Gentlemen:
Submitted for your approval: is a rifle I saw in Zimbabwe in 2008 and fell in love with. Several years later the rifle had changed hands. Of course I offered to buy it and after a year or more of thinking about it, the new owner agreed to sell it to me. Being a modern rifle, made on or after 1899, it required an import form. The process is quite easy. Not so simple on the Zimbabwe side, however. After a year of “Africa time” all was sorted out and the rifle arrived to me on January 3.

This double rifle is a George Gibbs .450-400 3 1/4” nitro express, for the 60-grain charge of cordite and the 400 grains bullet. 26” barrels, ejectors, 5-leaf rear sight (missing the 400-yard leaf), fine bead front sight with flip up night sight with hood, trap door in the pistol grip cap, eyes for a sling, factory bases for claw mounts, fully engraved, and a stunning piece of wood. Truly a best quality double. The recoil pad is hard as a rock. The bores are shiny and with strong rifling with some frosting ahead of the chambers. The barrels ring true. Safety is non automatic and there are two small holes in the top strap for perhaps an aperture sight (that is not present).

Forgot to mention, the trap door contains a pair of strikers (firing pins).

Two years prior I shot this rifle and it prints a good target of 3 inches at 50 yards with .411” 400-grain Woodeligh bullets. It’s -10F today at my house but when the weather warms I will play with loads and certainly bring the group down.

The rifle has a period case that is not original to the rifle. I may put some blocking in the case to lift the muzzles a bit and behind the recoil pad to tighten the fit. Only one turn screw was in the case. The ammo still sits in Zim as it could not be sent over for a reasonable cost. So, this August I will pick up several boxes of ammo, bullet, brass, and dies. For the loaded ammo I will bring a bullet puller so I am not limited to 5kg of ammo on the plane (I will have my hunting rifle with me and ammo for that, too). If memory serves most of the ammo is modern hand loads but some original ammo is there, too.

As mentioned, the recoil pad needs replacement and probably a strip clean of the action. After that perhaps replacing the missing sight leaf, blacking the barrels, and a good English oil finish to bring out the grain of the wood. Over time, of course.

This makes two .450-400s I have now and I will play with this and see which of the two I like best and perhaps pass one of them on to another. I love history of double rifles and I will work on putting together a complete history on this rifle as it has spent most (if not all) of its life in Southern Rhodesia, then Rhodesia and now Zimbabwe.

Cheers, fellas.
Cal

PS. For those interested in the costs of importing such a rifle, my costs were as follows: $985 for the Zimbabwe paperwork and permit and postage to New York, $375 for the importer to obtain the import form 6, $470 for customs, postage to the importer and then postage to me. Add $70 for the wire fee to pay for the rifle. This totals $1900 added to the price of the rifle.

PPS. IF the firearm in question was made in 1898 or before, and this can be documented, an importer and BATFE form 6 is not needed. Just the fees to export from the country of origin and postage direct to Alaska, where I can clear the shipment myself. (All I do is bring the paperwork with documentaion of the year to Customs for their stamp and the shipper will release the box to me).
















Gentlemen, an update for you.
1. The ledger information arrived from George Gibbs Co., and rarely does a ledger contain so much information!
Below, find the transcript of the ledger. X’s are words I can’t read, (?) follows words I can somewhat read or don’t understand
(Per my agreement with the Company, I can use the information but can’t show the photograph of the ledger page. When I sell this rifle, the next owner will have to request his own photo of the ledger).
2. Second is a report (in red ink in the ledger) from the factory foreman stating his displeasure with the rifle.
3. Third are figures as to costs listed on the ledger
4. Third are notes from the Company email to me about the ledger entries.

Also, I am running into some road blocks in finding the Zimbabwe history of the rifle, but I am working on it.
I’ve emailed Gibs to clarify some words I can’t read. I will update when corrections arrive.
Enjoy,
Cal

