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Was at the Dortmund show yesterday and spent time at the Rigby stand. Very nice new .350 Rigby on display. Some 20 odd in production. Original prop Rigby cartridge at turn of last century. Sweet rifle but cannot get my head around the caliber...

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I’m kind of interested in this as well.

More academically than anything as I’ve got rifles that are on both sides of it, and while .35’s are neat, I’m not sure what a .35 mag does that a .338 or a .375 doesn’t do, and it meets caliber/energy restrictions that the .35 doesn’t make.

From what little I have found about the 350 Rigby is that it is about the same class as the 35 Whalen. A 225 gr bullet at 2600 fps. The 35 Whalen is easier to find or build ammo. The 350 Rigby, could be easy to load for once you find or create cases for it. I might buy it just because it is different than most hunters use. I tend to prefer the older cartridges.

Realistically it doesnt do anything better or worse than the other medium bore rifles. But its great to see Rigby promoting another of their classic proprietary cartridges. Big Game Lightweight​ looks like a great rifle, and I hear they have been selling a lot in 350 Rigby since it was announced.

I had a very nice original 350 Magnum Rigby.
Certainly, with today’s powders, one could easily better the performance of the original.
I do wonder though, where will the owners of the new Rigby 350s buy ammo?

It's a waste of effort unless you just want to sue a historic cartridge. Much better off with a 35 Whelen.

Like some of you, this rifle/caliber intrigues me. And also like the last poster mentioned, will ammo be available? Even if a short run of ammo comes out, the question will be…for how long? I wish them great success, as I am excited to see its return!

I have restored an original Rigby .400/350 built on an Oberndorf Magnum Mauser action. Beautiful rifle. Work included developing a handload and supplying the client with ammo. The old rifle shot well and has been used to take deer. But, it does noting better than the .35 Whelen and cases had to be formed from 9.3x74R brass. If you're really into to vintage rifles and cartridges, this is a lot of fun. I even know folks who are building new single shot rifles for this old cartridge just because it's different. However, the .35 Whelen or 9.3x62 win out in terms of practicality.

Another case of nothing more than nostalgia, and that ain't all bad! Its as good as a 35 Whelan to boot,and that aint all bad either!

Ray is right of course. The Whelen shooting a 250 gr. @ 2,700 fps or 2,600 fps. is better than the traditional load for the 350 Rigby. He is also correct that simply for nostalgic wishes, it has seduction. And loaded with modern powders to its max, I believe it would surpass the Whelen.

I own a number of Whelens, but also a couple 358 Norma Mags and one 358 STA. Both would surpass the Rigby.

But I also own (4) rifles in 416 Rigby and I think a two-rifle Battery of a 416 Rigby & 350 Rigby would make an excellent battery for a combined DG & PG safari, as well as a salute to the past. In fact, I own a couple Ruger Africans by Lipsey’s in 275 Rigby (stamped on the barrels) along with a couple cases of Hornady ammo in 275 Rigby on the headstamps, that would make an excellent 3-rifle battery to cover everything from Duiker to Elephant.

I just may have to pick up one of these 350 Rigbys. Anyone hear
of their price yet?

I have one and taken some game with it. Beautifully accurate with the Speer 250 grain spitzer at 2650 fps. RogersGunWorks, you have opened an all new avenue for me in regards to brass. I've been turning the belts off of 375 H&H brass and turning the necks. I'll try the 9.3 stuff soon.

Magnum Hunter1,
Is your 350 Rigby one of the new ones now being made? If so, do you mind telling us what you had to pay for this jewel? Curious interested minds want to know!

The 400/350 of Rogers is a rimmed cartridge in a special for rimmed Mauser action. Of course the original 350 Rimless was made on the Mauser Magnum action, but it is not too difficult to open up a standard action length-wise a bit less than you would open a .375 H&H, of which thousands have been done.
I see so many comparisons, ballistically, to the 35 Whelen, but that is only correct when comparing it to the original Cordite loads. Cordite was Very temperature sensitive and high ambient temps raised pressures rapidly and since the 350 was developed for Africa and India, it was downloaded accordingly. Just like the 416 Rigby, it operated around 45K pressure, which is way below what we normally load to with modern powders.
A better performance comparison would be the 358 Norma Mag which has slightly less powder capacity than the 350 Rigby, but both will walk away from the Whelen quite handily. The 350R loaded to sensible levels really outperforms the old cordite loads and since a bolt gun does not need to be regulated like a double rifle load, you can safely get performance the Brits would have loved to achieve.
The modern 350 Rigby, not your GrandPa's 35 Whelen!

Ok based on that Id pick the Whelen IMPROVED and we are backed to a trade off? Once again we are playing ballistic masturbation ! the only plus in this post is nostalgia the 350 has naught but nostalgia and like I said, that ain't all bad..

I, too, am intrigued by the past and one could build a nice four gun set in the 275, 350, 416, 450 Rigby's. Slap a rising bite double in 500NE and a rising bite 12 bore in there and be done with all hunting needs quite quickly (other than a 22).

I handled the new lightweight Big Game at SCI and it was certainly beautiful, but I think I'd be more apt to go with a Big Game in 416 (DSB). My thoughts may be different if I already had the 416? I don't recall seeing a price on it.

Every shooter needs a little Nostalgia in their life, mine is my Win. 94 saddle ring carbine in 25-35 and the savage 99 in 250-3000 and yes there are better hunting calibers, but neither has ever failed me, so may be that their are none better??