I have find in a gun shop in italy a rifle Rigby cal 416 Rigby - mauser action, from the years 1930-1940. Is for sale for 5.000 Euros. Advice?

BUY!!!!!!!!

If you have 5000 Euros this is a no-brainer!

This morning I saw the rifle. Is the model Big Game, with serial number 5796 or 5794. No Mauser magnum action but Mauser (I think 98). Who can say me when was built ?

Mario,

I do not have definitive list of Rigby Serial numbers, in fact I don't know who does (except perhaps Rigby).

However, the biggest problem with Rigby serial numbers is that they used Mauser actions without regard to the original Mauser number sequence.

For example:

Rigby #5482 was built on Mauser #100918 (circa 1929)cal .350 Rimless sold by Rigby unknown

Rigby #5669 was built on Mauser #1161 (circa 1899) cal .275 sold 1938 (rebarreled)

Rigby #5704 was built on Mauser #97228 (circa 1929) cal. .416 sold 1929

Rigby #5750 was built on Mauser #53471 (circa 1912) cal .416 sold 1929

Rigby also sold actions and barreled actions to other British makers.

Your Rigby serial numbers indicate post 1928, the actions could have been built well prior.

In any event buy it!!!

Regards,

Bob

PS: My Oberndorf Mauser Sporter is serial number is 935xx (not a Rigby) circa 1924-25 cal. 375 H&H, no square bridge and built on a standard "intermediate length action".

(source documents "Original Oberndorf Sporting Rifles by Speed, Schmid, & Herrman" pages 224-225 ISBN 0-88935-230-5)

Dear Bob,
thank you very much for the informations. I sent an E mail to the John Rigby & co.
Do you think I can use this rifle for hunting or only for put on my wall?

Mario,

Depending on it's condition of course (which should be checked out by an experienced gunsmith), hunt with it.

My 1924 vintage Mauser is hunted and shot with frequently.

A fine Rigby deserves no less.

The very best to you,

Bob

[ 07-31-2003, 21:13: Message edited by: Shadow ]

Ther'are lot of big elephants at the border of the Go Na Re Zhou national park. I think this is the right wall for the Rigby.

Mario

I will argee with you that the 416 Rigby will do anything you ask it too. Joe Coogan wrote an interesting article about it a while back. If you want to read let me know

/ JOHAN

[ 08-01-2003, 04:03: Message edited by: JOHAN ]

The fact that it is a Rigby on a std. mauser action and not a M-20 action Mauser is rare indeed....The only other one I know of belongs to Paul Zorn, Ndulamathi Safaris...

I would grab it in a heartbeat...I would not load it very hot, stay around 2300 with 400 gr. bullets. It would bring $6500.00 US or better in the USA, if in very good condition....

I remember reading somewhere that Harry Selby's .416 Rigby (Rigby rifle) was also on a standard 98 action.

Oh yeah, here it is:





The article can be found at:
http://www.nrahq.org/publications/tar/rifle.asp

-Bob F.

Bob F,

IS THAT A BEATIFULL RIFLE OR WHAT???

I'd give my a$$ and half of Georgia (not Texas) for that gun...

Sure has a bunch more drop in the butt than even the CZ Lux/hogback. Ye olde Rigby sure would be lousy with a scope, but grand with iron sights.

Surely, that Rigby rifle would paralyze Will with fear at contemplating how it would jump off the sandbags when he fired it.

I saw one just like that, I do believe, in Botswana. PH/Micheletti Bates Safari Co. owner Ronnie McFarlane was packing one on his elephant hunt, and he let me fondle it a bit. It was nice. Ian McFarlane gave it to son Ronnie on his 18th birthday. Ronnie is about 50 y.o., Ian getting close to 80 y.o.

I was amazed by how similar in heft and balance that the Rigby was to my CZ 550 Magnum in .416 Rigby.

Actually, I dream of owning a Rigby like Harry Selby's M98, or even an original Magnum Mauser version by Rigby, in .416 Rigby ... Sigh ...

Of course, some cosmetic work on the hogback would imitate the old Rigby pretty closely, but yield a rifle inferior in comfort and versatility to the Lux stocked version.

Nothing wrong with the antiques for the collection though! I want one!

Oh, Ray, what was that you said about the .416 Rigby being an inferior cartridge and the rifles all being so bulky and unmanageable? We .416 Rigby fans have been trying to remind you of rifles like the one pictured above. Hence the lack of need for the likes of the .404 J, when one can have a .416 Rigby.

.

Yep, Alf,
That will do just fine too. The latest Mauser Banner rendition and re-creation, in .416 Rigby. Load that one cool or hot. I'll bet the drop of the butt on that one would scare Will also. But hey, Will has done plenty of shooting of a Heym .470 NE double, and he didn't complain of the drop of butt there! Go figure!

DagaRon,

You are on a rampage today, eh?

Poor white trash, like me, can't have their cake and eat it too. I had to sell my .470 to pay for a lion. But, the drop on that stock made it kick like hell. Luckily it wasn't noticable while hunting.

