Bolt, or Double?

Hunting is a big part of family life here at Pistol-Training.com. I was introduced to it a bit later than most, during my undergraduate years. Since then I have hunted as much as possible and now with a wife that hunts and kids that have started to hunt, our individual hunting time is shorter than ever. That’s ok, as I still get to eat what they kill, but with all of us enjoying the hunt, we have to be creative in how we use our hunting seasons. It is tremendously satisfying when your teenager uses three bullets to kill 3 big game animals in one season.

We have almost always hunted locally, and I really like to hunt our own land and area. In this case, we need to look for other hunting opportunities and so we have started planning for Africa. Not for anytime soon, just for down the road. Africa has many benefits, but one of the “drawbacks” is that you don’t get to keep the meat. That’s ok though as the locals will eat it, and it allows us to hunt more than we could at home. At home, our freezers impose a limit on us.

Part of our Africa preparations involves reading as much of the literature as we can. It is an understatement to say there is a wealth of African hunting literature. Our hunting will revolve around animals commonly referred to as plains game, though they can be found in all sorts of environments. Dangerous game is not really on the menu at this time, but nonetheless, you cannot read about Africa and not yearn for the classic dangerous game hunt.

Once you start looking at dangerous game you start looking at heavy rifles. Once you start looking at heavies you are faced with a choice. Bolt action, or double rifle? Before we go any further, I will admit that there are other options besides the heavies and I certainly don’t need a true heavy. Many people are very happy hunting everything in Africa with a .375. This is not all about need though. I want a heavy rifle, as much for the learning experience as anything else. For our purposes, a heavy is anything 45 caliber or bigger.

A bolt gun was always the logical choice, as I really like their manual or arms and I like having a small magazine of ammo in reserve. Also, the astute reader may have noticed that I have certainly been heavily influenced in this by Col. Cooper, who wrote a few lines not too dissimilar from what I have put down above. He created his “Baby”, a custom bolt gun in 460 G&A, and I have decided to take a similar, though more mainstream approach.

During my research, I continuously ignored the double rifle. It only has two rounds. Its sights are not as good as they can be on a bolt gun. It’s not as accurate as a bolt gun. My bolt work is well-practiced. Also, doubles are not in the same price range as a nice custom bolt gun. They range from more expensive at the low end, to many times more expensive in the middle, to orders of magnitude more expensive at the upper end.

Enter Champlin Arms, in Enid OK. This gun store has been in business for something like 52 years now and has one of the largest collections of double rifles for sale anywhere in the country. About a month ago or so, we drove north from Texas after a family hog hunt. Since Enid was on the way, we took a look. All I can really say is wow! Well, not all, but that will have to wait for next time.