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akrange:

That's an awfully broad question and there's no concise answer. With respect to the pre-war British double rifles(I'm speaking of boxlocks here based on the assumption that price will exclude sidelocks), there is no substitute for research. Read old posts on this site. You need to handle a lot of different rifles. When you find one you like, post a query here to get some feedback.

Don't get caught up in the name game - there are too many. First rate rifles can be found with dozens of different names on them, and not many were actually made by the makers who signed them. Worse, most of the gunmakers who retailed guns made by others (and almost all of them did) didn't use one supplier exclusively, so two boxlock rifles of the same name, caliber, vintqage and grade can be very different rifles. It can get confusing fast. Like I said, you need to handle a lot of different rifles and LOOK at them. In time you'll learn to tell the difference between the better quality guns and the lesser.

I hate to even take a stab at names, but I've found great rifles from: William Evans, George Gibbs, Manton, W. J. Jeffery, Charles Boswell, Charles Lancaster, Daniel Fraser, Alex Henry, Army & Navy, A. Hollis, Joseph Lang, H. J. Hussey, London Sporting Park, P. Orr, John Wilkes, John Rigby, John Harper, Thomas Turner, Westley Richards, James Wilkinson, etc. So there are 20 names. Of the 20, I see 11 whose boxlocks usually came from Webley & Scott in Birmingham. Two more got theirs primarily from H. Leonard in Birmingham. Wilkes made rifles for several of the others. Webley, Leonard, and Wilkes all made wonderful rifles. See what I mean? You have to judge the rifle by it's build quality and condition, bugger the name.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

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