"Others may not agree, but IMHO even a really, really crappy double is still more fun to hunt with than the best bolt-rifle ever built.

My advice to the guy who has convinced himself he will never afford a DR is to go grab a Baikal SxS .30-06, put decent open sights on it (express or ghost-ring), and still-hunt a whitetail season in the thick stuff."

I agree completely. Every old gun has a history and story, if they could only speak!

Also, I think DRs ARE affordable by the average guy. Just put your mind to it, save, and shop around. A back action BPE in decent shape is only a few grand and will slay deer with the same aplomb in the 21st century that it did in the 19th, and has style in spades. As was pointed out, guys somehow afford harleys, bass boats, new pickups, etc. I drive a well maintained like new 10 year old truck. With the 20-25k saved by not changing it out at 5, I can by another double. Drive it til 15, there's another. I haven't had cable in over a decade (or a tv for that matter). At $75-100/month, that's another double, etc. These aren't even sacrifices, just priorities and lifestyle choices.

I took what Sinner was saying to be that it isn't prudent to risk money that is important to you on something as thinly traded and illiquid as guns, especially high end ones where the market is VERY thin. That's sound advice.

Bob