My 416 (5200 ft-lb) @ 8.9 lbs. with a straight stock is a pussy cat compared to that .470 (also 5200 ft-lb) @ 10 lbs.

I know you don't believe me but it is simple mechanics about muzzle flip, etc. I'll put it down on paper and e-mail it to you.

Cheers, dude.

I do not understand why ya'll get so excited over all that "BOLT ACTION TRASH". Why would anyone hunt with a modified Military rifle when he could get a real hunters rifle, a British Double. Might as well use an H&K 91.

Will,
I understand the mechanics, and I go with the flow, and it gentles the recoil in shooting off of two legs. Remember, you are supposed to hold on with both hands firmly and keep the butt pressed firmly to the shoulder.

I shoot straight stocked rifles as well as hogbacks, and a Merkel 470 NE double with shotgun dropped straight combed stock.

You are confirming my suspicions about your sex change operation if you think the Heym was brutal.

.

The Rigby I found, is exactly the same of Larry Selby. I wait the ammunition for to try him.

Mario,

Between you finding that rifle and Alf posting those pictures, there are a lot of guys on the forum probably dying,

Mario, I hereby want that rifle if you don't. I declare first dibs.

Alf

Some very nice rifles.

.

Isn't there some controversy about whether a regular 98 action is big enough for the rigby cartridge, and if safety is compromised in rifles set up like that?

.

Great, Alf! You are busting out with treasures galore on this thread, thanks for the drool shots.

Will, I'll get in line behind you and Ray for the M98 .416 Rigby by John Rigby & Co.

The original Rigby ballistics produced pressures of 38,000 psi. 410 grain bullet at 2370 fps or thereabouts. About equivalent to loading a 400 grainer to 2400 fps with modern powders, certainly less than 40,000 psi.

Apparently Harry Selby found that rifle in the used gun rack in a Kenyan shop, after somebody ran over his double rifle with the safari car.
Certainly Harry Selby proved the M98 conversion to .416 Rigby was strong enough to wear out a barrel with heavy use over many decades and require having it rebarreled and refinished by the original Rigby firm for another go.

I want one.

ALF

Man got to know his limitations..I have to wipe the screen on my computer. Great pictures....thanks to the gun pics

I know a 375 H&H of the limited run that is for sale if you don't already have one. I guess you do

/ JOHAN

Mario: Buy! Then sell it to me!

450 NE No2:
The least you could do is learn how to properly spell the southern slang contraction of "you all," seeing as how you are so high falutin' that bolt actions are trash to you.

Y'all, not ya'll!

DagaRon
Both forms of the slang for "you all" are in wide use. Ya'll seems more common down here. Don't believe eve'tang you see ina "Websters", he was a Yankee.
You all, ya'll, y'all, youins, or you people, no matter how you say it when you hold that 416 Rigby and look in the mirror, you will see Bolt Action Trash.

"Bolt action trash" and "double rifle baboons," no matter their culture should know how to make a contraction out of "you all."

The Texans spelling it "ya'll" on the billboards and in newspaper headlines are boobs and rubes, and dead wrong. No need to refer to Webster at all, y'all.

That is why they call it slang 'cause it ain't the Kings English.

Daga

Ne450 is a fine fellow. He loves double rifles.
His knowledge of double rifles and hunting with and shoot them is considerable. He just likes to rag the "bolt trash" including me. I wish I had his doubles!

As far as y'all. I too used ya'll until last year when I switched to the y'all version.
I think the version NE450 uses actually refers to "all y'all" insted of just y'all!

Rusty,
You are correct in every way. I agree. I was just funnin' with a double rifle baboon.

Rusty, Thanks for the support, I know I can always depend on a fellow Texan.
I did not know what got Daga Ron so upset, you do not see us trying to tell them Yankees how to spell "yoose guyes".

Actually I really like all rifles. The finest Bolt and single shot rifles I have ever handled have been British rifles. By finest I mean the way they handle and feel. Nothing else can compare. No doubt Mauser actions are the best, but if you ever handle a .256 Mannlicher [the action with the clip fed action] you will wonder why everybody does not use one for their light rifle. The second best feeling bolt rifles are the Mauser Factory sporters. Everything you need ,nothing you do not.
If I was, or wanted to be "Bolt Action Trash"
I would search far and wide for a "set" of these type "hunting" rifles.
I like hunting with single shots, I will have to have a British Single shot rifle some day.[probably a take-down] The Alex Henry Rugers are about as close as you can get with a modern single shot.
I will probably have to eat my words one of these days when I find a good British 404, or a Mauser Type A in 10.75x68.
Until then I will use my Blaser's....When you travel with it broken down at least no one knows you have a Bolt Rifle.

ALF, stop that! I am proud of my healthy blood pressure and you are putting it in jeopardy. Gadzooks, what lovely rifles.

.450 #2
Thanx for the strokes. I happen to own both a 6.5 Mannlicher and an Erma M98. I just haven't decided what to do with the Erma, yet. Let's see now. I have Greener .318, a Parker-Hale .404, the 6.5, and this M98 action. I also have a M70 .300 H&H. Now, dudes (I am a Californian after all) what niche is empty that can be filled with the Mauser?