Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 416 Rigby Custom Project

Forrest,
Your rifles continue to amaze me. You do have a great eye for wood. I will be real anxious to see the wood as it comes together.
Butch

I wish I knew more about the history of this particular stock blank. I bought it from a British stockmaker (Paul Hodgins) who now lives in Arizona. Paul said the blank is at least 30 years old so it should be nice and stable now. He's been carting the stock around for most of that time but he's a shotgun specialist and this blank never found a suitable project. I remember paying about $1000 for the blank but it's been a while and I don't remember exactly. I do know it wasn't a terribly expensive blank but I've never seen another one like it at any price.

The striking feature about this blank is that though it's very dark it has a luminescence almost like quilted maple.

Hot off the press tonight are three photos that show the completed claw mount installation.





There�s still a little detail work left to be done on the rings and release button but you get the picture.

For those of you who haven�t had the opportunity to use claw mounts, here�s a brief primer on how they work: When the scope is attached, grab the rear of the scope with your right hand positioned over the rear ring, push the release button with your right thumb and lift straight up on the scope, the scope will pivot up on the front ring until the �claws� releases and the scope comes free. To re-attach the scope, you would tilt the scope up and an angle to the rifle and slip the front claw into the dovetailed plate, push down on the rear of the scope and the claws will guide the rear ring down until the post slides into the square hole in the squarebridge, the spring loaded locking plate slides over and locks the scope into position. I could remove and re-attach the scope 10 times in the length of time it took to type this paragraph and the return to zero is excellent if not perfect.

Duane reports that the barreled action weighs 7 lb 5 oz without the scope and 8 lb 10 oz with the scope. The finished stock will probably weigh in the neighborhood of 2-1/2 lbs. This should give me a completed rifle that weighs 9-3/4 lbs without the scope and 11 lbs with the scope. Duane can probably get rid of 2-3 more oz of metal and wood. I wish I could get rid of another 6 or 8 oz but I don�t think I want to pay for the work that would entail.

Forrest,

Looking good! How are you going to trim it out?

forend tip?
engraving detail?
recoil pad
stock coloring (red stain)
grip cap
checkering style

forend tip?
I'm not certain yet, but right now I'm leaning towards going without a fore end tip.

engraving detail?
Pretty much the bare minimum of engraving. I want the "working gun" look but I'll have some really nice lettering and trim work done.

recoil pad?
I'm going to use a medium soft Galazan pad with a leather cover - either pigskin or sharkskin.

stock coloring?
This blank lost a lot of its red when Duane planed it which means it had been tinted previously. I'll have Duane tint it enough to get it back to the way it was.

grip cap?
Fisher trap door grip cap.

checkering style?
Probably a pretty traditional point pattern. I might have Duane do his flat top checkering just because it turned out so nicely on the pair of rifles he built for mufasa.

Thanks for the explanation there. I was scratching my head trying to figure those out.

George, it took me a while to figure out the claw mounts also. I used to think they were merely an historical oddity but I've come to view them as the ultimate scope mounting system on any rifle that requires quick scope release and dead nuts accurate return to battery.

Duane has started inletting the stock. His method is to inlet the metal into a squared stock blank and then to shape the blank to the metal and required stock dimensions.
Here�s a photo of the inletting for the extended top tang. I find it fascinating the mix of handwork and machine work Duane uses for inletting.



And here�s the bottom tang after the initial inletting. The tang will be cut-off so that it just meets the grip cap (actually, it�s fitted under the grip cap).



After the initial inletting, the metal is shaped with the stock by use of a file.

Very nice. This is my favorite part!

Keep'em coming.

Terry

Thanks Terry. This is my favorite part too.
The action inletting is done. Next comes the barrel and then the fun part...shaping the stock.

Now I have a quandary. We have to deal with this stock flaw�


I really wanted a rifle without an ebony fore end tip but if I go that route I�ll end up with an 8� forearm with a repair. To get rid of the flaw, the walnut will be cut back to 6-1/2� and Duane will add a 1-5/8� ebony tip and I�ll end up with an 8-1/8� forearm. Either way, the length will work out perfectly given the position of the sling swivel stud on the barrel. I just have to get used to thinking about this rifle with an ebony tip and that�s surprisingly hard to do because, for the last several years, I�ve always thought of it as having a plain forearm when finished.

Duane said he�ll repair the flaw and let me take a look before I have to decide. I guess the final decision will depend how it looks after the repair. Perfection is so tough to attain.
Am I fretting over this too much? Maybe I should just forget about it and go with an ebony tip.

I think rifles look a little naked without a forend tip. I really appreciate the old Hoffmans or G&Hs with a classic point checkering pattern and ebony tips. I know english forearms are short and very distinct looking to our American eyes, but is there a different type of styling you could use for the ebony. Maybe English styled taperred up to the barrel. Can't describe it right but you know what I mean. Maybe that gives you a few ideas. Anyways, nothing wrong with an ebony tip other than it's a change of plans for you.

Forrest,

While I have no doubts that Duane can repair the flaw, if it was my rifle in the works, I'd cut it and fit an ebony tip and never look back.

Tom

I like the ebony tips but I know what you mean about not wanting one on every rifle. Chic Worthing is just about finished with one for me. I had him leave the tip off it. I thought the blank had enough going for it that it would stand out plenty without a tip.

I've had to deal with flaws like that before. With a little care it's hard to see where the problems are.

Sometimes things aren't as bad as they seem. I bet Duane can make it like it never happened.

Terry

Tom,
Thanks for your thoughts. No one has spent more time examining custom rifles than you have. Using an ebony tip is an easy fallback position but I already have one nice 416 Rigby with an ebony tip and I'd like this one to be a bit different.

Like you and Terry said, Duane has solved my problem (or at least the one related to the stock blank).

Before�


After�


I can live with this. I wish it didn�t have the pin knots but they�re not so bad that it makes me want to cut the foreend and use an ebony tip.

This is pretty much the look I want�just your run-of-the-mill pre-War Rigby.

Throw it away and start over :^)

Terry

Ok it looks good w/o the tip but here's a Hoffman just for comparison

This was Duane's idea from the moment he started the inletting. He's convinced now it's a stick of old Bastogne. Duane said it's going to be a beautiful, rock-solid stock but its a bear to work with hand tools.

Prewar, you'll eventually come around.

One last photo for the night.
Duane is on a roll now...



I guess he could stop now and call it an Art Alphin Coil-Chek design.

What I did was stuffed shavings into the cracks and also stuffed in epoxy glue (crazy glue would work plumb swell)...sorta "wet sand" and most voids and defects are pretty well disguised and filled up....in the old days, they used shellac...same idea!...maybe not as permanent ? don't know!


Prewar 70...Like your post! I find an amazing thing...the further we go back in stock/rifle design, the prettier they get. What was beautiful 100 years ago, will be beautiful 100 years from now!

Looks great!

Terry

Here are today�s photos:

First, the scrap wood from using a band saw to quickly trim the blank down.



Second, Duane introduces the stock blank to his Tasmanian beaver for some quick and dirty shaping.



The result is a roughly shaped stock ready for what Duane calls, �the real work�.