After a long wait, just received my 416 rigby (the 505 gibbs is almost finished). I am trying out the sights and stock fit, then back to the smith for finishing. The red target was his first 3 shots at 50yds, then the black after front sight adjustment. The gunsmith was pleased with the rifle.

cz550 action, english walnut, krieger barrel.

sorry for the large pictures, still sorting out the digital camera and my wife's photo editor.

regards,

steve


other pics. removed 5-31-03 for more disk space on my page

[ 05-31-2003, 20:56: Message edited by: steve505 ]

Steve,

It's looking good. I think that you are going to have a first class 416 when it is finished.

Jim

Steve,

Looks great! What Krieger barrel taper did you use?

Congrats,
Dave

Hi Steve,
The rifle project is looking really nice. That piece of walnut will really be outstanding with the oil finish on it. Did you get the wood through Dressel's. It just looked like one of their pistol grip caps. Your rifle will look first class completed. Good job!!
Take care,
Dave

Lookin' real good Steve!

Steve,

What gunsmith are you using to do the work? Is he local (southern California)?

Is your gunsmith also doing the stockwork, or are you having that done seperately?

It is looking good.

Tim

steve505,
Ja! I'm ga ga too over that byoot!

1) The muzzle diameter (not including the barrel band of the front sight, of course) and

2) the barrel length, and

3) the approximate weight of the gun, as is,

would be very interesting to know. You have shown supremely good judgement in your choices with this rifle.
Cheers!

Looking good! That is going to be a sharp rifle when finished out. Great caliber too!

Steve, looking good. Interested in the details Daggaron asked about, as well as about the quarter rib. Thanks. -Fred

Good looking rifle. It is very classic, I like it!! The only thing I noticed is that the stock may be too close to the front sling mount. You may have problem with the sling gouging the end cap of the stock. Something to check, anyway.

Axel

[ 05-18-2003, 20:58: Message edited by: Axel ]

Thanks for all the comments. I must admit I am pretty excited. I have never met the gunsmith or seen any of his work, only spoke to him over the phone. He is kinda old fashion, no email or web page, but seems to know big bores. All I have done is sent chunks of wood and metal to him and hoped for the best.

DavidC,

I do not know the barrel taper, the smith turned it from a blank (he said he likes metal working). To me, it has a big bore look and adds just enough weight to the front of the rifle.

Dave,

The grip cap does look like a Dressels, but I do not know. The wood came from a small shop in Chico (again, old fashion, no email or web). I did not care about looks, wanted straight grain and density and a somewhat matched pair. This one is on the lighter side (both weight and color), so it went to the rigby. I have not decided on a bit of red stain or leave it alone.

Nick,

Thanks. It was your web page that inspired me to the 505. So I thought, why not a two rifle battery and added the 416 to the fold.

Shumba,

The smith is in New Mexico. At first I thought this was a neg. but it has forced me to be patient, and let him do his job, so maybe working for the best. I asked him about the stock, he sends it out for duplicating and semi-inletting, then takes over from there.

DagaRon,

The muzzle is .746", barrel is 24" (I worried I should of went to 23" but the balance feels almost perfect). The weight is somewhere between 9.5 and 10 lbs as is. I kept asking for weight and the smith kept telling me you carry the rifle all day and only shoot it once and that the weight comes out what it is. This might be a little to heavy for the 416 but its matched companion 505 will be a tad underweight I think (i am hoping for 10.5 lbs).

Fred,

The quarter rib is made by the smith. I guess he can get a good fit to the barrel since he turns the barrel also. He sometimes adds accents to the rib to make them different. It has a couple of milled contours.

I sent him my physical dimensions and I think he got it right. The rifle comes up level, with almost no pull into the shoulder, cheek meets the stock with a 12'oclock hold (I want it setup for irons).

