I have always dreamed about hunting in Africa. As a kid I read Hemingway, Hunter and Ruark and, later, Capstick. As an adult, I read the granddaddy of them all, Sir Samuel White Baker, the great Victorian-era hunter and adventurer who wrote Wild Beasts and Their Ways. The iconic tool of the African safari was the big-bore double rifle, and I have wanted one for as long as I can remember. But I also wanted to pay the mortgage and buy food for my family—goals that are in direct opposition to spending the money required to buy most double rifles out there.

Then, about five years ago, I had the opportunity to pick up an unfired Baikal double rifle imported by European American Armory, better known as EAA. I bought that rifle at what I can only describe as a fire sale price from a store that was liquidating its stock. It has been a great rifle, and I have shot the heck out of it for the past five years.

That double gun is chambered in .30-06, which is a great caliber, but it’s always left me a little unsatisfied as a double rifle chambering. To me, a double rifle just doesn’t seem proper unless it is chambered for a big-bore cartridge. So this winter I contacted EAA and ordered another of its Baikal-made double rifles, this time chambered for the .45-70 cartridge. This rifle cost more than my .30-06 double gun, but the price is still only about a tenth of the cost of most double rifles on the market…