Double Rifle - History

History

The earliest double rifles employed two external hammers to "cock" the weapon, to ready it for firing, but later development brought about hammerless designs to the double rifle. Holland & Holland (of London) most notably perfected the hammerless design in the 1880s. Most double rifles also employ two separate triggers, one to fire each barrel, however, some modern double rifles have been built with one single trigger, which enables the shooter to fire each barrel in rapid succession by pulling twice on the single trigger. For hunters of dangerous game, however, the use of two separate triggers is preferred, being thought to provide an added measure of redundancy, thereby increasing safety for the hunter, in the event of a mechanical failure.

Although rifles with twin barrels were made as early as the seventeenth century, the double rifle, as it is understood today, first appeared early in the 19th century, due to sportsmen's need for a rifle capable of firing more than one shot, and doing so in very quick succession. This was during the period of the muzzleloader, when reloading each barrel was a slow, tedious process. The breech-loader form of firearm did not evolve until the 1860s, and was gradually perfected over time.

Double rifles intended for use on dangerous game came to prominence primarily in India and Africa during the height of the British Empire, and the principal quarry was elephant, tiger, rhino, Cape buffalo, lion and leopard. The double rifle excels over other repeating firearms in its ability to allow the shooter to make a split-second, secondary, follow-up shot on large, dangerous game without having to "work" the firearm's action. This can mean a matter of life or death for the shooter when a large, dangerous animal chooses to charge the hunter, especially in close quarters, and often in thick cover. That is why the double rifle has been a favorite "weapon-of-choice" of many professional hunters of large, dangerous game animals, especially in Africa, both now, and in the past.

The earliest breech-loading doubles firing black powder cartridges handled very large cartridges, producing large amounts of smoke on discharge. Some were very large indeed, up to and including, the 4-bore (1.052 inches) calibre. These rifles were so powerful that their recoil could sometimes injure the shooter if fired too many times in succession, although the need to engage in such rapid fire seldom arose. To help counter the effect of the heavy recoil, and to also increase the inherent strength of the individual rifle when chambered for such powerful cartridges, these firearms were necessarily quite heavy, often weighing 15 pounds (6.8 kg) or more. Though generating tremendous power, the penetrative ability on heavy bone and muscle tissue of these earliest black-powder cartridges was relatively low; this, due to the large (and heavy) size of the projectile itself, coupled with its relatively low velocity. One of the most distinguished and prolific makers of these rifles was W. W. Greener in England.

At the turn of the 20th century black powder was replaced by cordite, and then by smokeless powders based on nitro-cellulose. These propellants enabled smaller-bore, higher-velocity cartridges to be produced, and rifles to be designed for them and their much higher chamber pressures. The smokeless powder cartridges were favored over the cordite, and earlier black-powder loadings, because the smokeless powder cartridges produced less corrosion and fouling inside the rifle bores, and with little to no smoke produced upon firing, it was much easier for the shooter to maintain visual contact with his quarry.

Most double rifles, particularly older ones, are chambered for "rimmed" cartridges. These are cartridges that have a prominent rim at the base of the cartridge case that is of larger diameter than the body of the cartridge case itself. The use of a prominent rim on these cartridges made for easier extraction (via built-in "extractors" within the rifle) whether the rifle had been fired or not. In later development of the double rifle, built-in "ejectors" were included as well. With these, when the firearm was opened, extractors would partially extract the cartridges from the two chambers, and ejectors would "kick" the cartridges free, completely out of the firearm. The latest technological development of the double rifle has seen improvement in the extraction/ejection mechanisms, allowing for the use of "rimless" cartridges whereby the rim at the bottom of the cartridge case is either the same diameter as the body of the cartridge case, or, in some instances, perhaps even "rebated." Further, some newer double rifles even have what might be termed as "smart ejectors." With these, the shooter can fire one barrel, open the firearm to reload the spent cartridge (which will then be ejected free of its respective chamber), yet the unfired round in the other chamber will only be partially extracted throughout the reloading procedure.