Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Hello All,

I wanted to take a moment to share with you my excitement about my most recent acquisition - an Original John Rigby Rifle in 275 HV caliber. (7x57mm)

I always wanted an original Rigby rifle in 275 caliber, and I am so very pleased to have finally found one, and this one is a Take-Down model.

The rifle was built using an Oberndorf Mauser Action with its original serial number indicating it was manufactured in early 1924. The action is an "Intermediate Action" that Mauser made specifically for their 7x57mm cartridge. This action is also a very unique one because it has a "single square bridge" at the rear of the receiver, a feature I've not yet found on any other .275 Rigby rifle. The rifle is topped with a 4x scope with a cross hair/post reticle in a German Akah lever-detachable side mount. (similar to a G&H side mount)

I contacted John Rigby & Co. in England and obtained a Factory Letter. It confirms my rifle was a .275 cal Mauser Sporting Rifle - High Velocity Take Down - 24" Barrel - weighing 7-1/4 pounds - a 14-1/8" LOP - Sold to: T.P Dunhill - Sept. 12, 1924.






The Take-Down function is simple and slick. While holding the rifle "belly-up" under your left arm, you lift the Deeley Locking Lever that is on the bottom of the forend. (this retracts the lock-pin that extends into the front of the stock) Then you twist the forend / barrel counter-clock-wise, and unscrew the barrel. To reinstall the barrel, you simply screw it back into the action. The Deeley Locking Lever automatically lifts open, and then snaps shut when the barrel is fully seated, thereby locking it back in place with the forend lock-pin.

In researching T.P. Dunhill, the purchaser of this rifle, I was very surprised to find that he was a famous Surgeon who served during WWI, and then later became the Surgeon to the Royal Family in London, England, and in 1933 he was "Knighted" by King George V.

................


In addition, on June 11, 1947, in a small private nursing home on Berwick Street, London, "Sir Thomas Peel Dunhill" performed a hernia operation on none other than the 73-year-old Winston Churchill. How cool is that!




I especially like the fact that when discussing John Rigby .275 cal. rifles, names of Famous Hunters are sure to come into the conversation. Names like WD Bell, aka "Karamojo" Bell, (he also owned a take-down model) who killed over 1,000 elephants with his 275 Rigby. And, Jim Corbett, another hunter of fame, who used his 275 Rigby to kill over a dozen Man-Eating Tigers and Leopards that had killed over 1,200 people in India.

............... W D Bell ............... Jim Corbett
.
.

The Rigby is now cased and ready for the hunt, albeit not likely for Elephants, or Leopards, or Tigers, Oh My!

Awesome rifle! Congrats on it.

Beyond cool!!!! I salute you! For me, the pinnacle of hunting rifles. I have had double rifles, pre-64 Win and others. But a true Rigby 275?? Looks that she has a good home and hopefully she will be hunted again. Thank you Sir for sharing.(my birthday is in December. Hint hint)

Beautiful rifle, sir.

Awesome rifle and even more awesome story!

Nice.

Are you going to take it hunting this fall?

That is so call. Don't you wish that rifle could talk?

WOW!

The stuff dreams are made of.

Outstanding rifle and history. Well done!

Outstanding!

HS - Beautiful rifle! Great Story. Thanks for sharing, it's good stuff.

Bloody marvelous. I am green with envy.





Enjoy your treasure !!!!

I would be excited too! Great find…in .275 too. Very nice .

That is fantastic! Congratulations.

That is not only a fantastic gun, the provenance alone is worthy of a museum. I never even knew that rifle existed and now I want one. Good job!

What a fantastic rifle, congratulations Sir.

Incredible!

Nicely done!! Curious regarding the side mount. Was it originally D&T for that?

Same serial number for sale???

http://www.gunsinternational.com/gu...a-very-good-reason-.cfm?gun_id=100877420

Nice find.

Hope it is enjoyed for a long time.

Great find, thanks for sharing story and pix...

That may be one of the best rifles and related story that I have ever read on here.

Congratulations. donsm70

You need to open a Museum to display all your fantastic rifles.This is another great find.

That is SWEEEEETTTT!!!!!!!!! Are you going to shoot it?

