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NitroXAdministrator
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: DORLEAC]
      #242362 - 14/02/14 05:31 AM



On of their "London Best" rifles under construction, for comparison.

Quote:

A London Best .275 Rigby rifle we are currently making for one of our lady clients. It has been constructed in the pre-war design and is due for completion by Easter.




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458Win
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: NitroX]
      #242532 - 17/02/14 02:47 AM

I also looked at and handled the rifles at the SCI show in Vegas and while I am glad to see the direction they are heading, they are not there yet. Maybe if they could attract some historically knowledgable and talented smiths like Jeffery has in Reto Buehler and James Tucker they might be able to gap that final 5% difference that separates a nice rifle from a great one.

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DORLEAC
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: 458Win]
      #243569 - 10/03/14 03:22 AM

I write that short comment from Nuremberg where I attend IWA International Gun Fair.
I had the opportunity to have a close examination at the new RIGBY "Big Game" offered by the Blaser-Mauser-Sauer group.
To say the least I was extremely disappointed by the general fit and finish of such a pricey production rifle.
I had a friendly discussion with Axel "Kuduae" and even if I know how he is a fierce defender of the German gun trade, I can't explain how such a great company, having on hand some well preserved Rigby "Big Game" rifles of the glorious past, was unable to capture the spirit that make that name a legend.
It's not only a problem of stock or barrel length, no, the trouble is that the newly made rifles appears as an "imitation" –in the bad sense of that word- of the old one.
The stock would have been much more elegant if they had took the pain to study the shape of the grip and its transition to the but, even with a straighter comb.
As to the barrel, it's not only too short, ruining the overall balance of the lines, but it's its taper that isn't fine…and I don't speak about the ill fitted band swivel that's not conical and appears like having been added too late.
The front sight would have been acceptable without its regulating allen screw and the too visible join…
For the action, it's no better than the Prechtl Golmatic and to my eyes not as good as the ones produced by FZH or Medwell & Perrett "Mayfair Enginering"
I will not discuss here about their "London Best" custom rifles that is from another planet, but I'm saddened to see the "RIGBY" name used only as a foil for the "MAUSER" trade mark.

With kind regards from Nuremberg.

DORLEAC
www.dorleac-dorleac.com


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A10ACN
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: DORLEAC]
      #243614 - 11/03/14 05:41 PM

Looked over the ones at IWA myself. Not impressed. Especially with an original .416 right beside it. I hate to say this as it is not as accurately descriptive as Dorleac's assessment but, the new ones just don't FEEL like the originals. This is besides the differences and liberties taken as pointed out above, handling the original .416 made me WANT to take it out and shoot it. The new ones just felt clubby and unbalanced. I really hate to say that as I'm glad to have the Rigby name back in decent hands but they really need to put a bit of hand work into these to get them right.
I did overhear while at the booth that some guy picked up the top end display rifle and dropped it while handling it....another of the hazards of the gun business..!


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Ash
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: A10ACN]
      #243620 - 11/03/14 10:49 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpzi-LdQj7o

Anyone seen this vid? Thats a very nice rifle, and the fellow sounds like a true gent.
This is what i think of when i think "Rigby .416"

And a video of him hunting with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzgdhW8IYRg

A big congrats to him too for the success! Enjoy fellows.

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NitroXAdministrator
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: Ash]
      #243623 - 12/03/14 01:19 AM

Good find Ash.

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John aka NitroX

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"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
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mckinney
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: Ash]
      #243640 - 12/03/14 04:39 AM

Ash, thank you for that - very enjoyable and the rifle couldn't be sweeter.

By the way, for those who are interested, there is an original pre-war .416 Rigby in the James Julia sale tomorrow March 12. There is also a .350 and a .275. I have a prewar .416, but I'd go for the one in the sale as well if not for the need to exercise a little restraint!

The second video has me thinking about whether it's possible (affordable) to purchase a few hundred acre ranch in a place like Zambia. Probably not.....


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Ash
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: mckinney]
      #243646 - 12/03/14 07:51 AM

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/3375-358/

The .416 mentioned above (I think).

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/3377-358/

The .350

Can't find the .275


*In no way affiliated with the owners or James D. Julia.


Must say: I love the way they heavily tapered the barrels on those .416's.