I hope to get to the range before I send it back (I do not want to let it go now that I have it, but I guess it does need a little more finishing ).

regards,

steve

Hi Steve,
Your stock will darken quite a bit with an oil finish. I used the Dembart stock finish on mine and it darkened up really nice. It started out a bit lighter than yours. Take a damp cloth and wipe the stock and you will get a good look at the contrast in your stock. This will dry in about 5 minutes but will give you an idea of how nice that piece of wood is. The grain through the pistol grip area is excellent as well as the contrast. I would imagine that there will be a nice checkering job in store for that 416.
Take care,
Dave

[ 05-19-2003, 05:01: Message edited by: 470 Mbogo ]

Very nice looking rifle. All the classic fittings, and I especially like the english walnut stock. That looks like an express rifle pattern, is it from Great American Gunstocks? The grain pattern and color of the wood is also very close to mine that I got from them; from his first pics I think Jeffeoso's 500 J stock v. 1.0 was similar.

To dye or not to dye is a tough question -- I've always liked darker stocks, but I'm afraid to hide the nice mineral streaking. Maybe you'll do yours first and post pics to help me decide?

Todd

GREAT piece of wood... truely perfect for a 416, imho..

Does it have a recoil lug added? The lack of which is why I am working on jeffe's 500, v2.0 (and spent too much more money)

Wish you all the best.. as I go grumble off to work on my 500 AGAIN

jeffe v2.0

I too like the darker stocks, but I am thinking maybe time to change. When oiled, the wood has a golden tint through out, goes with the streaks. Thanks to you guys, i am going to leave it alone.
I will ask about the pattern, but I suspect it is local to New Mexico. There is an added recoil lug with only 1 crossbolt. The smith said he could add a 2nd crossbolt, but he feels what he has is fine and the 2nd would be mostly for show.

steve

Hi Steve,
I would put some thought into the second cross bolt and have it added. The cross bolts help to keep the magazine box area of the stock from expanding outward during the compression of the recoil. The cross bolts when locked in stop the movment. If allowed to expand it relly puts stress on the stock material that is left where the trigger has been inletted and could cause it to crack. This is the small portion between the back of the magazine box and the trigger. That is one hell of a nice piece of English Walnut to take a chance with. Plus the two cross bolts look balanced overall. Just my thoughts.
Take care,
Dave

Beautiful rifle, Steve.

Do you want to keep your gunsmith's name secret so that no one else can get an equally beautiful one built? I can't blame you for that if that is what you're doing!

Please let us drool over the finished pictures.

Good hunting!

I love pictures! Work in progress photo's especially! Nice Rifle.

That looks very, very nice. The wood is killer for sure. The barrel band looks closer to the forend than I am used to seeing. Is that where you specify them to be?

no, that is where the band came out. It also looks to close to me. Pictures of his other rifles show it out about another 1", so I think either he got a band mis-sized, the barrel taper is off or the forearm is tad to long.

steve

Steve- Congrats, thats a nice looking gun! Yup the foreend is way too close to the barrel band. The easiest fixt is to cut off the ebony forend and move it back an inch or so. That will be easier than making and soldering on a new band. -Rob

Steve
Do not tell these guy's his name. I have this smith/riflemaker make about me two rifles a year. The last time I was at his shop I saw your barreled action for your 505 gibbs. He has built me 2 416 Rigby's,450 Ackley,404 Jeffery,475/416 Rigby,starting on a 505 Gibbs. He has built many smaller rifles for me also. He just finished a 450 Rigby rifle for a friend of mine in Hobbs New Mexico it is a great rifle. If you want him to shorten the forend talk to him. He is stuck on a Fischer type forend but he is not like Fischer using the same length forend on every rifle our smith has a formula that he uses it has to do with barrel and overall length. When finished the wood will also be much darker. The best thing about our smith is that he is not famous. Ross wrote an article about custom rifles it basicly said anyone that charges more than $2000 dollars for a custom syn. stock rifle or $4000 for a custom wood stocked rifle is a joke. Our smith is an honest guy that does great work for a good price.

Thanks
EJ Gentry III