Bipbigbore,
I bought my first double rifle about a year ago. I bought the Krieghoff Classic 470. Considering all the choices and the advice from everyone around here with a lot more knowledge than myself here is what I found.
It seemed the Krieghoff, Merkel, Blaser, Chapuis, Searcy and Heym all had pluses and minuses. There was infact a lean towards certain guns. I bought mine used. Krieghoff has an office in Pa. After going there and speaking to them my decision seemed very easy at that point. They were easy to speak to, loaded with knowledge and close enough to go to if a service issue should occur. I left my gun there had it refurbished and definately got the most bang for my buck. I think their closeness to me was definately a deciding factor.