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Is there a metal plate at the front of the action / fore-end? ie it looks like a takedown at first glance.

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I think there was and the rifle unscrewed at the threads http://www.americanrifleman.org/article.php?id=14339&cat=3&sub=5







Edited by CptCurl (01/07/14 10:00 PM)

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I believe the notch in the stock was for Bell's gun bearers spear for carrying on long treks.

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I believe the notch in the stock was for Bell's gun bearers spear for carrying on long treks.

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Or maybe for instant sling...?

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I don't think so .According to Bells writings ,a tracker would carry a spear over his shoulder which held the Rigby barrel pointing down .This way Bell could grab the weapon in a quick second hanging in front of him.But of course as I was not there one can never be certain but Bell did not like slings .He contended that a hunter or his bearer should always carry the rifle in their hands (or the spear method) Saying a sling made a hunter lazy and could get him killed and also caught on things in the bush. Bell was constantly doing exercises with his rifle on a march pointing it and simulating an encounter. As a Recon Marine we also forbid slings on our rifles on patrol for the same reasons. When we needed a sling when helocasting ,climbing, jumping into a hot area or doing hydrographic surveys we used makeshift 550 cord ,but on patrol always carried our weapons in our hands.

Edited by Deutsche_Vortrekker (15/06/14 05:29 AM)

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That slot in the stock looks pretty clean for having been used to hang the rifle from a spear while carrying it through the bush.

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What cartridge markings does the rifle carry, I presume it would be 275 Rigby and not 7mm Mauser. Seems to be a lot of confusion about these two cartridges, some information and rifle owners suggesting they were one and the same and others not so. Both the 7mm Mauser (7x57) and the 275 Rigby ammo were loaded with the 173gr bullet in early years, the 175gr coming later for the 7x57.

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But they are just different names on different boxes or different designations on a rifle for exactly the same cartridge.

Of course different ammo makers may have had different loadings.

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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Isn't this rifle, "purchased by Bell in 1923", a bit late for his elephant unting career?

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Good point, especially the "Karamoja" days.

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John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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James Passmore wrote:
February 06, 2014
This rifle was purchased by Bell for a motorcar Safari with the Forbes, hence teh take-down feature. Bell wrote in one of his books that no serious hunting was doen on this trip, but mostly was to see how far they could penetrate in Africa automobiles. It is possible this rifle never shot an elephant in Bell's hands, and it may have been it's first elephant when Gail Selby shot her elephant with her Father. So, no, it is not the 'holy grail' or WDM BEll's 'elephant rifle'. Bell purchased six 7x57 rifles from RIgby and this was one of them. His first 7mm Mauser was the 'one', (if any one could be called that) and was probably bought about 1903. I would love to know where it ended up. It is possible that Bell traded them back in to Rigby when he got a new one and then they sold them on used...someone out there has got Rigby's actual 7mm Elephant rifle. (Unless it was lost in a gun buy back in the UK, or a confiscation in Kenya, and destroyed.)

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John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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James Passmore wrote:
February 06, 2014
This rifle was purchased by Bell for a motorcar Safari with the Forbes, hence teh take-down feature. Bell wrote in one of his books that no serious hunting was doen on this trip, but mostly was to see how far they could penetrate in Africa automobiles. It is possible this rifle never shot an elephant in Bell's hands, and it may have been it's first elephant when Gail Selby shot her elephant with her Father. So, no, it is not the 'holy grail' or WDM BEll's 'elephant rifle'. Bell purchased six 7x57 rifles from RIgby and this was one of them. His first 7mm Mauser was the 'one', (if any one could be called that) and was probably bought about 1903. I would love to know where it ended up. It is possible that Bell traded them back in to Rigby when he got a new one and then they sold them on used...someone out there has got Rigby's actual 7mm Elephant rifle. (Unless it was lost in a gun buy back in the UK, or a confiscation in Kenya, and destroyed.)

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Yes I read somewhere that Bell had 6 or 7 275 Rigby rifles (not from Bell) but I never could substantiate it. Bell did go to Afrika on numerous safaris, not just the Karamojo one. If so the spear hole or whatever it was in the stock was done out of habit or nostalgia as it was mentioned in writings. I am sure it is not his most famous 275 and I shudder to think that this Rifle had been destroyed.

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It wasn't roe deer that Mr Bell was shooting with his .220 Swift - it was red deer, and he considered the Swift as the tool that providence designed for lightning kills. Interesting to note that at this stage he had gravitated to using a scope for deer in Scotland. (He had not used a scope in Africa.)
He was also a keen proponent of the .22 Hi-power for red deer also. I think he covered this in
his article "The Neck Shot". (I have a pdf of it if anyone wants a copy.)
I believe he had a Winchester model 70 in .220 Swift, as he refers to it as having a 'speed lock' which was how Winchester marketed their new Model 70 at the time, as it had a faster lock time that the Model 54 or the Springfield '03.

I have seen some recent pictures taken at Corriemollie and there is still an old rusty steel plate riddled with bullet holes hanging out in the garden on a post. It seems he used to shoot at it from the house.

I have corresponded with the current owners of Cor
riemollie, who run it as a bed and breakfast type thing. Apparently there is nothing much left over from Mr and Mrs Bell, apart from a pair of horns and a picture. Walter Bell was a self-taught hobbyist painter. (I couldnt get what kind of horns they were, I imagine kudu for some reason, but it could be rhino for all I know.)
Walter of course died in 1954, and his wife Kate passed on in the 1980's. After that the house was run as a hunting lodge for a few years until the current owners bought it.
When I spoke to them, the Bell's old housekeeper was still alive and living nearby, but was in her nineties and wasn't up to talking much.

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