In reply to:

---

I'm new to this website and first wanted to say that I love this place! I just moved into the double rifle category with a purchase of a Merkel .500 NE 3" (I know, not a great gun but I love it none the same) and am learning a lot about double rifles from all of you.

---

Clark7781,Welcome to Nitro Express hunting and shooting forums, you'll enjoy this place.

You don't need to appologize to anyone for owning a Merkel 500 NE 3". The only people you hear downing the Merkel rifles are, most times, people who have never owned one, or people who have something to sell, that can't compete with Merkel's priceing, and offer the same quality at the same time! There is no doubt,there are better double rifles than the Merkel product,and some that cost more but are not better. I own now,and have owned several Merkel products over the years, and I have never had one problem with any of them! They are value for the dollars spent! Would I rather have a best grade Westley Richards? yes, and I do, but the Merkel is a working rifle, at a working rifle price!

Many people really dislike Mark Sullivan! That being said, some of those folks dislike him, because they can't afford to hunt with him. Some because he is successful, and takeing clients others want, and there are those who dislike his lack of respect for the suffering of the animals, he hunts, to goad the animal into a charge for the camera! Others dislike his chest beating "LOOK AT ME" attitude, and his constant shooting of clients animals. I'm in the latter group, and wouldn't hunt with him, eventhough I couldn't afford to anyway, and I'm sure he wouldn't want to hunt with me either! IMO,there is simply a personality clash between us, that is insurmountable.

MS is a very knowledgable PH, and consistantly gets his clients onto very good trophies, and runs a very well organized camps. Like anyone who is famous, he will have those who love everything he does, and those who hate everything he does, regardless of the reasons for their opinions, very few sit on top of the fence where MS is concerened!

In reply to:

---

I absolutely love the Merkel--maybe because I worked hard for the money that I used to buy it. Although I've yet to hunt with it, I have sustained a number of black and blue marks of honor with it :-) And there is nothing like the look on the guy's faces when I put that monster together and through a couple of solids down range.

---

As you well know, the Merkel comes without a recoil pad, and if there was ever a rifle that needed one, it is the Merkel 500 NE 3"! The simple instalation of a Pachmeyr de-celarator pad will make a big difference in your comfort level. They come in the traditional red rubber of the old days, and they look good on the Merkel. We have a group of guys that formed "THE DOUBLE RIFLE SHOOTERS SCOCIETY" with members from TX, GA, OK, all from Accurate Reloading, and many of them post here as well. We have a Wild Boar , and Eland hunt every year, down at Camp Cooley Ranch. Hunting with our double rifles on foot, in very hilly, and brushy country. Lots of fun, and though the Eland are in a high fence area, the land is hard to hunt on foot. Limiting yourself to the use of double rifles, and foot hunting the 1000 acre enclosier, is IMO, very fair chase. The Boar are scattered over 16000 acres, of hill, brush, river bottom, and the Yopon is so thick, you can't get through it in some places, but the Eland, and Boar can run, full tilt, through it with no trouble at all.

I usually hunt there with a little Merkel 140-E 9.3X74R double rifle, but you will see everything from a little 400/360 up to around 500NE among the rifles there. I have, or had, several doubles, rangeing from the little Merkel, up to a 577NE. The 577 is no longer mine, sold last year.

Doubles are just plain fun to hunt with, even jack rabbits!

Welcome to the wacky world of care & feeding of double rifles!

In reply to:

---

Poster: DUGABOY1
Subject: Re: Mark Sullivan's .700 NE
...................

That's the second mistake I made, since 1941! I'm going to have to watch that!

---

Two mistakes in 65 years. Sounds like a bad habit to me.

In reply to:

---

What is involved with installing a recoil pad on the Merkel? The rifle fits me well, and I may be mistaken, but isn't cutting the stock involved to install a Pachmeyr pad? I may be seriously mistaken, but for some reason that pops into my head....

---

In reply to:

---

The simple instalation of a Pachmeyr de-celarator pad will make a big difference in your comfort level. They come in the traditional red rubber of the old days,

---

In reply to:

---

Before cutting that stock to achieve the same length of pull that exists now, you should first determine what length of pull is needed to suit YOU!

---

In reply to:

---

What would be the best method to do this?

---

Hell, the best way would be to bring that Merkel down under and we'll soon sort that length of pull out!
Aint nothin like a serious field test to get the thang workin right!
Far better than tape measures and tryguns!
Couple a dozen hogs a few brumbies and a bull or two might be the go!
Yeah?

In reply to:

---

Mac,
Is this true?
Is the decelerator pad available in red?

---

Yes they are, according to Harry, at
hunters-hq@cowtown.com , and I read it in Double gun Journal as well! I have several of the brown ones, that I'm going to replace with the red ones,myself!

For you guys in OZZ, I'll give Pachmieyr a call , if I can find the number, to make absolutely sure!