Folks:

Over on Guns International there is an old Westley Richards .318 WR Express. It's a neat looking old rifle in a neat old caliber. But I noticed something as I was looking at the pictures. Check these out. I don't know if these are the proof marks or not, but they seem to be stamped upside down. I can't imagine the barrel ever having been removed as all the furniture is right. I just thought this was odd. Do you think maybe the guys in the shop were having gin instead of tea in their cups one day?

What is that? A Remington?

No man, it's Westley Richards. The bolt handle is still there!!

Is there a brewery near Westly Richards?

British breweries are reputed to have run lunch and tea rooms for not only their own but nearby companies employees with free beer.

LandRovers with assembly oddities are sometimes called 'Old Peculiers' because of one such reputed relationship between a Rover factory and a Theakston brewery.

Cool old Rover! Gotta have an old WR to carry around in it.

Seriously though, I wonder why that stamp is upside down. Here's a link to the GB site that has a boat-load of pictures on it. From the looks of it, the stock may have also been repaired at one time, but I'll be danged if I can see any cracks.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=434763791

Have you bid on it yet,Rev?

That firearm has "class" written all over it.

You know, Elk, I didn't. You're right about it having "class" written all over it, but with my eyes I'd have to scope it, clear up why the bloomin' caliber stamp is upside down (a note to WR would probably do that), probably have to have it rebored to something else since the cordite has probably eaten away the insides, etc.

But, you know, even at the asking price it ain't so bad. Know anyone who really likes old African calibers? Hmmm...why don't you buy it?

Think I can talk the wife into letting me buy that?

Lots of class, like you said.

But look at some if the pics on the GB site. Does the stock look repaired? Are those brass tacks and plugs holding things together?

Touche'

Yes,the stock is repaired. If you look at one of the close up pics near the end,there is a crack above the trigger/magazine that goes to the plug behind the trigger guard.

Just broke my heart.

Might still be a shooter, just at a bigger discount. Bet one of the fellows on the gunsmith forum could fix it right up.

I can see a crack there. Looks like it's holding though.

Huntington has Bertram cases! Only $95.98


.......per 20!

And Woodleigh bullets...that's some expensive shooting.

Yup and then you could kill lots of pigs with it.

Sort of heavy for feral hogs, don't you think?

I wouldn't worry so much about the stamping being upside down. The broken wrist of the stock (it has three pins and a dowel holding it together) would worry me a lot more and the fact that, unless I missed it, the seller didn't address the condition of the bore.

Another thing that bothers me is that the caliber is marked on top of the barrel, but I don't see the name Westley Richards anywhere. A Westley Richards 425 mag I used to own years ago, had the name "Westley Richards" spelled out on it. Maybe that's the way they did it on their lower end rifles�.But it is something I'd have to know for sure before I plunked down $ for a WR marked rifle.

It is cool looking, but I just can't see anything special about it and I can see a bunch that really make me question this one.

Not with iron sights and the range you shoot them at.

IIRC the .318 WR is kinda like a .338-06,maybe a little slower with a 250 gr bullet,but it'll knock the snot out of them pigs.

All good points. I suppose a note to WR would help authenticate it one way or the other.

Elk, everything I've read says its ballistically about the same. But at the ranges I shoot my 7x57 knocks the snot out of them too. I might try a 175 gr just to see what it does. It killed Corbett's cats; bet it'll kill my pigs.

If you do, it's gonna cost you!

It is interesting that the proof marks are not just upside down, but do not line up and are on a diagonal.

The proof marks weren't put on by the firearm manufacturer, but by the proof house. Looks like London Proof House marks to me, but I might not be right about that. I can't make out the marks very well with my computer's picture. I doubt the proof house cared much about alignment of stamps and lettering like a manufacturer like Westley Richards would.

True,there you go again making sense.


Mudhen,yup in more ways than there are stars in the sky.

Just remember, you have to shoot it one-handed while holding a bird's nest in the other-

.......and if you miss, the pig gets to eat you!

"class", meaning this thread is innoculated against the likes of BigShit.... Sweet rifle. Been on the hunt for one for a while now.

That's right! And if I remember, I have to not only shoot one-handed, but I have to start with the rifle more or less behind me and then slowly swing it around before touching it off.

And if I miss, the pig gets to eat me!

I'm catching up on reading some of Kenneth Anderson's books right now. Man, between he and Corbett they had a heck of a time in India!

By the way, check out the pictures at the beginning of this site. This is a .318 WR that has been rebuilt. Look at the very last picture and enlarge the size on your screen. I'll be danged if it's not the same proof marks, stamped in the very same way as the one I posted!

http://www.gunsite.co.za/forums/showthread.php?27371-318-Westley-Richards

It looks like what Mathsr said.

Saw a W.R. 318 made by Vickers Armstrong about 15 years ago.
Decent shape and decent price but the ammo was about $8 a round....

