Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Hello All,

I wanted to take a moment to share with you my excitement about my most recent acquisition - an Original John Rigby Rifle in 275 HV caliber. (7x57mm)

I always wanted an original Rigby rifle in 275 caliber, and I am so very pleased to have finally found one, and this one is a Take-Down model.

The rifle was built using an Oberndorf Mauser Action with its original serial number indicating it was manufactured in early 1924. The action is an "Intermediate Action" that Mauser made specifically for their 7x57mm cartridge. This action is also a very unique one because it has a "single square bridge" at the rear of the receiver, a feature I've not yet found on any other .275 Rigby rifle. The rifle is topped with a 4x scope with a cross hair/post reticle in a German Akah lever-detachable side mount. (similar to a G&H side mount)









I contacted John Rigby & Co. in England and obtained a Factory Letter. It confirms my rifle was a .275 cal Mauser Sporting Rifle - High Velocity Take Down - 24" Barrel - weighing 7-1/4 pounds - a 14-1/8" LOP - Sold to: T.P Dunhill - Sept. 12, 1924.






The Take-Down function is simple and slick. While holding the rifle "belly-up" under your left arm, you lift the Deeley Locking Lever that is on the bottom of the forend. (this retracts the lock-pin that extends into the front of the stock) Then you twist the forend / barrel counter-clock-wise, and unscrew the barrel. To reinstall the barrel, you simply screw it back into the action. The Deeley Locking Lever automatically lifts open, and then snaps shut when the barrel is fully seated, thereby locking it back in place with the forend lock-pin.






In researching T.P. Dunhill, the purchaser of this rifle, I was very surprised to find that he was a famous Surgeon who served during WWI, and then later became the Surgeon to the Royal Family in London, England, and in 1933 he was "Knighted" by King George V.

................


In addition, on June 11, 1947, in a small private nursing home on Berwick Street, London, "Sir Thomas Peel Dunhill" performed a hernia operation on none other than the 73-year-old Winston Churchill. How cool is that!




I especially like the fact that when discussing John Rigby .275 cal. rifles, names of Famous Hunters are sure to come into the conversation. Names like WD Bell, aka "Karamojo" Bell, (his 275 was also take-down model) who killed over 1,000 elephants with his 275 Rigby. And, Jim Corbett, another hunter of fame, who used his 275 Rigby to kill over a dozen Man-Eating Tigers and Leopards that had killed over 1,200 people in India.

............... W D Bell ............... Jim Corbett
.
.

The Rigby is now cased and ready for the hunt, albeit not likely for Elephants, or Leopards, or Tigers, Oh My!

Well done!

Thanks for this. I love the rifle. I love history. The rifle is living history. It doesn't get any better.

Congratulations. I'm excited for you.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

Hello dogcat,
Hello B L O'Connor,
Hello SquirrelNut,

Thanks for your reply.

I love guns with stories to tell. I only wish I could find more information about Sir Thomas Peel Dunhill's hunting adventures with this rifle.

There is an overwhelming amout of Information about his Skills as a Surgeon, but nothing so far about his hunting or shooting.

Fantastic find ! Enjoy it

And you darned well should be excited! That's a beauty!

What a great rifle and great provenance. I too love rifles with some history though while I have several interesting rifles only one has good provenance. Thank you for sharing.

Great find and great story. Thanks for sharing.

Note: Queen Elizabeth II must have knighted this guy in 1953 or her grand father Kind George V must have knighted him in 1933.

I recently sold the same gun to a poster on AR that I won't name without his permission, but mine was a barreled action only and in the white. All 275 Rigbys were the intermediate actions. What a lovely find you have there. I can't wait to see my old Rigby after its been rejuvenated to as new condition, it had such a good bore.

The owner Shawn Joyce, who posts here called and said OK to use his name. He is traveling at the moment, but the gun is in London and being completely restored by Rigby, who varified the gun was originally built by them. It was in my shop.I just never got around to it. my bad!

quote:

Note: Queen Elizabeth II must have knighted this guy in 1953 or her grand father Kind George V must have knighted him in 1933.

Hello Nakihunter,

Thanks for the reply.

All sources say he was Knighted in 1933 ... and you are correct. It was King George V. Thanks, listed has been updated to show the correction.

quote:

Originally posted by buckstix: I only wish I could find more information about Sir Thomas Peel Dunhill's hunting adventures with this rifle.

