For those of you with a penchant for older doubles, I thought I would tell you about my favorite sporting double. Its a .451 Joseph Whitworth black powder percussion gun. Whitworth manufactured only a handful of these and his barrels were wrought from a single billet of steel. He is thought to have taken two of his single barrels, ribbed them and regulated them and then used them as a die to build a boring and buttoning machine to manufacture the barrels from a common single billet. In the photos you can see that there is no rib, just a flat for the foresight and a false rib from the breech to beneath the rear sight. My rifle regulates perfectly at around 80yards, on a bench rest giving me a very acceptable grouping of around three inches with both barrels. (each barrel is grouping separately at under 1 and 1/2.) I have to date shot quite a few soft skinned animals including Nyala, Impala, Reed Buck, Blue Wildebees and Kudu. It is a pleasure to hunt with comes up smooth and easy. As with other black powder guns, fowling does play a part in accuracy, and mine needs to be brushed every second shot per barrel to maintain optimum performance. Usually only need one shot in the boiler room though!
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