I found a real SLEEPER - unidentified 416 Rigby - real cheap

Hello All,

As you have seen, lately my interests have shifted to Big Bore rifles. I found this one on an on-line auction while I was searching. Its really neat when you discover one where the seller has no clue what he has.


Here is how it was described in the original auction listing.



The description also included a lot of the other usual info about: good bore, good wood, etc., etc.

Well, I never heard of a "Full" Magnum Length Interarms, and when I searched the Net trying to find examples of one, I was stumped. Here are the pictures that were listed in the auction.











After much searching and comparing the shape of this action, to pictures of various Interarms Actions that I located on line, I was sure this was NOT an Interarms Action. The only thing I could see that remotely resembled Interarms, was the sliding safety.

Well, I had a 'hunch' what this was. Could it be? I watched this rifle for the full 14 days of the Auction. That was a very, very long 2 weeks. And, in the last minutes of the Auction, I placed my bids. After a couple of back-and-forth bids, I was the winner! - $720 - My total cost ... $755 delivered to Wisconsin. It was 2 days before Christmas, so this was a Christmas present from myself - to myself. Perhaps the close-Christmas timing kept the other would-be-bidders too busy to find this treasure.

Here is what I found when it arrived home ...

A very nice Magnum Length BREVEX Mauser action - you can barely see the "M400" model marking and the "/92" serial number stamp. It looks like these were partially removed during the final "squaring of the action bottom and the finishing process during the rifle's build.

[img]http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/oct9.jpg[/img]

and .... with a SAKO trigger..... This explains the sliding side safety that looks similar to the Interarms safety.

[img]http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/oct7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/oct8.jpg[/img]

and ..... a LES BAUSKA barrel..... This was also a surprise. Les Bauska was a famed barrel maker and worked with Buhmiller during the 50's and 60's ... likely when this rifle was built. He was known for his superb Octagon Barrels.

[img]http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/oct90.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/oct91.jpg[/img] - LES BAUSKA OBITUARY



I topped the rifle with a compact 2x-7x Burris Scope, which brought the shooting weight to just a tad over 11 pounds. The perfect weight for a 416 Rigby.

Lots of people ask me how I find so many rare collectibles. And some people call me Lucky - they are wrong. I credit my findings to a bladder problem. As I age, I find myself getting up several times a night - to pee. Before I go back to bed, I do a little WEB Surfing. The search engines run pretty fast at 2 o'clock in the morning. All the reading makes me sleepy, and I go back to bed until the next urge wakes me. And that's how I found this one.

Thank Goodness for a small bladder.

Great find and a great story!

What a dog!!! Dont' know how you found the courage it took to publicly display this thing here.

Uhhh, To save you any future shame, I'd be willing to hide it my safe for you...since I'm such a nice guy I might even be persuaded to give you $100 above what you paid....


GREAT snag!!! on a great rifle.

-Mike-

Love the gun and the story...

Need follow up on that one, for sure.

DF

Timing is everything and that's a super find!
Is the stock a laminate or had a bit added for reinforcement?

I studied the stock and like laminated for such a gun, not the style so much. If it was mine, I'd whack that hugh grip cap and remove enough wood to create more of a classic Mauser type grip, maybe open the grip curve a bit. I'd lose the forend tip, trimming the forearm to look more like an Express rifle. I think some judicious trimming could add to the Safari rifle look this Brevex deserves without having to build another stock. That one looks pretty solid.

If you aren't careful, this project could go over a grand...

Just a thought...

DF

That is awesome. Neat story to go along with it!

Very Nice

WOW !! I 'need' a 416 R like I need another hole in the head BUT

I'd been all over that like ice cream over apple pie.

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !!!!

= envy.

Me, Myself, & I, We like that stock as is.

Some people even like chevy, while ugh some like dodge. <G>

It's well done, just doesn't say "Brevex Magnum" to me...

DF

Great find!

So there is something to be said for having to get up more often in the night....

Hello All,

Thanks for the replys.