Well, I finally found a short reference to Sir Dunhil's outdoors life. Hopefully someday I'll find something about his hunting.

"... Dunhill taught and influenced succeeding generations of surgeons by example and by practice: lecturing and writing did not come easily to him. The pragmatic streak was evident in his younger days for he was a keen exponent of the outdoor life. Although short and rather frail-looking, he was physically tough: a capable canoeist, a mountaineer and an enthusiast for snow-sports. Before 1913 he often fished on the Snowy River; later he spent weeks on the west coast of Norway. He was an expert gardener and collected antique furniture.

Great rifle...thanks for sharing.

Truly beautiful. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Very nostalgic and very nice.

quote:

Originally posted by buckstix:
Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

The Rigby is now cased and ready for the hunt, albeit not likely for Elephants, or Leopards, or Tigers, Oh My!

Come to Australia and take a couple buffalo with it...
Perhaps a Banteng also?

Very nice! Congratulations on your find. Thanks for sharing its history.

Wow!!!!

Grand rifle with an interesting history. Hope you enjoy it.

A magnificent find! Please don't say you found it in a pawn shop for $350.

Very, very cool! Congrats on the purchase and there's quite a pedigree attached to that gun.

Congrats, what a fabulous rifle.

http://www.gunsinternational.c...cfm?gun_id=100891548

PSA- I thought you might like the above rifle.

Beautiful rifle.

The photo with the certificate shows a different scope mount than yours. Was your side mount original?

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
Beautiful rifle.

The photo with the certificate shows a different scope mount than yours. Was your side mount original?

Hello Fjold.

Thansk for the reply.

Although different Scope mounting options were available in 1924, I believe the side scope mount on my rifle is Post War.

Cool Rifle!
Which one did you get? the one with the black backgroundpics, or the one with the detail pics of the takedown mechanism?

Looking at my HS Precision takedown, that looks very much like the mechanism they use.

Stunning! I love history and firearms, when they are one and the same, it's a Zen

So here are two of the same !

These are very early renditions with transition 98 actions ie pre 98

These were from the original Rigby shipments from Mauser

quote:

Originally posted by gunmaker:
Cool Rifle!
Which one did you get? the one with the black backgroundpics, or the one with the detail pics of the takedown mechanism?

Hello gunmaker,

Thanks for the reply.

You must have seen some early place-holder pics. There is only one John Rigby rifle that I bought.

quote:

Originally posted by buckstix:
You must have seen some early place-holder pics. There is only one John Rigby rifle that I bought.

Now both sets of pics are of the same rifle. Before the forend on the takedown detail pics had checkering points at the back of the forend checkering. Not just a straight border parallel to the dividing plates. And the top point was faintly visible just below the receiver ring.

I thought you might have 2 of these rifles with different checkering patterns and one missing the rear square bridge.

I'd be happy to see any and all takedown pics you have available.

The other pics were of a large ring large thread. The current pics are large ring small thread.

Shawn Joyce posted on another thread here on med. bores, a 275 Rigby barreled action I sold him, that's been gathering dust for a long time in my shop, Rigby rebuilt it and qualified it as the real deal as I always suspected..Turned out beautiful.

These old Rigbys are magnificent.

This rifle should be the centerpiece of a movie. Much more interesting than a "Winchester 73."

Hello,

Well, over the last 4 days I conducted a shooting test of the Rigby rifle to determine the repeatability of the rifle's take-down feature.

The rifle was removed from the case - assembled - scope attached - and fired "one time" with my 140g load. It was then disassembled, scope removed, and returned to the case.

I repeated this over the next 4 days - one shot per day. Each time starting from a cold disassembled rifle.

I am pleased to say that I would not hesitate to assembly the rifle, attach the scope, and go hunting, (without further sighting) knowing with confidence that I could make kills out to 300 yards.

Although the Rigby catalog of 1924 lists 3000 fps for their 140g High Velocity ammo, it must have been fired from a test barrel over 30" long. The MAX load listed is only 2825 fps in my 24" barrel and is a VERY HOT load - and may not be safe in other rifles.

Here is a link to a nice portrait of the man.

https://artuk.org/discover/art...page/13/view_as/grid