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Rigby Questions

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13 January 2004, 18:50
mbogo375
Rigby Questions
I am in the process of researching a 350 Rigby Magnum, and have some questions. This is a round top Mauser actioned rifle that has the 43 Sackville Street address.

My first question involves serial numbers. How common was it for Rigby to use a numbered Mauser action, but to use a different number for the barrel and bolt (barrel and bolt matching)?

Second question is concerning old factory records. Does Paul Roberts still have these, or does the Rigby company in the US now have them?

Thanks,
Jim
13 January 2004, 19:44
ALF
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13 January 2004, 20:32
mbogo375
Quote:

It is not uncommon to find British Mausers with the Original Mauser SN's and Proofs intact, in fact it is a common occurence and one that helps with weeding out of frauds.

As some of the rifles in certain calibers are rare fraudulent reproduction has occurred and collectors have data bases correlating Mauser action number with production number of the particular trade rifle.

As you may well know Rigby had procured sole right to distribution of Mauser actions and barrels untill 1912 in the UK.

I believe that Paul Roberts may still have the records and may do research into your rifle.



Alf,

I hoped that you might see this thread. Yes, I have other British Mausers with a different maker's SN than the action SN, but the interesting thing with this rifle is that the bolt is serial numbered to the barrel and not the action. In my other examples the bolt is serial numbered to the action.

I was aware that Rigby was importer and distributor for the Mauser actions in the early time period, and even used the Mauser pattern 17 action specifically for the 350 Rigby according to Womack. I am not sure if he was referring to the slant box action actually intended for the 400/350 (or 350 Rigby Number 2), but this is not a slant box action. The proofs seem to place it in the pre-1925 era, and the action SN is below 5,000 (barrel/bolt SN is below 4,000). All-in-all it is a nice old rifle. I look forward to learning as much of this rifle's history as possible, and working up loads for it.

One of these days I would love to run across a 400/350 as well. Those long 310 grain bullets should penetrate very well .

Jim
15 January 2004, 13:08
mbogo375
Alf,

I have been able to obtain a bit of info on the Rigby. It was completed on March 21st 1921. The original order was by Keep Bros, but it apparently was subsequently sold to Nobel Industries. At some point it has been hunted with, as the blue wear and stock wear are typical of what occurs from this type of use. I don't know what more I might be able to pin down along these lines, but it is interesting to speculate whether Nobel Industries bought this rifle for cartridge testing and later it was sold to someone who used it for hunting, or whether it was bought for the use of a company official who hunted with it.

It was built on a modified standard-length action, as were some of the 416 Rigbys of that period(but I am sure that you are familiar with these). Feeding is flawless, and the action and magazine modifications are very interesting.

The biggest problem with this rifle is that at some point someone replaced the trapdoor metal grip cap with a wooden cap. It was a good job, but not original. It is extremely unlikely that I will run across an original one of these, but I would like to replace the wooden one with a metal one.

The bore, while certainly not pristine, is nice, so I hope for decent accuracy. In any case load development should be fun.

Jim





15 January 2004, 13:48
JudgeG
As usual, Mbogo375 outbid me on this rifle after I went to sleep (or something). I'm going to have to find him a place to hunt where there's no internet if I want to get a good Rigby, WR or Holland, I guess. At least I found my pair of Coggie doubles!



Mbogo, quit bidding on my rifles or I won't go hunting on your lease or let you buy me supper any more!



BTW, are you busy on Saturday morning? I'll have the .475 back and would like to work on some solid loads? And... do you have a Chrony, or should I bring mine? I will get a can of RL22 if you think it advised.
15 January 2004, 14:54
mbogo375
Quote:

As usual, Mbogo375 outbid me on this rifle after I went to sleep (or something). I'm going to have to find him a place to hunt where there's no internet if I want to get a good Rigby, WR or Holland, I guess. At least I found my pair of Coggie doubles!

Mbogo, quit bidding on my rifles or I won't go hunting on your lease or let you buy me supper any more!

BTW, are you busy on Saturday morning? I'll have the .475 back and would like to work on some solid loads? And... do you have a Chrony, or should I bring mine? I will get a can of RL22 if you think it advised.



JudgeG,

Is it my fault that you are always out of the country hunting, and when you are home you are so tired from your hunts that you fall asleep at the keyboard ?

Seriously though, come on up on Saturday. Bring your chrony if it is convient (mine is a pain to set up, but we can use it if neccessary). It would not be a bad idea to bring some RL 22 and RL 15. Let me know when you can be here.

I might even let you shoot my new rifle if you are real nice and don't complain too much about having to hold the target while I'm shooting (you wouldn't want me to shoot up one of the target frames now would you ). This way we wouldn't even need to use the spotting scope, you can just call out the hits (or is that call out when you ARE hit ).

Jim