Yes, the stock is a laminate. Its mostly dark-on-dark walnut made up of 1/4" thick slabs. With the thicker slabs it kinda hides the fact that its a laminated stock. Looks almost like coarse grain lines. I'm glad its not the light/dark thin layers, that look is too gaudy for my tastes. The laminated stock is quite heavy, and I'm sure very strong, designed to take the heavy recoil of the 416 factory ammo. Although recoil was stout sitting at the bench, the Federal factory ammo was actually pleasurable to shoot.

I dont mind the swoopy roosewood grip cap and the rosewood forend tip. It gives the rifle that kind of a 60's look.

Great bedtime story. I love it when a orphaned gun finds a deserving home.

What a cool story. I am so illiterate when it come to old rifles and especially of the history of Mauser actions. But I guess if I get up to pee enough, I can study up and find some potential bargains!

Thanks for sharing.

If there ever was a "Pee Dividend" this has to be it...

DF

A buddy of mine if fond of saying, never mess with a Dodge owner. He's already mad...

That stock sure does have the 60's look and is really well done. I'm the type that always wants to mess with something, so my reaction was to cut a safari type stock out of that one. But, I see the OP's point of letting it be what it is and enjoying it like he found it.

Amazing find. Wonder what that Brevex action alone is worth, not counting the great barrel...?

Don't you know, some advanced gun nut put that together. It would be another great story to know the history of that gun. Too many guys pass on to their rewards, leaving behind guns like that with no one around to know what they have.

I heard it said a gun nut's greatest concern: When he died, his wife would sell his guns for what he told her he paid...

DF

That's a sweet .416 Rigby Buckstix.

Have you shot it yet?

Congratulations! All those years of gunnutism sometimes pay great rewards. Well, that and the fact that it's great fun.

D F -

I don't think I'd ever build one like that stock BUT you and the OP beat me to the follow up. It's that 'classic' 60s early 70s style and I just couldn't change it.

Hope and am sure it'll shoot as GOOD as designed. SWEET !!!!!

Beautiful Grab! Looks like the perfect rifle to sit by the chair while you read a safari book.

Hello Dirtfarmer,

Thank you for your reply.

Although Les Bauska is mostly known for his premium barrels, there is a possibility that he is the one that built the complete rifle. I will continue researching.

I'll also look for early examples of laminated stocks made in the late 50's and early 60's in hopes of finding something similar that might give a clue to the builder. The overall quality of the work looks too good to be a home project.

Buckstix- great find on a great rifle. Enjoyed the story and empathize with you on bladder size...

Dirtfarmer- Maybe the best line I've heard in a while. "Don't mess with a Dodge owner, he's already mad". I'm stealing it.

Hello OSU_Sig,

Thanks for the reply.

As many of you already know. BREVEX Actions are highly collectable. They were made in Suresnes, France by M. Polonsky. (an engineer from the Radom plant in Poland) They were amde from 1955-1965) using captured German machinery taken from Oberndorf by the French Troops (Gal. Leclerc 2nd DB) and delivered by the M.A.S. (Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Etienne) before being sold to Polonsky circa 1951.

This was the only true Magnum Mauser length action available to the trade in the years folowing WWII. They were imported and sold exclusively by Tradewinds. Here is a 1955 GUNS Magazine ad from Tradewinds.






Here's my rifle with the compact 2x-7x Burris Scope.

Buckstix,

I think the stock is one built by the late Merlin "Mel" Smart. He and Les B. worked together on projects such as yours when both were alive here in the Flathead Valley in NW MT.

Mel's laminated stock design is the precursor to what Kilimanjaro Rifles now makes http://kilimanjarorifles.com/history.html

And yes, that is one hell of a find.
I hate you!

I just ran two different inflation calculations on the sum of $118.00 in 1955.

That's more than $1,040.00 in 2014/2015 dollars.

Hello SBTCO,

Thanks for the reply. I had not heard of Merlin Smart and his stock building. Do you have any additional info on him, or examples of his stocks? Also, I had not seen the "Stealth" Laminate stock that you referenced from Kilimanjaro Rifle makers. You might be right about my stocks roots. I hope to find more info.