I think it's strictly a roll-your-own proposition now. From what I understand it's pretty easy to make from .30-06 brass...assuming the bore is in decent shape. Otherwise, a rebore or rebarrel would be in order.

I'm thinking it'd make a great project gun for Elk.

I'm not sure I'm tracking with the BS reference, but I'm betting if you called the folks who have this they might knock a few bucks off. You'd probably have the only one in Florida...at the least the only one still hunted.

From what I have seen of these guns, if it was a Westley Richards factory gun it would be marked as such on the floor plate typically. So my guess is while it maybe a product of an English gunsmith/rifle maker in a WR cartridge/chambering, I don't believe WR made it.

If I were interested in it as a shooter I certainly would ask the seller for a chamber/bore cast of the throat or a have someone competant bore scope before the sale went final.

If you only knew my project guns.

Jorge,AGREED!

My old, feeble memory is telling me they have something like a .330 bore. Sound right to you?

Yes.

Yep.

I rolled this little girl with a factory Remington 240gr load from an old 444T. Who needs yet "another" elephant gun?? By the way, living proof that camo isn't always an absolute necessity.

A .444 Marlin is a long ways from being an "elephant" gun.

That's what people used to say to Bell.

But since I'm not likely to encounter any pachyderms on our lease, we'll never get the chance to find out for sure.

Right,until you are charged by a runaway elephant from the circus.

Believe it or not, not far from our lease is an elephant preserve (no public access) where retired elephants are kept. I'm just waiting for one to escape!!

All this talk of hunting and shooting has given me the itch to head out to the lease. It's probably under water but I think I'm gonna give it a try.

Half the geezers in the Shenandoah Valley dress just like that, all year long.

You sure you're livin' in Florida?

Yeah, but it was cold so I had my winter clothes on.

Elk, about the time I said I was going out a monsoon hit. One of us is a jinx.

Cleared up a touch so here I am!

Rev,you're a man of the cloth,so,the jinx is me.

Neither of us, Elk. I took a fellow Priest out this evening. He took a nice boar, about 150 pounds or so. No jinx, you or me.

Rats,was going to add "jinx" to my resume.

Grab it!

I'm tryin' too!

Elk, I'm about to spring for a Ruger No 1 in 7x57. Think it'll drop a pig?

Only if you use it as a club.

Ha! I'll have to post a picture once I drop a little porker with it.

Great!

Not mine, but the fellow I was hunting with yesterday. After the monsoon passed, we went to the stands and this boar came out (approx. 140lb). Knowing my friend, one of the hams is probably already in the crock pot.

That is a nice old British rifle, but it won't have been made by Westley Richards.
(Notice they don't actually say it was made by them, but they have priced it very high...someone has salted a hole in the ground with silver?)

Without a maker's name attached to it, it is well over-priced I think, also considering the damage/repairs to the stock. There is no mention of bore condition at all: corrosive primers, cordite in the early days. It may not be a shooter is the risk.

I do not believe it is manufactured by Westley Richards. It is a generic Mauser of the day, not in original condition and the cartridge imprint on the barrel is tacky and definitely not a WR creation.

These things popped up in Oz now any again in better condition with Westley Richards engraved on the Knox Form/Reinforce/Chamber Section/Fat bit, and you would never see a crooked or upside down proof stamp.

The last good one I knew of (Generic Mauser not WR) was around $900. With this in mind plus the stock repair, a grand would or should stop this one cold, as the barrel condition is a lucky dip.

For a grand, you could have it rebored/rechambered, refinished, stock redone and still keep it under $2,000 and have a nice serviceable traditional style hunting rifle.

Where riflemen really get sucked in with these, is when you pick them up and note the feel, balance and it is a history book all in one.

You could buy this one, to make Ingwe jealous:

http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/ruger-no-1-7mm-mauser-r16793/#.U_d-32PeLx8

which will also keep me from buying it...

I handled it yesterday, it's a nice looking rifle. The grain is unusual, almost like Circassian mineral streaks, but with some feathering, too.

Or he could buy this one.

http://www.gunsinternational.com/Chapuis-SxS-model-RGEX-double-rifle-in-7x57R.cfm?gun_id=100358681

Pretty, with a nice red pad!!!

Now y'all really need to stop!!! Besides, this is really about all I need:

But Rev,just think about how cool it would be killing hogs with a 7x57R double rifle! All the others pigs would be jealous that they are being killed with plain-jane rifles.

I'll grant you that it's pretty and not a lot for a double rifle. But I seem to remember someone else who is in the market for a double rifle.

Yeah,that is for a .470 NE or IF I can convince the wife,a .500 NE.



Them there rabbits here in NM are dangerous.

Evidently!!

i use a 45-70 on ground squirrels....i can see the need of a 470 or 500 for rabbits

Sheridan,I've used a .416 Rigby (410 gr Woodleighs Weldcore) on rabbits.