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!

--------------------
..........Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY1, and MacD37 founding member of DRSS www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
"If I die today, I have had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"

Post Extras