What a beauty and what a find. Do you think the mounts are original? I like the claw mounts shown on the certificate just looks right and are very functional.

That's a great rifle and story! Really enjoyed reading about that!!!

Hello peeshooter.

Thanks for the reply.

That's from when it was a fixed barrel, now its a take-down.


Hello jmp300wsm

Thanks for the reply.

I've already shot it, and will hunt with it this Fall.


Hello Tejano

Thanks for the reply.

The mounts on the rifle are "post war". It was likely originally sold without a scope otherwise I think it would have been mentioned in the Rigby Letter.

Quite a find..me too , I really like takedowns...Rigby's...and 7x57's. Does it hold poi well?

Jealousy is rearing its ugly head here...


BIG TIME!!!!

Do you know when and where he hunted with it? India, Africa,....

What a gorgeous rifle ... and what a wonderful story of its history.

Happily, all of the comments have been positive and the peanut gallery (those who enjoy pooping on other folks' happiness) have stayed away.

Did I mention WHAT A GORGEOUS RIFLE?

kd

Hello comerade,

Thanks for the reply.

Yes. Here is a test target I fired. I tested the rifle with 6 shots by removing the scope, breaking down the rifle and putting it back in the case, between each of the 6 shots.



I had difficulty aming "precisely" because the scope is only 4X with a post/crosshair reticle. I'm sure with a higher power scope I would have had less verticle stringing. The good news is the total spread at 100 yards was 2.8" with the mean distance of the shots from center being only 1.2". I would feel comfortable using the rifle up to 300 yards on deer size or larger game as assemble. However, if farther distances were to be expected, I would check the zero after assembly, and not disassemble the rifle until the hunt was over.

Also, for this test I did not let the barrel cool down completely between shots, so I will redo the same test again over several days, each time starting with a cold rifle for each shot.

AWESOME!!!

Thanks for sharing! That is a fantastic and historic hunting rifle.

Spectacular! Very nice rifle and great story.

That is a beautiful example of old world craftsmanship! Such a rich history with that rifle. Congratulations!

Congrats on an outstanding caliber and rifle! Tons of provenance and still has a bright future ahead!

Great find, what a beautiful rifle! Have you considered adoption?

Jeff

That gorgeous creature lays nested in her dark lair, awaiting the light to shine again on the opening of her case.
It feels again the thrill of warm appreciation and the little shiver that it inspires, in those lucky enough to handle and revere a true work of rifle makers art.
Folks are inclined to say,"If that Rifle could only speak",....It does, but it's a soft, seductive, and elusive whisper....

words fail,

.....the stuff of legend, this.

GTC

Greg,

I can't go along with the "words fail" part above!

You wax particularly eloquent today -- everything else you wrote is bang on though!

John

buckstix;
Good morning sir and thanks for once again sharing a wonderful piece of history/sporting arm with us.

I can't think of any superlatives that haven't been already used, so I'll just say it's about as cool as they come.

Good luck hunting with it this fall and thanks again.

Dwayne

You Silver Tongued Devil you! Thats enough to make me squirm in my BVDs....

By the Lord Thundering Jeesus, Ingwe!

Now I have a mental image of you in your underwear! I need some mental eye bleach!

I think I will scroll back to the top of this thread to try to replace that image with something more pleasant...

John
PS: top of the morning to Dwayne too!

Sorry John...but Ive seen exactly four rifles in my life that I would consider exquisite , and one was a utility grade Rigby magazine rifle...


If I could handle the one in the OP the list might expand to five!

Mornin' Canada !
Mornin' Sweden !
I'd like to get that fine rifle under a good industrial X-Ray scanner, and see beneath that wood, and just how that "joint" is secured to the metal.
There's some poetry there, too, I'd venture.
GTC

If I am not mistaken, buckstix is the guy who lathe-turned a barrel with a bore bigger than your arm, built a muzzle-loading mountain howitzer with it, loaded it with grapeshot, and went deer hunting. He then posted pictures of the perforated carcass after his hunt! The guy has style!

If he is the same guy, I'd think he also might have have the financial resources to get the rifle scanned. I hope your post interests him in doing so -- I want to see the pictures too!

John

Hello,

Thanks for the reply.