Hello tjm10025,

Interesting caluculation.

I'd take a couple a dozen Brevex Mausers actions at that $1040 price if you find any. Its my undestanding that less than 450 BREVEX Mauser actions were ever made.

Great find and great story

Article in the Missoulian from 2000: http://missoulian.com/art-of-the-gun/article_6b309c62-7ddd-5d54-9d09-5999c9144173.html

Could also be that Mel did the gunsmithing on your rifle, as well as the stock.

WOW! You ARE lucky.

If one compares the today price of the Brevex to today's custom actions it is close. However the cost of manufacture would not be even close.

Hello all,

If any of you have rifles built on BREVEX Mauser actions, I'd like to hear from you. Please chime in with what you have and give the serial number of the action. So far I personally know of action numbers from 42 thru 455.

Nice find.I kind of like that stock!!!

I think I'd lose that scope mount, I've never liked the one-piece mounts and rotating ring system, and go with a Weaver-style two-piece set-up, to free up more room under the scope, and for a more-solid mount, otherwise, congrats on a nice rig!

Wonderful, I share your nightly issues and can't usually sleep after 04:00 so I often check the net. I have many fine rifles now and still find pieces I lust after....my wife is super and never whines about buying things like my second Dakota 76-.338WM, but, we are pensioners and so........

Anyway, that seems one NICE piece, lots of luck with it!

Hello SNAP,

Thanks for the reply,

WOW! are you lucky to have a wife like that! Do you mind giving her my name in case you die?

Tell her I will quickly dump mine.

+2. Here.

Easy there guys...

I may have been a bit hasty in my zeal to reshape that stock, not realizing how nicely it was made. If it was a home project, maybe. But as the history unfolds, leaving it as is makes more and more sense.

So, in the spirit of maintaining the vintage look, maybe that old base with suitable rings may compliment the 60's motif...

Just saying...

DF

D F -

You've seen the light!!

Late beats never...

DF

Hello Dirtfarmer,

Yes, those are my thoughts exactly. I generally don't like to mess with the History of a piece, no matter how it looks. I think its important to preserve the builder's ideas of the times.

However, I did make changes to my BREVEX 450 Ackley Mag. This rifle was built without any safety. For me this was totally unaceptable. Safety is one of the few things that will cause me to alter a vintage piece.

In this case I added a Winchester Style 3-position safety; the kind with the little lock-bar built into it. This feature is similar to the stalking safety found on my Dan'l Fraser double rifle and my Alex Henry falling block.

Pictures below show before and after - and after close-up.

Yeah, I agree and like your solution.

I, too, can't see building a rifle without a safety.

You're really in the Brevex business...

No wonder you had an educated guess about what you were looking at during those online late night pee breaks...

BTW, what would you price a Brevex action at, these days?

DF

Hello Dirtfarmer,

Yes, I knew it was a BREVEX while the auction was in progress. I was really hoping no one else would spot it. That was a very, very, long 14 days.

I'm not sure exactly what the value of a BREVEX is these days. I'm sure they were worth more before so many others got into the MAGNUM LENGTH ACTION business. Today there are at least 6 makers of Magnum Actions that I know of. I know there are others, like myself, that collect BREVEX actioned rifles for their nostalgia.

I see several BREVEX action rifles for sale on Guns International. Prices range from $5,500 for one with a plastic stock, all the way up to $13,950 for a nice custom. Average price seems right around $9,000. Although these are "asking" prices, not "sold" prices. I guess that gives you some idea of the market.

I've never handled a Brevex. Are they super slick as I would think?

They sure look nice.

DF

Hello Dirtfarmer,

The BREVEX actions are typical Mauser function and feel as any other standard 98 would be. Its the work of the gun builder that determines how "slick" the action feels based on his final honing and polishing of the parts.

I have one, my 505 Gibbs, that is super "smooth as silk" but that is because it was built-up and fitted by Danie Joubert, the famed Custom Gun Builder from South Africa.