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Herein is the problem with Homebuilt DR's.

That being that to get nice work and something that resembles (or is) a working grade double lets the average person in a bind. There are very, very few people who are willing to tackle adding another set of barrels. So if and when you find someone who is willing and able to do the work it will be expensive. Thus in the long run you are much better off simply saving your money or in this case maybe sell off the Sauer shotgun and put it toward a good commercially available DR like the Chapius or Merkel. The only way this whole process even makes some sense is if you can and are able to do most of the work yourself. Thus you can do it for mere pennies on the dollar (as long as you aren’t considering paying yourself for your time).

The other option is to do like some here do and that is to sleeve the barrels of a shotgun. The only problem I see with that is of balance and feel. I real DR feels alive in the hand. Almost as if it’s ready to spring into action on its own. This balance is very hard to achieve, but is what anyone building their own DR should strive for. Though to be fair I’ve only handled one sleeved barrel and the thing felt awful. Like I should be driving in stakes with it, not hunting game.

I’ve built around 15 now and while they are getting better I’m nowhere near what one would call “best” quality. For me it’s been a progression toward getting that “balance” right. Many of the others here have put up with my questions and answered those questions providing great data on barrel contours and action size, etc. This is great for me as I can and do the vast majority of work myself. But if you have to pay someone till it’s all set and done you will be just short of a Chapius. If that’s the case it makes no sense to go with a Homebuilt that you might (Might) be able to get out what you have invested. When you can go with a field grade commercial gun and most definitely get out what you have into the gun.

The more guns I build the more I realize that the sheer craftsmanship that goes into DR’s is a bargain for the price we pay for them. I’m back to homebuilts because the one and only Commercial DR I had (a Rigby) I chose to sell to help pay off some medical bills from my son. It took me 10 years to be able to get that and it was in rough shape. However I made the choice to sell the gun to make things easier on my family and myself. It happens sometimes, that’s life, but I figure at 33 years old even if I have to go another 10 years before I get another purpose built DR it will be well worth the wait. My point being that if you want one just work on making it happen, you’ll probably hit set backs but you’ll get there soon enough. For example if you are willing to part with the Sauer Royal and the .458 Custom you mentioned you’d already have a nice nest egg for a DR.

Bill

P.S. - Please don’t take this as me trying to talk you out of a homebuilt. However as I said if you have to pay someone for the work in the long run you’d be better off getting a purpose built DR.

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