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Raimey, you don't need to criticize my aging eyesight. I may have seen more or noted the lack of more than you did. Yes, I have seen the part scrubbed bore/land diameter marking 8.7m (second m polished off), correct for a 9mm/.350“ barrel, post-1912 style. I have also seen the service charge mark, pre-1912 style. These date the rifle to the transitional time, 1911-13. But I miss the prescribed BGU or CROWN - crown/N proofmarks on the barrel flats. Polishing off these marks by removing metal must have affected the barrel to action fit, needing replacing of the hinge pin at least and refitting. Further, the hand stamped inscription “350 NO.2 RIGBY / MAG.” is in a font common in English speaking countries, but not in Germany, so it was done elsewhere. BTW, apparently you have not seen the well known MM mark of barrelmaker Max Möller, Forstgasse 7, Zella-Mehlis in 1912. If not only the barrels were made in Z-M, I would also expect 1911-13 Z-M proofmarks, complete with case length, proof date and ledger number, on the barrel flats. I don't see any technical reason to polish the Barrel flats so much to remove this Information. So there must have been another reason for the polishing, better scrubbing, to a degree that the original Information is lost.
The service charge given on the barrel, 3 g = 46 gr (military) flake rifle powder is the one given in contemporary catalogs, f.i. Burgsmueller 1910, for the 9x57R with the 18.2g = 281 gr steel jacketed bullet. The service charge for the 9.3x74 with the 18.5 = 285 gr bullet was 3.5g = 54 gr, just for comparison. Only if the 400-350, 9x70R or 350 No2 Rigby used the same service powder charge as the 9x57R the rifle is still in it's original caliber.
Rigbymauser, the Förster, Berlin cartridge was the 9x74R, DWM case # 474. The 9x70R, DWM case number 474B, is a bit confusing. Though the DWM case book says “for Rigby”, the 1904 catalog calls it “Kal. 400/360 Engl.Modell”. So most literature thinks it to be the .400 – 360 Westley – Richards. According to Graeme Wright the .400/.360 WR cartridge used .366 bullets, but the 1904DWM catalog disagrees. Here these dimensions are given: case neck inside diameter 9.15 mm = .360 instead of the 9.3x74R # 474A case (called 9mm btw!) 9.30 mm = .366”. Further, on page 28 the bullet # 285, 20.4 g = 315 gr, diameter 9.15 mm = .360”, is given as “for case # 474B”. So I believe that 9x70R DWM # 474B cartridge is in fact the .400-.350 Rigby.

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