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The Ruger African I had functioned very well,as far as I could tell.I saw no issues.

Just got back from picking up my Ruger 416 Rigby. COOL! COOL! COOL! It goes BOOM! with a cool fireball compliments of XMP5744. 400gr Hornady at 1500 fps is SWEET! Just a nice little push along with that resounding BOOM! I can't wipe the grin off my face.

A gent sold me a Dave Gentry mauser build and working perfectly do describe it.

OK. How many rounds of 404 Jeffery can we get in the magazine of a Mauser? I suppose it depends how long one makes the magazine. How about a single stack magazine? Wouldn't a single stack be more reliable and maybe easier to make reliable? Does anybody here have a single stack big-bore Mauser, or heard of such?

Just trying to learn here and ease the symptoms of the disease that Boxer calls "dumbphuckitude."

Dave was top shelf in many ways. My more recent experience with his son is not so good. PM me if you'd like more details.

Sorry to hear about Dave Gentry. Good men are too rare these days, and the whole world loses when one passes on. We can only hope that someone will think as highly of us when we pass on, and remember men such as Gentry as examples to follow.

I should probably wait to post about my new 416 Rigby in another thread when I have more experience with it, but I'm too excited to hold it in.

I have owned exactly two rifles that come exactly to point with the sights perfectly aligned when the rifle is thrown to the shoulder. The first was a BSA Imperial featherweight deluxe (that I foolishly sold). The second is this Ruger magnum rifle. It is absolutely uncanny! Every time I bring it up to my shoulder and weld my cheek against the comb, the standing rear express sight and gold bead front are perfectly aligned and pointing right where I am looking. I'm struggling with whether or not to mount a scope on it. This is getting exciting!

I think Echols only does Model 70s.

The Legends are only Model 70's, but he'll does many Classics on Mauser actions. In fact, I almost had him do a 7x57 on a 1909 Argentine action a few years ago, but bought a pickup truck instead.

Probably cost less too..

Especially since I only buy "slightly used" vehicles!

I did not know that. I'd love to see one his rifles with a 98 action.

jorge, there is a nice set of pictures of an Echols 505 on a Hartmann & Weiss mauser action in a recent Rifle magazine. done within the last year I believe. His mausers are all, except one, wood stocked.

Big R' About 20 years ago I saw a british rifle that was, I think a 500, that had been converted to a single stack magazine. It was a standard length 98 and had a thumb cut in the left receiver wall. I think it was a Jeffery but could easily be wrong. Wish I had it. Never have seen anything like it again.

I'm thinking the rails on a single stacker would have to be narrow in the rear to hold cartridges in by both rails. They would be loaded slightly forward and slid to the rear under the rails like a 22 magazine. This would complicate loading a bit but it should make for flawless inline feeding I would think.

As I said, any factory rifle needs a bit of tweeking to make it feed perfectly, and my new Ruger magnum 416 is no exception. The feed ramp is a bit too narrow and not polished at all. Its actually quite rough with lateral grinding marks to catch soft bullet noses. It stops when the nose of a 400gr Hornady hits. But it WILL be polished and made to feed perfectly, I assure you. I might even be able to handle this myself.

One more Ruger Rigby update: Shot full Rigby loads today. 90gr H4350 under 400gr Hornady. This gun is totally manageable! I'm surprised. Have had a few 375s that were worse. Course they weighed only 7 lbs whereas this Ruger is closer to ten. Took apart all my reduced loads with 40gr XMP5744 and reassembled all of them into the real thing. Mounted the Weaver K3 in low Ruger rings. Got her 2 inches high at 100 yards in 4 shots. That's enough fun for today. Gonna let my boys shoot her tomorrow.

Yeah, the .416 Rigby isn't bad at all in a rifle of the right weight.

Harry Selby's famous .416 was built on a standard 98 action by Rigby. I got to handle and fire it a few years ago, and it worked so well (including feeding REALLY slickly) that I decided to build one like it, also weighing 9-1/4 pounds. Modified a CZ 550 Magnum's stock so the rifle weighs 9-1/4 without scope, and worked over the action a little so it also feeds slickly and reliably. Pretty much a pussycat to shoot with standard-velocity loads, and not even too bad when scoped (10 pounds) with 400-grain bullets handloaded to .416 Weatherby velocities. In fact I'd rather shoot it than a .378 Weatherby!

Hornady lists 4 loads over 2700 fps with the 300gr Barnes TSX. That's 30-06 trajectory. Couple that with the proper softs and solids for dangerous game and I can't really see why one would need to take a separate rifle for plains game.

So I hear say (in print) that some African PHs believe the very best rifles are those from the big name London makers - H&H, Rigby, and maybe some others. Those rifles sell for tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's fine if one has the money, but are they really worth such ridiculous prices? Do they really function flawlessly? Are they really perfect? I might never know. Some of those rifles exceed my annual salary.

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2 builders that kind of apply as the above would be TT Proctor of wilmslow, cheshire (he does have a web site) and the former head smith at "John wilks" London, Craig whitsey (NO web site he doesnt need one) if I EVER needed a rifle for DG I would jump through hoops to bring either over here.

Big,
Start a new thread over on the Big Bore topic. There is one like it hanging around in a local shop that is giving me the evil eye!
Don't forget the pics.