I may have ruffled some feathers on another forum by asking current owners this question. So what I want to know is, from those who own or have handled or have shot one, what of the other high end production rifles are the new Rigby's comparable to? Considering fit, finish, overall quality, little touches, but not the name of course. How inflated is the price because of the name?

Thanks

I have handled these new Rigby rifles. They are beautifully balanced.

They are also beautifully finished.

The actions are Mauser made 1898s, true in all respects to the originals that Paul Mauser designed.

The barrels bear Rigby's name and London origin.

I have ordered one, in calibre .275 Rigby, fit and finished to my liking.

I should have it by year's end.

Only then will I know if mine is worth the cost of 15 or 16 perfectly satisfactory Winchester Model 70s.

I expect it will be, to a significant extent because I appreciate the cool factor and am nostalgic to a fault.

I have had several Rigby Highlander styled rifles built for me. As I recall DPCD did all the metal work. The exception I made was I added a Timney trigger and side safety. The stocks were exact copies of the Highlander and all were very elegant. I know I had one in .300 H&H, I think two in that caliber and one in .275 Rigby. DPCD is the man for the metalwork and barrel.

I have had a good close look at them and handled them. They are nicely built, well put together and balance well. They are a nice solid built rifle built on a newly made mauser 98 action.

Comparable directly with Mausers own 98, different balance, but still pretty much the same thing. Hardly surprising as both Rigby and Mauser come out of the same factory and are both under the Blaser Group. The Rigby Highland is however more “English” in style and will be finished in London.

Are they a true London / English or Scottish best rifle with the fit and finish of a truly hand built rifle. No. But then they are sub £10,000 rather than £25,000 plus.

In terms of other rifles out there - well Blaser R8s, K95s etc can all be up ti similar money with not too many options. You can get a very nice Shultz and Larsen, Heym, Sauer etc for half the price. And there will be a number of small bespoke rifle builders that could build something similar for similar or less money.

Or you can find a number of very nice westley Richards, rigbys, hartmann & weiss, h&h, tt proctor etc that will have seen limited use for less money than the Highland Stalker, but will have been built as a best rifle that would set you back new £30,000 plus. Just have a look through any Holts catalogue.

Saying all of the above, I do rather like them, and priced so that for a typical gentleman stalker who wants something a bit more special than usual Blaser, Sako etc and probably affordable after a first good bonus etc. or a retirement present etc. they are affordable whereas “london best” are probably well out of reach.

Only big downside is that they don’t make them with bolt handles on the correct side.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I have handled these new Rigby rifles. They are beautifully balanced.

They are also beautifully finished.

The actions are Mauser made 1898s, true in all respects to the originals that Paul Mauser designed.

The barrels bear Rigby's name and London origin.

I have ordered one, in calibre .275 Rigby, fit and finished to my liking.

I should have it by year's end.

Only then will I know if mine is worth the cost of 15 or 16 perfectly satisfactory Winchester Model 70s.

I expect it will be, to a significant extent because I appreciate the cool factor and am nostalgic to a fault.

I sincerely hope it's everything you wish it to be.

quote:

Originally posted by Heym SR20:


Comparable directly with Mausers own 98, different balance, but still pretty much the same thing. Hardly surprising as both Rigby and Mauser come out of the same factory and are both under the Blaser Group.

I'm assuming that factory is in Germany?

Very fine rifles. The Rigby name adds to the cost/value, but very well made. I have handled several.
I would buy one if it weren't for the collection of Biesen's I have and other customs.

Can't go wrong if you can afford it.

Only thing better is a Blaser....

I found an image of the left side of the action. Note that it is "commercial" and has no thumb cut.



- Made in Germany -

Nothing wrong with that. Anyone have pics of inletting top and bottom?

In that 1 picture the shelf under the ejector box is uneven front to rear and I can see proud metal that appears to be the recoil shoulder just back of the ejector box. For the money I would expect more. Inletting pictures as requested by Baxter B would be interesting.

All the Highlander styled rifles I had made are so much better than shown in this picture. And I used Wiebe bottom metal on mine.

If anyone is interested in more photos, there are quite a few of the new Rigby’s in various calibers on guns international under Rigby Rifles. Pretty good photos.

JP

The Rigby Highlanders are made by Mauser in Germany and then finished at Rigby’s facility in London. Finishing will adjusting stock length, adding on scope bases, doing customer specs and a final going over before shipping to customer. If you look at Mauser’s own 98 there are slight differences in styling of stock, but not much.

Rigby do have workshop in London as well as their showroom, and I have had the pleasure of visiting. It is a hive activity as they do build the London best magazine and the double rifles on site. And by the looks of it, pretty much from scratch.

Going back to the Highlander, this is not really any different to original partnership between Mauser and Rigby in the late 1800 and early 1900’s when Rigby’s were supplied as barreled actions or even fully stocked by Mauser for Rigby to then finish. Nor is it any different to what most of the British trade have done and continue to do so - buy the more affordable end of the market and finish and brand, but build the high end stuff in house.

For $16k, the rifle pictured above has poorly executed checkering.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I found an image of the left side of the action. Note that it is "commercial" and has no thumb cut.



- Made in Germany -

Kind of disappointing not having the thumb cut out.

quote:

'For $16k, the rifle pictured above has poorly executed checkering'

Add that to the list.

I like the old ones, but I’d rather have a wiebe.

