Double rifle

A double-barreled rifle or double rifle is a type of sporting rifle with two barrels instead of one, available in either "side-by-side" or "over-and-under" barrel configurations (the former being traditional). It is basically identical to a side-by-side or double barreled shotgun, only with rifle barrels instead of shotgun tubes.

Double rifles are one of the family of combination guns. In general, double rifles are much more expensive than the more common magazine-fed, bolt-action repeater rifles. They are usually targeted at serious "professional" or big-game hunters, and also tend to be expensively finished; this aspect, their cachet and their high price is another parallel with double barrel shotguns, many of which run in the thousands, or even tens of thousands, of dollar range. Although a double rifle can be made in any caliber, traditionally, they are manufactured as large-bore hunting rifles, in cartridges like the .300 H&H Magnum and other large calibers, up to .500 Nitro Express and larger. They are considered the classic African safari "stopping gun", a powerful rifle intended for quickly stopping an enraged and charging animal (for example, a Cape Buffalo that has been shot but only wounded), due to their powerful loadings, quick follow-up shots, and almost 100% reliability rate. Because of the usual nature of their use, most double rifles use "iron sights", which are more ideal for close-range, fast shooting, unlike bolt-action rifles, which are frequently given telescopic sights for improved long-range accuracy.