Sorry to say the story of my first double is not a interesting as the second, but much more thought went into buying the first. After much analysis of my situation I chose a new-in-box .375H&H merkel 140. I had shot an under-weight .470 NE double and new I could not take the recoil if I wanted to shoot much. Also, my gun dealer took in 5 of my other rifles and shotguns as trade so I only had to shell out $5000 even. I also liked the idea of a warrenty one gets on a new gun. As far as .375H&H, I wanted a cartridge that was veritle and really easy to reload. There you go. I'm already eyeing up a third: a 30-06 chapuis