Let's put them all up in HD and magnification and then compare.

Sorry but even for 1/2 the price I would expect better fit and checkering quality. I think this is pretty indicative of the value of the name but not necessarily the quality of the finished product, at least this particular example. While I will never be in the market for one I would have a hard time spending $16k on a hunting rifle. And that doesn't include the battery powered scope!

I also like Jaguars.

Hello Mike.

Congratulations on your order. I hope it is everything you had hoped for.

JP

What do you compare them with? Well, as said, the modern M98 at half the price, from which it is made, other London rifles for twice as much or perhaps the humble Zastava at about 10% of the sum.

I love my Zastava but its wood is cheesy and was of dumb design, the safety and trigger debatable and the feed could be better with some bullets.

So, if you want everything to look and function well, it may be you've got to pay eight or 16 thousand to get that. On the other hand, I remember the crap that Rigby went through earlier this century, and have to wonder what real tradition it represents.

On the matter of chequering, I suspect it is a job that doesn't inspire the same diligence as engraving. Some best guns have unbelievable engraving but chequering not so good.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I also like Jaguars.

Then I presume you own two of them, as the saying goes you needed to own two Jags so that at least you were likely, although not guaranteed, to have one on the road at any one time

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I also like Jaguars.

Then I presume you own two of them, as the saying goes you needed to own two Jags so that at least you were likely, although not guaranteed, to have one on the road at any one time

My point, precisely.

Any new rifle purchase at that level should be celebrated.
I like the Rigby Mausers. The actions are in their own way unique and refined and the metal work pretty nice, nothing else quite like them . The value of the Rigby rifles remind me of the older Dakota’s when Grisel and Allen had the company, a semi custom production rifle. Similar to Dakota the early Rigby rifles were priced at competitive prices, the Rigby in 2017/2018 around $7000, up about 40% now. The Rigby Mauser wood stocks are not up to the standards of many of the better custom American stockers in my opinion. One major positive in my view with the Rigby rifles is the the Managing Director of Rigby , Marc Newton . Marc is a standup guy and pretty sure if you have any issues with your rifle you will be well taken care of as long as Marc is in charge.
I wish they sold barreled actions.
4WD

quote:

Originally posted by 4WD:
I wish they sold barreled actions.
4WD

No kidding.

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:

quote:

Originally posted by 4WD:
I wish they sold barreled actions.
4WD

No kidding.

They do you can buy the rifle and get rid of the stock everyone is bitching about.

I would just stick with a well made German Mauser action made at the blaser factory and fitted in London by Rigby. If they made a left handed one I would probably buy one.

Mike

I have one of the Mausers I bought from the original owner who bought it in 2020. It is VERY nice but the checkering leaves a lot to be desired. Having said that, it has by far the smoothest action of any bolt action I've ever owned....including a 1910 Rigby. I'm thinking of having the checkering re-cut since the LOP is a little long for me anyway.

Id much rather have a Wiebe than any of todays fine guns..I owned several fine guns by the master, Jack Hough, but alas he has passed away, I hear his son is very talented..I sold my Houghs because they dared to double in value, dammit!! old school at work, same with my best horses..Today I make my own stocks, if they double in value they also go down the road..but Wiebe is todays best IMO..

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
I would just stick with a well made German Mauser action made at the blaser factory and fitted in London by Rigby. If they made a left handed one I would probably buy one.

They do, but not in that range. For a LH Rigby you need to step up to their London best grade. For these models virtually anything can be optioned as they are built to order.

I visited their showroom/workshop before the release of the Highland Stalker range and it is a trip well worth making if you visit London.

Even the Highland Stalkers are quite expensive by Aussie standards, but they do sell a good number of them locally.

Just found this thread and looked at a few of the Rigby Highland Stalkers on Guns International. The ones I saw did not have true Mauser 98 actions as they had the 3-position, Win. M70-type safety. Perhaps this isn't a disadvantage, as the 3-position version is a great improvement over the original M98 safety.

I was surprised that the ones I saw had either Claro or American black walnut stocks. Nice wood to be sure, but I doubt it was used on original Rigby rifles. I wonder why they didn't go with high-grade English walnut.

I thought my Bennie Laubscher a better gun all around and that it uses proper Holland and Holland style sidemounts.

quote:

Originally posted by South Pender:

I was surprised that the ones I saw had either Claro or American black walnut stocks. Nice wood to be sure, but I doubt it was used on original Rigby rifles. I wonder why they didn't go with high-grade English walnut.

I was surprised as well.

quote:

Originally posted by enfieldspares:
I thought my Bennie Laubscher a better gun all around and that it uses proper Holland and Holland style sidemounts.

Nice

Like to see a photo. Been meaning to order some of those mounts, also for a double. H&H Fitting them was rather astronomical....

quote:

Originally posted by enfieldspares:
I thought my Bennie Laubscher a better gun all around and that it uses proper Holland and Holland style sidemounts.

Enfield:
I have not used the H&H style side mount scope mounting system, nor have any of the gunmakers I have used recommended the H&H side mount scope mounting system you refer to. Can you tell us why the H&H side mount scope mounting system is superior?
4WD

I know a guy who has one in 308 he's selling for $8,200 if interested.

It clears the rear iron sight when you pull the scope off, very few mounting systems allow that, its extremely important on a DG Rifle and handy on any rifle..

Depends on your priorities!