Not exactly sure what you are wanting to see in an x-ray ? ? ? ? ? Please explain.

And Yes, I'm "Buck Stix" the Cannon Guy. ..... http://buckstix.com/howitzer.htm ....... to see how to Hunt Whitetail Deer with a Mountain Howitzer ...

Awesome!!!

And, seems I remember you with another exquisite rifle.

I'm surprised that The Rev., after seeing and reading your wonderful post, didn't need to change his Depends.

Maybe that's why his post was extra short...

Congratulations, again...

DF

I'm a Mountain Howitz type too, buckstix.

Re: x-raying the piece,.....I'm curious as to how the Mating "Faces" that bear on one another are attached, and interface (no pun intended) with one another,....in other words, WHERE, and to WHAT exactly do those double recessed screws thread into, and how those fixtures are attached to the receiver and the barrel,....Given that it's undoubtedly a top end rust bluing job, and not hot salts, I'm guess in that the fixtures are probably soldered to the reciever and barrel,.....than and again, maybe dovetailed and pinned.

Hope I'm making some sense here,.....and very much look forward to reading about your ongoing accuracy testing, with the rifle left assembled.

GTC

Hello crossfireoops

Thanks for the reply.

If you are referring to the flat metal plates on the forend and on the end of the stock, they are simply screwed to the wood on each, the stock face and forend face, with wood screws. The plates do not touch the receiver or the barrel, only the wood. Its the barrel and the receiver that "match-up" to each another. Its the same principle as a typical barrel being screwed into the receiver, except they are not "torqued" together. The two surfaces, barrel shoulder and receiver face, are "lapped" to each other and they simply mate with hand pressure. The metal plates "cap" the wood, and the retractable pin provides an anchor to the barrel to keep it locked in place and not unscrew during use.

Yessir, that was what I was referring to, and thanks for the quick answer.
One more question,.....are those plates a stainless steel, or are they nickle plated ? Guess they might be a Nickle Silver,....

GTC

The plates are ordinary steel that has been blued. You can see the drag lines in the photos.

My hands were shaking so much that it took me thirty minutes to type what I did!!

RM

I figured buckstix had done a job on you with his post of this super fine and historic rifle.

And, it's just up your alley...

DF

That is certainly something special, congratulations.

Don't ya just love the sleek, classic lines of that beautiful rifle.

DF

What a GRAND! old rifle

Looking closely at the wear on the wood in that area, one can only begin to imagine how many miles it's traveled in unavoidably dusty, sandy, hands,....easy to see how all the bluing would be gone on the outer radii of those plates now. The Deeley locking latch is perfection in fine metalcraft !

GTC

Simply awesome. Congrats on such a fine rifle, I hope you went out and bought a lottery ticket.

Hello GSPfan,

thanks for the reply

I didn't buy a lottery ticket, ..... yet.

Fascinating rifle, but damn they built them with a lot of drop in the stock!

Hello,

Well, over the last 4 days I conducted a shooting test of the Rigby rifle to determine the repeatability of the rifle's take-down feature.

The rifle was removed from the case - assembled - scope attached - and fired "one time" with my 140g load. It was then disassembled, scope removed, and returned to the case.

I repeated this over the next 4 days - one shot per day. Each time starting from a cold disassembled rifle.

I am pleased to say that I would not hesitate to assembly the rifle, attach the scope, and go hunting, (without further sighting) knowing with confidence that I could make kills out to 300 yards.

Although the Rigby catalog of 1924 lists 3000 fps for their 140g High Velocity ammo, it must have been fired from a test barrel over 30" long. The MAX load listed is only 2825 fps in my 24" barrel and is a VERY HOT load - and may not be safe in other rifles.

Then it appears you have found your travel rifle, your great-grand children will enjoy it too.

buckstix, that's a fine rifle you have there. One of my favorite loads in my 7x57 is 44 grains of 4320 with a 140 Sierra Pro Hunter which gives 2755 fps and good accuracy.

Hello Joe,

Thanks for the reply.

I also load a 175g Nosler Partition with 4320 powder for 7x57 rifles. I load 41.0g to obtain 2400 fps. A very accurate load.

500.00??😁

Hello hanco,

I don't understand your question.