I had been searching for a .470NE rifle for a long time.
Classic English double rifles were beyond the budget. Modern equivalents, whose price reflected the availability of modern machining techniques, lacked the character or history.
And so I followed the local auctions at Holts and Bonhams waiting for a suitable candidate. And at last one I found one – a double rifle built by Franz Sodia, a gunmaker in Ferlach, Austria.
Ferlach has been a home for gunmakers for over 500 years, a tradition that continues today.
The rifle is an “over & under” double rifle, with one barrel above the other (rather than the English style, with barrels lying “side by side”), with claw mounts for a scope. It was in very good condition, and appeared to have been looked after over its life.
After taking photos of the maker’s marks on the barrels and actions, I sent the rifle to Paul Roberts at J Roberts & Son. Paul has years of experience with double rifles and was just the person I needed to look over the rifle and check it before firing it.
At the same time it was a perfect opportunity to do some updating of the rifle. Paul replaced the original Bakelite pistol grip cap with a colour-hardened steel cap to match the action. The original rubber recoil pad was replaced with a leather-covered Silvers pad. The white spacers on the butt and pistol grip, fashionable at the time the rifle was made, were also removed.
Paul replaced the rear sight and regulated it as the original rear sight had been filed too low for me. Finally, he made a pair of rings to match the original claw mounts on the rib, to fit a 1.25-4×24 Zeiss scope and lifted a bruise in the timber.
I retained the original parts as part of the history of the rifle, but the changes brought the rifle up-to-date without changing its character.
Here is the stock:
(click photo to enlarge)
And a photo showing the new rear sight:
(click photo to enlarge)
You can also see the claw mounts that hold the scope.
The rifle has a two-piece fore-end – the upper piece is screwed to the barrels and the lower piece is removed to take the barrels off the action:
(click photo to enlarge)
Here is a picture of the barrels with the foreend fitted:
(click photo to enlarge)
Just the start of the story, of course, and in future posts I will look at the history of the rifle, and of course making ammunition and shooting it.