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A couple of years ago, I noticed that my CZ550 in .416 Rigby was having feeding difficulties with the second bullet in the magazine; and so, coming from a “she’ll-be-right” / “rough-as-guts” farming background, the only logical thing I could think of was to try stretching the spring, to no avail. I made do, and the big rifle continued to serve me well, albeit in a state of blissful inadequacy. As a farmboy, I’ve always used rifles, enjoyed them, and shot them pretty darn well – most of the time – but it wasn’t until I started happily wasting time on Nitro Express dot com that it gradually began to dawn on me that rifles can and should be beautiful and fully-functioning, and that I knew bugger-all about these tools I’d always taken for granted. I read lots, soaking-in the information and looking at pictures, and asked many amateur questions which were patiently answered. It’s rather difficult to explain, but about a year ago I suddenly took more of a passionate interest in rifles (particularly largish ones); I even began actually doing target practice, something I hadn’t really done since I was a kid with the .22 or the air-rifle. And then came the realisation that my .416 Rigby needed professional help. The first gunsmith I tried to contact was too difficult to track-down, always being away or busy with other matters. So, I looked around for another gunsmith. I’d read a bit about Alex Beer and his fine work on Nitro Express dot com, and recalled seeing an advertisement in a magazine. Very soon, we were sending e-mail back-and-forth, and chatting on the telephone. Alex was confident that he could solve the feeding troubles. Also, by this stage, I’d been spending too much time looking at rather lovely rifles on Nitro Express dot com and in a few books, and I ran a few modifications past Alex, most of them functional and aesthetic, and one just aesthetic – the fitting of a quarter rib. The changes made included some work on the trigger (making it a little lighter), some work smoothing the safety, the essential solving of the feeding problem including smoothing the whole action, shortening the barrel from 25” to 23” (a change both functional and aesthetically better to my eye), fitting a new front sight including a low-light flip-up sight, fitting a barrel-band sling-eye and covering the hole left in the stock’s fore-end with some sort of little stud, fitting a quarter rib and replacing the three rear sights with just two – 50m and 100m, and bedding. It was an emotional experience sending my rifle far, far away, all the way to the isle of Tasmania, but I was consoled by having the little Ruger single-shot .450/.400 3” NE to play with and keep me company. Throughout my rifle’s holiday, Alex kept me up-to-date with photos and e-mail, and finally the day arrived when I was able to collect the born-again rifle from the local gun shop, take it back home, clean it, assemble it and admire it. It is everything I hoped and imagined it would be, and Alex is truly a talented artisan. I then went into the bush with some clay pigeons, to reacquaint myself with my rifle. It was deadly-accurate, and functioned flawlessly. Just this morning, I was fortunate to be able to shoot and kill a feral Jenny donkey, after a long hike through water-logged country, with even the higher ground pretending to be swampy. So, thank you, Alex!

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