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Igorrock
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: Ash]
      #243650 - 12/03/14 08:21 AM

Third rigby in 7x57 a.k.a. .275 Rigby:

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/3376-358/

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Fontainebleu
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: DORLEAC]
      #243687 - 12/03/14 09:08 PM

Quote:

Igorrock,

I'm sorry if you have misunderstood my comment.
It is not French arrogance, but disappointment. I know very well the newly made 98' Mauser magnum rifles and even the team of gunsmiths that assembles them and I'm a fan - and a friend customer- of Gottfried Prechtl who pioneered the European modern made Mauser clones, but I was naďve in thinking that the Blaser-Sauer-Mauser group, having all the good cards in hand will produce a true modernized Rigby.
I regret that they settle for a slightly revamped Mauser magnum, using the same stock shape, shortened barrel and a front sight block that uses the spring and Allen screw adjustable bead tof their mod.03/12…
The short rib is reminiscent of the ones find on the late .416 and it's not out of place even if I would have preferred the traditional Rigby flat, but what bothers me is the too close grip coupled with that short barrel and long forearm…that is only my opinion and don't put in doubt the overall quality and reliability of the new rifle.
Notice also that when you write that "you never have anything positive to say about yours rival endeavours" you certainly have not read my posts.
I don't consider others gunsmiths as "rivals" but as friends and I have learned many good things from D'Arcy Echols, Steven Dodd Hughes and many others like my old master Lenard Brownell…my aim is to try to improve each of my work because I think I can do it better.
All the best.

DORLEAC
www.dorleac-dorleac.com




Indeed.
Funny that you should mention Lenard Brownell Joel.

IN MEMORIUM: LEN BROWNELL, 1922-1982

Len Brownell was an artist, craftsman and a perfectionist. But more importantly, he was a good-hearted man who wanted to see things go better for everyone. The following piece I wrote about him several years ago.

Len Brownell was a Wyoming man. He grew up on the fringe of modern civilization in a half-wild, sparsely populated region where life was hard, but living as an adventure. From boyhood he lived where game was thick, guns were commonplace, and everyone there lived close to the land.
Maybe you're familiar with this bit of firearms folklore; about some supposedly famous custom gunstock-maker who made his first gunstock with nothing but a jackknife? A lonely, homesick, young soldier, so the story goes, sitting around the barracks who wiles away the hours -doing the whole job with only that one tool? Well, it might sound like some fanciful story, but it really happened, and Len Brownell is the one who did it. It was a buttstock for a single barrel shotgun, and he didn't even have any sandpaper--he used the H.L.P. blade as a scraper to smooth the surface of the stockwood.
Len Brownell went home to Wyoming and he continued to build gunstocks. Only a very few, and only part-time at first, but little by little, his reputation grew. He got better and better. Things really began to change for Len when prominent members of the shooting press--men like Pete Brown and Jack O'Connor--heard about him and began to bring custom gun projects of their own for him to complete. Soon they were touting him in their writing and Len's reputation spread nationwide among shooters everywhere.
It is my honest belief that no custom gunstockmaker who ever lived has turned down more offers of stocking jobs than Len Brownell. It was unbelievable. really. But the notoriety affected him not at all. Len just continued to work in his shop. He built them one at a time, and over the years he helped to move the state of the art ahead in this country so that custom guns in America could compare--both quality-wise and aesthetically--with the finest that were built anywhere in the world.
Please believe me when I tell you that whoever you are and whatever might be your station in life, if you sought out Len Brownell at his home and knocked on his door he would invite you in, he would offer you a cold drink or cup of coffee, and he would converse until it seemed like you were old friends. He was a likeable and personable man. He was highly opinionated about all kinds of things, but he was someone you could disagree with without getting angry. He was a plain spoken man who lived by a simple code. Tell the truth. Keep your word. Do your best. Be someone others can depend on.
Len's career took a turn when he was invited by Bill Ruger himself to come and work for Ruger Firearms in Connecticut and New Hampshire. He is widely credited with having made important contributions to the development of the Ruger No. 1, and changes made in the Model 77. Len was proud of his effort there, but his feelings were mixed. He was somewhat uncomfortable in a corporate environment where everyone has to compromise. He also missed the West. So, again he went back home to Wyoming. His departure from Ruger was an amicable one. He stayed on friendly terms with the Ruger family, and he always spoke most highly of them.
The experience he gained back east had its impact on his work. Len installed a large state-of-the-art milling machine in his shop and he started doing more sophisticated metalwork. If a custom gun is a marriage of wood to metal then Len Brownell raised it to an entirely new level of intimacy, because he built some guns that were truly extraordinary. Like bolt-action rifles with rear-tang safety, finger-lever release scope mounts, flip-up open sights--you name it--he could build it--and he was fast. I mean he could really turn out quality work and make it look easy.
Now the story takes another turn. Because when Len Brownell reached this plateau he encountered tremendous misfortune. It was discovered that he had cancer, and it was terminal. I regret to tell you that Len Brownell's life came to a very sad end. Life left his body only a drop a day, and he died a painful lingering death. Friends and relatives were all relieved when he finally passed away on February 23, 1982. No one should have to suffer so much. So...Len Brownell's pain has ended. He sleeps beneath a vast wind-blown prairie where deer and antelope still roam. Coyotes howl in the moonlight, and the smell of sagebrush is always in the air.


