up loads doesn't seem very appealing, but...hell...that might actually be great fun.

I'll make a decision in a few days and post photos if I buy the rifle. Thanks for the post!