Been thinking about buying a couple of rifles from Sabi for a while and would to know what you all think about them.

holzer375,

They are excellent weapons - I own one in a .270

I have a look at their rifles every year at the Aim Show and they look nicely put together.
A buddy of mine had them build him a left hand 404 and he had a bit of hassle with their service, but other than that I have heard more positive than negative reports about them.
Alan Henry of Natal Gun Company puts together some superb big game rifles.

Been told by a Zim PH that they are very good.
One of his friends, another Zim PH owns one in .500Jefferys.

They built both my .500 & my .404 Jeffery for me and I can't recommend their work or their customer service highly enough... they really are fantastic! - Esp for the prices they charge!

What are the details of the actions used please?

Jack,

They come with a choice of actions, I was going to go for the Mauser 98. But they also offer Montana, CZ 550 and Sporting Mauser actions

Mausers built by...?

I do not like their style at all, prefering a more classic style. I have used Gerrie Coetzee in Bloemfontein RSA for all my custom work, as I also do not care for the work of Namibian gunsmiths. Luckily custom guns are build for the individual, and I have a very specific taste, so most guys are happy with what I do not like,

Jack,

I would not know. Check out sabi web - www.sabirifles.co.za.

I had a 458 Lott built by them. I would highly recommend their work. I have the standard K98 action which fits the Lott perfectly.

Sabi do very good work, however, unless you are willing to wait a long time or live near to them you are going to wait a hell of a long time. The Montana actions are listed on the website but i gave up waiting after 18 months without any of them landing. I believe this was a Montana problem, but the info should have been conveyed when the request was put in.

I still think that Alan Henry builds better finished rifles and if you can call them a more traditional rifle. If you look at the 450 rigby that featured on the cover of magnum some months back you will see the classic lines, a beautiful peice. He is however more expensive and you are going to wait just as long.
Eugene is a great guy and the faily has had its fair share of problems over the last few years, if you like what they do and are willing to pay for their best work, they you will be happy.However their high end stuff with unlimited time and budgets is very different to their lower cost rifles.
Most of their rifles are built on old military actions and I may be wrong but they have quite a large stock of vz 24 actions that they are pushing through.

I ended up going with Paul Nothnagel of GI wapensmid, he is crap at communication and its not easy to get stuff out of him, but he builds some of the best working rifles around and makes sure they feed right first time. He is however half the distance away from me that Sabi is. In your situation I would choose to go with Sabi as they will be the closest smiths to you and you will be able to get to them without too much hassle. Just look at the results Steve has had living in their town.
Good luck
Ian

I would recommend Danie Joubert in Pretoria at any time!

A great Artist that knows how to build side lock double rifles from scratch!

http://www.daniejoubert.com/

Holzer,

Check your PM box.

quote:

Originally posted by husky:
I would recommend Danie Joubert in Pretoria at any time!

A great Artist that knows how to build side lock double rifles from scratch!

http://www.daniejoubert.com/

I see NO DR on the site.

Hi Jack!

Here is one in the White:

SA has a number of great gunsmiths in various different parts of the country who know their stuff and offer good value for money all things considered. Some are good metalsmiths and others better with wood, do your research and play to the strengths of the different guys and you will be pleasantly surprised by what the guys in SA can produce.

This is a 458 Lott based on a ZKK 602 and has been worked on by a few different craftsman in SA to produce the end result