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mckinney
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: Ash]
      #243709 - 13/03/14 05:55 AM

Julia auction update - the .416 Rigby went for $33K (plus commission), more than double the high estimate. The .350 and .275 went for right around the low estimates. I guess the moral is, buy the really legendary stuff.

Other items of note - a beautiful (but not embellished) Boss 28 bore O/U fetched $180K! A Thompson submachine gun with FBI association, similar to one in the upcoming Holts sale, went for $57.5K.


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dons
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: mckinney]
      #243712 - 13/03/14 07:09 AM

Whoever placed an estimate of 10-15K on the 416 had no clue. One sold at a dealer for 25K about 5 years ago, so 33K is not unreasonable, especially a very early one from 1913. I placed a bid within the estimate range on the off chance that nobody else knew the proper value....fat chance.

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mckinney
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: dons]
      #243740 - 13/03/14 07:57 PM

Don, I agree, not unreasonable although the total will push $40K with buyer's commission.

I wonder how many of the original 139 (169?) rifles survive. I would guess at least 80%. It would be fascinating to know where this particular one was every day of its life.

I also wonder where the .416s used by Taylor, Blunt, and Blixen are if they exist.

Finally, I wonder how many .350s and .400-350s were made. I don't recall ever seeing any numbers on those.


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NitroXAdministrator
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: NitroX]
      #243750 - 14/03/14 01:05 AM

Quote:



Quote:

John Rigby & Co.:
Original pre-1940 Rigby .416 built on the magnum Mauser action. This is one of two we are working from in the development of the 'Big Game' model.






Comparison.






Another comparison.

--------------------
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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Fontainebleu
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: NitroX]
      #243754 - 14/03/14 01:21 AM

Looks like a fat bloated pig compared to the original.
The german influence is very visible, reminds me of a tarted up M03!


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Ahmed577
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: Fontainebleu]
      #243758 - 14/03/14 02:33 AM

McKinney 300 member I also wonder where the old surviving guns are. I happen to own a couple of rigby rifles built in 1926 which are most dear to me. One being a 416 rifle no 5117. In my view (probably biased) it is more beautiful than any other 416 I have seen (I have only seen pictures of other old 416s). It was made for prince hamidullah khan and presented to him on his ascendancy to be the first male ruler of Bhopal in a 100years. The gun is beautifully engraved ( for the period) has exquisite wood & has given me some wonderful australian water bufaloe hunts. I am new to the world of email machines,when I learn to post pictures I will send.

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kuduae
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: Ahmed577]
      #243765 - 14/03/14 03:49 AM

Gentlemen, as you think $ 33K is a fair price for an old and worn .416 Rigby rifle, what do you expect from a new made rifle with the Rigby name listed at a mere $ 13.5K?

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mckinney
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: kuduae]
      #243770 - 14/03/14 05:22 AM

At 13.5k with those homely looks, it has a lot of competition. But, if they could make them like the prewar rifle pictured above, and I mean exactly like it, they could sell them at 4 times that figure. If I remember correctly there is a Francotte .416 pictured in Speed's book that looks more like an original pre-war Rigby than anything else I've seen. There are also a few custom pieces around by Jack Haugh and others that are close in some ways. The Hartmann and Weiss work is nice. But nothing compares with the exquisite lines of the prewar Rigbys. (only my opinion, of course)

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lancaster
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: mckinney]
      #243771 - 14/03/14 05:49 AM

its true, the stock of the new rifle looks clumsy
no doubt about it

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bringing civilisation to the barbarians


