What era is best? I agree that the current era is best in terms of materials and manufacturing techniques, if what you are after is a reliable, cost-efficient gun. The 'standard' configurations and designs have been perfected through many decades of improvements and adjustments.
The downside is, well, everything pretty much looks the same, built on the same designs (with a few notable exceptions).
To me the most exciting era for English doubles was the late 1850s and the 1860s. A sportsman had real choice to ponder: a tried-and-true muzzle-loader? A new pinfire or needlefire? A Lancaster basefire? Or a Daw or Lancaster built for the new Schneider centrefire cartridge? Of the latter choices, which would be easier to use, the Daw snap-action, or Lancaster's slide-and-tilt? With the rising popularity of the pinfire, the choices were even greater by the later 1860s. You could go with a forward or rearward-fitted underlever, a pull toplever, a lifting toplever, a pivoting toplever, or one of the myriad sidelevers from Needham, Dougall, Law and others. You could go with a full snap action, perhaps with a forward or thumb lever, or a semi-snap, or a mechanically assisted opener, or the most basic and simple Henry Jones double-bite action.
The fine hammerless double with a Scott spindle and Purdey underbolt, and the Anson & Deeley boxlock, are peerless designs. But the age before these became 'the standards' is much more interesting to me.
