Hi,

Welcome. Just a few years ago I was in your situation: same age and same desire for a double rifle! I saved up and got a nice little Chapuis 9.3.

I think Dugaboy's advice is very good. Get a good 9.3x74r double rifle and try it out. You can't go wrong with a nice little Chapuis or Merkel, and can't beat the price! Its a great round, and its price is fine for shooting, and learning to reload to make a double rifle regulate, and keep saving while you have the 9.3. Then once you learn more about double rifles, shoot some others, see a whole bunch and meet and shoot with others who also shoot and collect them, you'll be in a better position to get the "one of your dreams." I say this as someone who know that he is a newbie himself. I own one double, that 9.3, and I have owned it for about 5 years. I am still not at the point where I would be comfortable plunking down a big chunk of change on a vintage British double rifle without expert advice.

Also don't shy away from the European ones. I know the British ones have a "mystic" about them, but you can get some great deals on Continental doubles. Personally I have a bias toward European guns, but that's just me. See what you like.

Another recommendation I'd have for the new to the double rifle world would be twofold:
(1) Find people who have lots of experience with double rifles and learn from them. I've learned a lot from this board, in particular my friendship with Capt. Curl here. He’s been a wealth of knowledge (in addition to being a great guy!). Talking with someone who has spent 20 or more year collecting and shooting doubles really helps a new guy starting out!

(2) If your not into double shotguns, I'd start learning about them too. While there are differences, you can learn a lot about double rifle actions, double gun makers and many other things by learning about double shotguns. I say this being a person who is a double shotgun shooters and bird hunter. But what amazes me are guys "who get bitten" by the double rifle bug, but don't know anything about double shotguns, they feel ready to drop big bucks on a DR but don't know much about break action guns. You can learn a great deal about boxlocks, sidelocks, WR droplocks, round actions, Blitz actions, greener crossbolts, Purdey under bolts, etc. all through shotguns which in the US are much easier to find information on: ie. there are more double shotguns to take a look at, and more information on them than double rifles. Classic writers like Gogh Thomas and modern ones like Mike MacIntosh have much information that is useful for double rifles even though they are writing about shotguns.

Hope this helps, just my thoughts!