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DORLEAC
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: mckinney]
      #243773 - 14/03/14 06:29 AM

The Francotte .416 pictured in Speed's book looks like Rigby because it uses the same Oberndorf made basis.
Notice also that the Francotte Company has produced many rifles in the white for the English trade…(!) and if their Farquharson action manufacture is well known, there is little doubt about their production of bolt-action repeaters.
A good friend of mine owns such a pre WW2 .416 Francotte that’s a perfect clone of its Rigby counterpart: exactly same stock, same sights and same furniture.
If you have a look at Jon Speed “Mauser Archives” book you will find photos of .275, .350 and .416 barrelled actions in the white, complete with sights bases, flat on barrel, etc. made and proofed at Oberndorf before being delivered to the English maker who take care of the stocking and regulating before applying its name on. I’m not sure that in the thirties the Francotte C° didn’t use the same systems for their own use or to supply their partners.

DORLEAC
www.dorleac-dorleac.com


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ozhunter
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: NitroX]
      #243945 - 17/03/14 07:16 PM

Quote:



Quote:

John Rigby & Co.:
Original pre-1940 Rigby .416 built on the magnum Mauser action. This is one of two we are working from in the development of the 'Big Game' model.






Comparison.


Quote:

John Rigby & Co. The comb shall be a higher for better recoil management and the stock a little sturdier. Many of these early rifles broke through the hand. Our new rifles will feature much higher grade wood and as such we must be sure of strength and reliability.







I would love to know the height of the heal and comb on this new rifle.


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Dumprat
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: ozhunter]
      #243954 - 18/03/14 12:46 AM

Why when most try and copy a vintage rifle do they always make the bolt handle too long? Not the knob on the original ends at the bottom of the stock. The new rigby has the knob below the edge of the stock.

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NitroXAdministrator
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: Dumprat]
      #244855 - 02/04/14 10:38 PM



I borrowed this image because it is good and coming true.

Spoke to Mark Newton of John Rigby London tonight, and I am excited about the news from Rigby. Many of desires expressed by people on this thread will come true from the plans Rigby has.

Many have expressed the Big Game rifle is not a true vintage copy of some of the original Rigbys. That is true. The new rifle has better steel compared to some of the older rifles, the stock was made stronger to eliminate some of the problems original Rigby stocks had. Many of the vintage rifles ended up with cracked stocks, broken wrists etc. The stocks are better wood than the originals being Turkish kiln dried walnut. Yes the barrel is beefier, designed to reduce rifle whip and reaction time when shooting a .416.

The Big Game model is a Rigby working rifle, for the Professional Hunter, or the client wanting an English Mauser Magnum action rifle made for a good price. They are selling very well.

But the exciting news to many is a Vintage line of rifles will be released in the next two or three months. Some have been made already. The "Vintage" range of Rigby rifles will more closer match the vintage rifles of yesteryear, but with better wood and steel. They will be more expensive than the Big Game model but for a substantially London made Magnum bolt action rifle that is pretty much expected.

In addition Rigby also makes the "London Best" range to order. You get what you want.

And the Double Rifle Rising Bite is coming out again. Two have been made with about twenty underway. So the double rifle connoisseur will be satisfied as well. Twenty rifles is a substantial number of a rifle of this quality in the world of double rifles.

We will see more of these developments in the future months here on NitroExpress.com so stay tuned.

I think with all these developments the Old Rigby will truly be back.

--------------------
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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NitroXAdministrator
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: ozhunter]
      #245325 - 09/04/14 11:16 PM

Quote:

Quote:

John Rigby & Co. The comb shall be a higher for better recoil management and the stock a little sturdier. Many of these early rifles broke through the hand. Our new rifles will feature much higher grade wood and as such we must be sure of strength and reliability.




I would love to know the height of the heal and comb on this new rifle.




Will try to find out.

BTW I hope to be able to report a different barrel option in due course.

Personally I'd love to have a .350 Rigby Magnum M98 with suitable barrel and stocking. Lets hope the Vintage model has some of these differences to make the difference.

--------------------
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"


Edited by NitroX (09/04/14 11:16 PM)


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gryphon
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Re: J. Rigby & Co with Mauser creates – The Big Game Rifle [Re: NitroX]
      #245368 - 10/04/14 03:17 AM

How hard is it to source ammo/components for such a calibre John? (in Oz)

I imagine BB would make the cases (?)

What would you personally target with a .98 350 RM?

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