It took a while to get the final few bucks to be able to call it really my own, but I finally paid the last few grand and the below is mine!



It's a Westley Richards boxlock, ejector,.450/.400 3 1/4" and it shoots wonderfully. On the side pictured, it has a lion engraved (a tiger on the opposite) and pretty, almost European scroll everywhere else. It has a flip-up moon front sight, 200 through 500 yard flip-up rear express sights and the triggers are as good as a custom bolt gun. The best part is that my very first load, 81 grains of 4831 and a Woodleigh 400 grain solid (estimated 2150 fps) shot less than an inch at fifty yards.

I'm looking forward to the Double Rifle Shooters Society hunt and showing it off!... not to mention taking a buffalo in the Selous this summer.

After much fooling around I think I got the pictures on here with the target below... I hope??

I say, Judgie ol' chap, yer goin' t'havter try those Kodaks again. Didn't come through this try.

Maybe you can see both pictures to which I refer? Seems that one will come up once, then the other... What gives?

Nope, all I get is the little box with the red x in her. When I right click to "show picture" I still get the same little box. Odd, that.

Got it now..




I'll post some close ups of the engraving tomorrow. Maybe Mbogo375 will post some of his W-R. His is obviously engraved (at least the lion and tiger) by the same guy. His is a .450/.400 3" and shoots .408 bullets while mine is the longer version (3.25") and shoots .411 bullets. Since both perform exactly the same, I wonder why both were marketed?

The orange circle has a 2" radius, btw.

Very nice Judge, heres wishing you a big Bull, of your choice of course

She's beautiful. You bringing her to Dallas?

cya there!

Nice rig Judge! where did you find it, can you post more pics? thanks! jorge

Very cool... what year was she made?

Congratulations Judge. That could be the ticket for a one gun safari to the Selous.

Great stuff Judge! Congratulations! I'm also hoping you can post some more detailed pictures and fill us in on what year it was made etc.

Erik

Judge

Congratulations on your new double.
Please post some close up pictures of the lassi

Cheers,

André

Very classy, Judge. That rifle looks to be all business. I've never had too much interest in double rifles but you guys are wearing me down.

quote:

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Originally posted by JudgeG:

http://www.hunt101.com/img/237147.jpg

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That looks like a piece of junk, so you need to bring it to Dallas, and I'll get rid of it for you! Congratulations!

Yo Judge

That makes, by my count, 4 nice doubles you've got there. Your 475 Nitro#2, 375 Flanged, 470NE by Butch Searcy, and now your 450/400. You open for adoptions, you need an heir?

Judge,

What a treasure!!

Congratulations..

More pictures. I'm not sure about the quality, thereof, though.

I believe the rifle was made in 1914, right before WWI, I guess. And no, I'm not taking it to Dallas. I figure there is a finite number of times you can play gun case roulette with an airline and I'd rather save my winning baggage tickets for Africa.

Judge,

Do you plan to keep your Searcy?

I hope to be able to continue to afford it. George has both my .475 and .375 at www.champlinarms, but I believe I have the .375 sold to someone I corresponded with before the consignment. Both rifles will be in Dallas at the Champlin booth and I'll take the .375 home to privately sell if it doesn't go there. I really want to do a 21 day safari to Tanzania and I'll need to sell two of the doubles to do so. I'm hoping the Searcy isn't one of them since I worked so closely with Butch in the making, etc. It also is "elephant" worthy and a 60 # is my new "Holy Grail"!

BTW, does anyone have a book that will date the rifle if I e-mail them a serial number?

That's really something special. I'd love to talk myself into something like that but that sort of thing will have to wait until after my first couple of trips to Africa.

Golly yer honer, thats a real piece of shit, ya shoulda got an JC Higgens double like my paps.

quote:

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BTW, does anyone have a book that will date the rifle if I e-mail them a serial number?

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I think you can do that online at: Westley Richards

Ps. I'm up for adoption!!!

Erik

Judge,
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but if the case length is on the flats, that means that your rifle was made after "The Rules of 1925" which required the case length be included on the rifle.

You gotta be the luckiest $&%(*&^& I know!
Congrats again!

Rusty:

I'll take a picture of the "flats" or watermarks and proofs tomorrow for you.

yea, yea ,yea.....I'm not envious

I'm not jealous.....

If I repeat that enough times I'll sleep ok tonite.

JudgeG:

Congrats! I will be looking forward to your adventures and stories with your new acquisition.

Fantastic rifle!

How come it doesn't have a hogback stock?

Jerry

I'm telling ya, don't listen to these guys,its junk, bring it to Dallas and I will help you salvage it, I know some guys there that'll buy anything with two holes!

Here's a little bit better picture of the engraving of the lion.

quote:

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Originally posted by JudgeG:
More pictures. I'm not sure about the quality, thereof, though.

I believe the rifle was made in 1914, right before WWI, I guess. And no, I'm not taking it to Dallas. I figure there is a finite number of times you can play gun case roulette with an airline and I'd rather save my winning baggage tickets for Africa.









I'll post some close ups of the engraving tomorrow. Maybe Mbogo375 will post some of his W-R. His is obviously engraved (at least the lion and tiger) by the same guy. His is a .450/.400 3" and shoots .408 bullets while mine is the longer version (3.25") and shoots .411 bullets. Since both perform exactly the same, I wonder why both were marketed?

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JudgeG,

I am glad that our cobbled together reloads worked well for you ;D. Here are a few photos of my rifle for comparison.

Looks like you got a real winner there .

Jim

Sorry about the quality of this first photo, but it is an extreme enlargement of a portion of the original photo.

I win the contest! My lion's nuts are bigger than your lion's nuts!

Obivously they didn't have CNC machines back then, but the likeness of the two leo's makes one wonder????

Ernest/JudgeG

JudgeG,

Did you try to check the year it was made on the http://www.westleyrichards.com/members/date.html link?

The first time I tried, I got 1863???
I ran the same numbers and then got 1902. Rusty tells me after looking at the proofmarks, etc. that he believes it is a post-1925 gun. I guess I'll just have to pay the W-R folks the $50 and get the whole history to find out for sure.

JudgeG

quote:

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Originally posted by JudgeG:
The first time I tried, I got 1863???
I ran the same numbers and then got 1902. Rusty tells me after looking at the proofmarks, etc. that he believes it is a post-1925 gun. I guess I'll just have to pay the W-R folks the $50 and get the whole history to find out for sure.

JudgeG

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Ernest,

I just ran my double on the W-R web site(which is an earlier serial number than yours, as you know), and got 1912 as the manufacture date. I wonder if that letter prefix on your rifle is the reason for the problem in matching your rifle to their database.

Jim

Ernest,

I believe you can letter your WR by writing them direct with the serial #. Ask George at Dallas. I may have found my H&H will know at Dallas. Look forward to dropping by your party.

Fred
CFA

Very, very nice. Great caliber too. I've got a William Evans underlever in 450/400 3 1/4 and I love it. Mine will put 4 rounds inside 1 1/2 inch at 50 yards all day long. Best caliber for a double in my humble opinion.

Cheers Mac

Damned nice. I hope your vintage W-R double drops an equally fine tusker in the Selous this year.

speaking of westly richards they have a real nice 577 for sale they are asking about 40,000 for but id rather have a searcy for half that price.


my 700 nitro is for sale at the westly richards store in montana call em up if yall are interested.


http://www.westleyrichards.com/gun/used_guns_2_product.php?id=25310