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As to the caliber I must say that the .375 is new to me and I was not sure how well I would take the recoil. It is not a problem, however the gun is significantly heavier than my other doubles in 7x65R. Walking long distances, sometimes 10 to 15 kilometers during the day or night will not be as comfortable as with the lighter rifle. I have only shoot the 375 standing firmly on the ground but Hunting in Poland I frequently hunt in verry dense wet areas where i have to climb a tree to the height of 5 or 6 meteres to see anything. How I will handle the recoil In these conditions, one leg arround the tree and shooting with two hands remain to be seen but I think I may prefer the lighter gun and lesser recoil in these conditions.

Using a double rifle on a driven hunt gives the advantage of the very fast second shot, the second shot from a 7x65R double will be faster than the second shot with a .375 simply because of the lesser recoil. I shoot a lot of International skeet, and simply using a lighter load, 24 grams instead of 32 grams gives a few fractions of a second more time to shoot the second outgoing on station 4. The same applies for the heavier 300 grains bullet versus a 150 grains 7x65R. I also found that i shoot better skeet with my cal 16 Merkel weighing 2.8 kilo ( average 92.5 / 100) than with a cal 12 Miroku wighing 3.6 Kilo, simply because the gun handling is faster, and speed
is the name of the game in Skeet.

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First, let me congratulate you on your good fortune in finding a used treasure like this Merkel. At one time I was interested in the same model Merkel in a 12 gauge shotgun to shoot international skeet, but every one I had sent to my gunsmith for examination turned out to have something wrong with it. I ended up with a Beretta SO-3, instead.

Secondly, it's interesting to have another international skeet shooter to compare notes with. This is a sport virtually unknown in the US, practiced primarily by the military shooting teams who make up the majority of US shooters in international competition.

I do feel that there is such a thing as too little weight in a skeet gun. I have a Merkel boxlock which is so light that it takes a concentrated effort to follow through shooting it due to its lack of momentum. Finally, I had it fitted with a set of 28 gauge tubes and this added enough mass to make it my favorite dove hunting companion.

Finally, I'm interested in your perception of recoil under hunting conditions. My experience hunting in Africa with an 8 3/4 pound rifle chambered for the magazine rifle equivalent of a .500 Nitro Express was that recoil was not a factor in the excitement of making a shot on dangerous game. I once put four shots into a running Cape buffalo using that rifle while perched on a narrow rock ledge with my gunbearer standing behind me to catch me if I lost my balance. Another time I put two quick shots into an elephant while I was precariously balanced atop a termite mound. In neither case did I even notice the recoil (about 100 ft/lbs), nor did I have problems with my equilibrium.

You didn't comment on your perception of recoil during your driven game hunt, but I suspect it might be because you were not aware of it (except for the unfortunate incident with the scope eyepiece).

Again, my congratulations.

Bill Warren

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