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If I may, a plug for a new magazine now in its second year of publication in South Africa and my next article about a magnificent Gibbs .450-400 double rifle.

The Africa’s Sportsmen has been mentioned here prior by myself and it looks like the quarterly publication has a strong jump at the gate. A glossy magazine with 120 pages, good advertising and hunting and firearms articles. I have an article in each issue on double rifles or hunting with doubles—both contemporary or from the vintage years. Yearly subscription prices are $30 for a print copy delivered to your door or $10 for a digital copy delivered to your inbox. Being old fashioned, I prefer to hold a magazine or book in my hand but the digital format is the future.

Presently I am working on an article about a fantastic .450-400 double rifle by George Gibbs. I purchased the rifle in Zimbabwe after seeing it a decade earlier at the home of the (then) girlfriend of the manager of a hunting camp I was in. Adrian van Heerden, has graduated beyond camp manager and now has his full PH license. Adrian’s take of buffalo and leopard is impressive and well worth a look. His contact is: nkwazioa@gmail.com His then girlfriend, Odette, is now his bride and her father was the well known PH, Peter van den Bergh, owner of Nkwazi Safaris as well as Zambezi Taxidermy and the Snake Pit, both in Victoria Falls. Peter passed away in October of 2016 after a short illness. Before his passing, Peter’s rifle found its way into the hands of his nephew and that is whom I purchased it from. When Adrain contacted me after my first posting on this forum, I offered the rifle to him for exactly what I paid for it but he was unable to do so. This was sad as the rifle should have remained with Peter’s daughter and son in law.

Peter van den Bergh definitely had an eye for fine rifles as the Gibbs is an outstanding piece. However, the intrinsic value to me for this rifle is two fold—its Rhodesia and later Zimbabwean history and the information contained in the factory ledger detailing the rifle’s construction. I published the ledger information here a year ago. My story will detail the former owner and his hunting, my acquisition of the rifle and ammunition, it’s construction as taken from the most detailed factory ledger I have ever seen, and concluding with Anchorage gunsmith Andy Hawk returning the rifle to its original condition.

Thanks for looking,
Cal

PS. Here is the ledger information FYI:

Below, find the transcript of the ledger. X’s are words I can’t read, (?) follows words I can somewhat read or don’t understand. Directly from the factory ledger:

From shop: from W&S (Webley and Scott) for (Mr.) Robins Weight 9 3/4 lbs. 19xxx 12-65-50 brand 496
From store: Cartridges Brand HG2 Kynoch’s Axite smokeless .450/400 L.N.-H.P. (long nose hard point) express bullet 3 1/4” case 8-12 brand 495 (Brand is the same ammo batch the rifle was regulated with
From Store: back sight 5 leaf Reuss (scope brand) Co. telescope fittings, spring for telescope, pins Lyman and screws. Webley & Scott blacking barrels, fix pins finish Eng(raving)
Gale: Make and fit dummy front and back sights 40-1.30 Make 2 fix pins 0.30
E. Bishop: O haul 1.30 0 Haul re-regulate fit 2 pairs extra strikers 4.40-1.0-1.0-1.0 May 8 (O Haul mean over haul?)
Shooting: Mar. 27 29 Apr 23 May 4
Dawe: Co. G.C. Gibbs 0.45 fit telescope 5.40-8.10-8.40-8.40-9.25-8.30-4.40-2.0 & stop up holes in front block open out slot 1/10 Make an independent moon sight.12, also a plate tip & front sight + 2 extra
Reece: Set new top rib 9/-reduce top rib to instructions + finish for brown 5/-
Dawe: Exam (examination) ditto + i ditto (ditto is repeat work)) sloped @ angle of 30 degrees *fit back sight* (crossed out) Ap.10, 9/6 fit telescope Cont. (?) 9.10-5.40 + fit back sight 5.20 & rough rib, fit new linnet standard.02 wide 9.40 & xxx fps xxx, fit 3 tsp’s 4.20
Trotman: Pack barrels to W&S 0.2 polish barrels 0.30
Dawe: Clean off barrels from brown, new line to standard .015 wide, put in sights + telescope fittings for shooting May 3, 4 6.40-4.20 prefix front telescope fitting 1.10, move right, raise standard of back sight .5 fix finish same
Rough standard + leaves May 5 1.20-9.40-8.10-1.30 Raise back sight 6.25, lower standard to 5 higher that @ present, refinish leaves to correct angles13.40 Refinish 2-3+ 400 leaves, take angles, fit Lyman sight
Fit silver to stem (stem is the Lyman peep), adjust hard (?) down for 100 + mark on stem for 2-3-4-5+600 4.40 fit clicking spring on left of Lyman 5.40-10/30 make 1 extra plate tips.s-ob 1/9
Bristow: Do up stock, clean up rubber heel plate 1/3 May 14

Ledger notes from the factory foreman: “Ejectors have only .025 stroke-not enough stroke in extractors-back lump weak, undercut @ flats-forfend wood should be left up more not reduced as present one. Locking dogs much too weak @ front of action = work generally not better than 2nd quality rifles.
Out 15-5-06” (May 15, 1906).

On the right of the ledger, at the end of each line of entry, was a figure for the cost of work done.
The costs are: (shillings-pence) -11, 9-0, 24-10, 30-1, 14-0, 25-4, /2, 5-1, 11-9, 11-5, 1-3
Totals are 15 pounds plus 3-8-6 1/2 to equal 18-8-6 1/2 (paid to Webley and Scott)

Numbers are: 9/6 (slash) or 11-9 (dash) is money (shillings and pence) and 4.30 (point) are for the time (hours and minutes) spent on the rifle.

Last of all, here is some information emailed to the author from the Gibbs company to clear up the details not specified:

Dawe was the senior actioneer
Gale was a young actioneer who later invented the Gibbs Gale single shot
Bristow was a stocker
Trotman was a barrel maker
Reece was a barrel maker
Bishop was an actioneer

The rifle came to Gibbs from Webley & Scott fully built, stocked and engraved, hardened and finished but the barrels were not finished or blacked. The rifle was not ordered through the Saville Row shop so perhaps it was delivered to the shop after examination by Mr. Robins (the original owner) and agreeing to what upgrades Gibbs would do to the rifle.

Gibbs fitted an entire new rib and then the telescopic sights (it was quite unusual for Col. G. C. Gibbs to be involved in or supervising the fitting of the telescopic sight), changed the back and foresights, and reworked and installed the Lyman peep sight. After the work was competed the barrels were then returned to Webley and Scott for a final polish and blacking, per agreement. The completed rifle was delivered to Mr. Robins.

Gibbs paid 18 pounds, 8 shillings and 6 1/2 pence to Webley and Scott (20 shillings to the pound and 12 pence to the shilling) for the rifle and the sale price to Mr. Robins was 85 pounds. (85 pounds was approximately 425 US dollars in 1906). To compare, at the time the best Holland and Holland Royal side lock ejector was priced at 95 pounds! Mr. Robins, from the Bristol area, and as mentioned prior, was either a great shot or had great optimism of his shooting with the sighting equipment included on the rifle. It would be interesting to know where his hunting adventures took him in the years before, and perhaps after, the Great War.

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Cal Pappas, Willow, Alaska
Cal's Log
CalPappas.com

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