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NitroX
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Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous
#381923 - 14/01/24 01:49 AM

"Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous. A seriously cool old classic with rock star provenance."

A very nice piece of history. FC Selous is the explorer, elephant ivory hunter,, soldier, author imo responsible for the great romance of African safari and it's popularity afterwards even till today.

FC Selous was the inspiration for the Allan Quatermain / King Solomon's Mines character, one for Indiana Jones, characters written by Wilbur Smith, and other fictional characters.

Selous also inspired many a later ivory hunter and white hunters.

Photos credit: Vintage Guns, UK

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
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Edited by NitroX (15/01/24 04:22 AM)

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lancaster
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: NitroX]
#381925 - 14/01/24 03:20 AM

this don't happen without pics

--------------------
Norwegian hunter misses moose, shoots man on toilet
.
bringing civilisation to the barbarians

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NitroX
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: lancaster]
#381957 - 15/01/24 04:23 AM

Photos added.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
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DarylS
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: NitroX]
#381958 - 15/01/24 04:29 AM

Yeah - nice. I read an article way back in the 70's, written up in Rifle magazine on the .425. It struck me as an excellent ctg. then and still does.

--------------------
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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93x64mm
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: DarylS]
#381959 - 15/01/24 07:04 AM

Very, very nice indeed!
Great old warrior, bet it could tell some tales!
Wasn't the 425WR the original short heavy?

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Marrakai
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: 93x64mm]
#381961 - 15/01/24 11:13 AM

Not your typical Brit working rifle, that's for sure! But functional austerity at its very best, nonetheless.
Simply marvelous!

The 35th drop-box made, going by the patent use number.

I could happily own that!!

Only improvement would be a matching rifle in .318...

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When the bull drops, the bullshit stops!
--------------------------------
www.marrakai-adventure.com.au

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NitroX
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: Marrakai]
#381962 - 16/01/24 03:05 AM

Quote:

The .425 purchased by Selous was most likely the last rifle ever acquired by him. He wrote a testimonal for Westley Richards on 4th July 1912 stating:

"I can only give your .425 Magazine Rifle the highest praise. Had I only possessed such a rifle in my old elephant hunting days I am sure that I could have killed three or four times as many Elephants as I actually laid low."

The rifle remains in exceptional condition to this day retaining most of its original finish. How the rifle came to be in the hands of its current owner is one of those great pieces of fortune and outright luck, a story we will tell another day. In truth the rifle could not have gone to a more dedicated fan of the company or a more genuine hunter.

#westleyrichards #madeinengland #rifle #gunengraving #handcrafted #gameseason #greatbritishbrands #britishexcellence #bespoke

This rifle will be on display this week at the Westley Richards booth at @officialdsc - booth 4707 (11th Jan - 14th Jan)

Additional image coming.

--------------------
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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lancaster
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: NitroX]
#381965 - 16/01/24 04:54 AM

because I have a special interest for cartridges with rebated rim, yes, I will take this

--------------------
Norwegian hunter misses moose, shoots man on toilet
.
bringing civilisation to the barbarians

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Rule303
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: lancaster]
#381970 - 16/01/24 07:43 AM

That rifle has been well looked after and I would not say "No" to having that in my gun safe.

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Huvius
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: Rule303]
#381971 - 16/01/24 09:14 AM

That is a really nice example.
It actually sold pretty reasonable a few years ago - the seller didn’t have WR look it up for them - a prominent dealer too as I remember it.
Costly mistake that…

--------------------
He who lives in the past is doomed to enjoy it.

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NitroX
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: Huvius]
#381973 - 16/01/24 01:42 PM

Did Selous mention this 425 rifle in any of his writings? Pictured in any photo? Just interested. It's been a while since I read Selous. And usually his earlier years.

--------------------
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"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
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Huvius
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: NitroX]
#381974 - 16/01/24 01:53 PM

Quote:

Did Selous mention this 425 rifle in any of his writings? Pictured in any photo? Just interested. It's been a while since I read Selous. And usually his earlier years.

I believe there was mention in his writing of taking delivery at his home just before leaving for Africa and having no time to get to the rifle range, popped off a round or two from his upper window at a chimney to check the sighting.

Apparently the coppers were just arriving to investigate when he was leaving his home.

Not sure if he ever mentioned using it in any hunting though.

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Waidmannsheil
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: NitroX]
#381975 - 16/01/24 02:02 PM

From Westley Richards themselves:

The .425 purchased by Selous was most likely the last rifle ever acquired by him. He wrote a testimonal for Westley Richards on 4th July 1912 stating:

“I can only give your .425 Magazine Rifle the highest praise. Had I only possessed such a rifle in my old elephant hunting days I am sure that I could have killed three or four times as many Elephants as I actually laid low.”

Matt.

--------------------
There is nothing wrong with vegetarian food, so long as there is meat with it.

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NitroX
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: Waidmannsheil]
#381977 - 16/01/24 03:09 PM

Ballistics.

Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy
410 gr (27 g) SP 2,350 ft/s (720 m/s) 5,010 ft⋅lbf (6,790 J)
Source(s): "Cartridges of the World" [1]

Per Wikipedia

I thought the .425 used a heavier bullet than 410 grs?

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
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JDL
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: NitroX]
#381978 - 17/01/24 01:40 AM

A most magnificent rifle!

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DarylS
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: JDL]
#381979 - 17/01/24 04:02 AM

The text says Westley Richards made 5 different bullet designs for it.

as well:
"The cartridge itself had a long bottleneck to hold bullets firmly, a distinct taper to ensure ease of feeding, and – most notably – a rebated rim. It was the first major cartridge to use this design, in which the rim is smaller in diameter than the base of the cartridge. It was designed this way to fit the standard military Mauser 98 bolt face.

Military Mauser 98s were designed for fast loading using stripper clips that fit into a slot in the rear of the action and allowed five rounds to be “stripped” into the magazine with a sweep of the thumb. There was a thumb notch on the left side of the action wall to accommodate this. By making the .425 with a rebated rim that would fit into a stripper clip, Westley Richards was able to utilize the existing features of the cheap and readily available military Mauser action to create a magazine rifle for dangerous game that was faster to load than any other.

--------------------
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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NitroX
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: NitroX]
#381992 - 17/01/24 05:15 PM

Quote:

Quote:

The .425 purchased by Selous was most likely the last rifle ever acquired by him. He wrote a testimonal for Westley Richards on 4th July 1912 stating:

"I can only give your .425 Magazine Rifle the highest praise. Had I only possessed such a rifle in my old elephant hunting days I am sure that I could have killed three or four times as many Elephants as I actually laid low."

The rifle remains in exceptional condition to this day retaining most of its original finish. How the rifle came to be in the hands of its current owner is one of those great pieces of fortune and outright luck, a story we will tell another day. In truth the rifle could not have gone to a more dedicated fan of the company or a more genuine hunter.

#westleyrichards #madeinengland #rifle #gunengraving #handcrafted #gameseason #greatbritishbrands #britishexcellence #bespoke

This rifle will be on display this week at the Westley Richards booth at @officialdsc - booth 4707 (11th Jan - 14th Jan)

Additional image coming.

hards/selous425wr/wr425selous12m.jpg[/image][/url]

--------------------
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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bwanabobftw
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Re: Westley Richards .425 take-down made for F.C. Selous [Re: NitroX]
#382000 - 18/01/24 11:22 AM

I looked at that rifle this past week at the DSC convention. I was struck by its size, much larger than a “ Rigby” 416 Rigby. I’m sure it’s very well balanced but it’s certainly a very large rifle. And, like everyone here, I’d love to have it in my safe !!!!!!!!

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