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The .450/.400 is a great client caliber, but I have to say that if I were buying a double, my personal choice would be an English double

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(esp in that calibre as there are so many of them out there at good prices)

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I hunted recently with a guy who runs the workshops for one of the English fine rifle makers, and he tells me the firearms auctions in the UK have plenty of good stuff available at decent prices nowadays....

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I certainly can't reconcile that with what I've seen in recent years. I get requests from friends to help them find nice British double rifles, so am constantly shopping, both here and in the UK. I have a friend, a former London gunmaker very well connected in the British trade, who now is in the business of buying guns at the UK auctions and selling them in the US, and I watch the UK auctions myself. His complaints to me mirror my own observations these days. I never would have believed it possible that nice, working grade British DRs in good condition could ever become so difficult to find.

A while back, a friend wanted help finding a nice boxlock .450/.400. Fifteen years ago I could have found a rifle like that in a matter of weeks. Even with my other friend also looking in the UK, it took a year this time. Not so much a problem of finding guns to look at, but it was a bear to find any worth a second look. It's amazing how many are buggered. He ended up with a nice rifle, but it was the only one we saw good enough not to be rejected out of hand.

A lot of folks these days aren't willing to invest the time, money, and due diligence to do it right so that they don't get burned on a pre-war British gun, and a new gun is probably best for them. Still, a nice British gun is a wonderful thing, and prices just keep going up.

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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

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