1. From a photo of the factory ledger:

From shop: from W&S (Webley and Scott) for (Mr.) Robins Weight 9 3/4 lbs. 19589 12-65-50 brand 496 (?)
From Store: Cartridges Brand HG2 Kynoch’s Axite smokeless .450/400 L.N.-H.P. express bullet 3 1/4” case 8-12 brand 495 (?)
From Store: back sight 5 leaf Nuess (?) Co. telescope fittings, spring for telescope, pins Lyman and screws. Webley & Scott blacking barrels, fix pins finish Eng(raving)
Gale: Make and fit dummy front and back sights 40-1.30 Make 2 fix pins 0.30
E. Bishop: O haul 1.30 0 Haul re-regulate fit 2 pairs extra strikers 4.40-1.0-1.0-1.0 May 8 (O Haul mean over haul?)
Shooting: Mar. 27 29 Apr 23 May 4
Dawe: Co. G.C. Gibbs 0.45 fit telescope 5.40-8.10-8.40-8.40-9.25-8.30-4.40-2.0 & stop up holes in front block open out slot 1/10 Make an independent moon sight.12, also a plate tip & front sight + 2 extra
Reece: Set new top rib 9/-reduce top rib to instructions + finish for brown 5/-
Dawe: Exam(emainination) ditto + i ditto (ditto is repeat work) sloped @ angle of 30 degrees *fit back sight* (crossed out) Ap.10, 9/6 fit telescope Cont. (?) 9.10-5.40 + fit back sight 5.20 & rough rib, fit new linnet standard.02 wide 9.40 & xxx fps xxx, fit 3 tsp’s 4.20
Trohman: Pack barrels to W&S 0.2 polish barrels 0.30
Dawe: Clean off barrels from brown, new line to standard .015 wide, put in sights + telescope fittings for shooting May 3, 4 6.40-4.20 prefix front telescope fitting 1.10, move right, raise standard of back sight .5 fix finish same
Rough standard + leaves May 5 1.20-9.40-8.10-1.30 Raise back sight 6.25, lower standard to 5 higher that @ present, refinish leaves to correct angles13.40 Refinish 2-3+ 400 leaves, take angles, fit Lyman sight fit
Silver to stem, adjust hard (?) down for 100 + mark on stem for 2-3-4-5+600 4.40 fit clicking spring on left of Lyman 5.40-10/30
(Stem are the sight leaves) make 1 extra plate tips.s-ob 1/9
Bristow: Do up stock, clean up rubber heel plate 1/3 May 14

2. Reported (from the factory foreman) upon when received as follows: Ejectors have only .025 stroke-not enough stroke in extractors-back lump weak, undercut @ flats-forfend wood should be left up more not reduced as present one
Locking dogs much too weak @ front of action = work generally not better than 2nd quality rifles.
Out 15-5-06 (May 15, 1906)

3. On the right of the ledger, at the end of each line of entry, was a figure for the cost of work done.
The costs are: (shillings-pence) -11, 9-0, 24-10, 30-1, 14-0, 25-4, /2, 5-1, 11-9, 11-5, 1-3
Totals are 15 pounds plus 3-8-6 1/2 to equal 18-8-6 1/2 (paid to Webley and Scott)
After the work was completed, the rifle sold for approximately 85 pounds

4. Notes from George Gibbs Co. in their email to me:
Dawe was the senior actioner
Gale was a young auctioneer who later invented the Gibbs Gale single shot
Bristol was a stocker
Trotman was a barrel maker
Reece was a barrel maker
Unusual for Col. G. C. Gibbs to be involved or supervising the fitting of the telescopic sight
18 pounds, 8 shillings and 6 1/2 pence was paid to Webley and Scott (20 shillings to the pound and 12 pence to the shilling)
Sale price to Mr. Robins was 85 pounds. (85 was approximately $425 1906 US dollars)
Mr. Robins (original owner) was from the Bristol area
The rifle was not ordered through the Saville Row shop
The rifle came to Gibbs as a stock rifle: fully built, stocked and engraved, hardened and finished but the barrels not finished or blacked
Gibbs fitted an entire new rib and then the telescopic sights, changed the back and foresights, reworked the Lyman peep sight and finished the rifle in the condition the customer required
Barrels were then returned to Webley and Scott for finishing, per agreement
The factory foreman’s view is the rifle had many faults and was a poor value for the money
Gibbs sold 8000 rounds of 450-400 3 1/4 cartridges yearly!!
Numbers are> 9/6 (slash) or 11-9 (dash) is money (shillings and pence adn 4.3 (point) is for hours and minutes

My thanks for Mark at George Gibbs company for his attention to detail for the completeness of his informaiton and explanations to me of words I could not read.

Awesome!

Wow!

A lovely piece of African/colonial history...If mine I would have kept that recoil pad, hard or not...it reeks of history..

Cal;

Please inform us when you learn of the rifle's heritage and history.

Lovely rifle, wish it could tell stories of what it has seen.

Back in 2004, I believe I was looking for my first double rifle and I had filled out the paperwork to order one of Butch's rifles.

Before I sent the paperwork in I went to the DSC show and met several vintage rifle enthusiasts.

We made our way over to George's booth and he had an immaculate Evans 450/400 that he insisted had never been fired, he was probably right. He had a letter from Evans saying the rifle had been delivered in 1926 to the Bulawayo Club in Rhodesia for someone who I can't recall now.

I was convinced I needed a 470 and later found my Evans 470 but I always wondered where that rifle ended up and how it has sat unused for so long.

Stunner! What a great find and glad it made its way to your home. Thanks for sharing

Webley screw grip? If so what's the number and year of manufacture?

What a great rifle in a useful cartridge. All you would ever need. Of course need has nothing to do with it......

Look forward to seeing how it shoots.

Nice find Cal! That piece of wood is spectacular and is going to shine with some fresh oil.

Great story already. Thanks for sharing.

Superb! Kudos for insight into import fees

Wonderful.

+1

Beautiful rifle! Waiting for more info.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
Webley screw grip? If so what's the number and year of manufacture?

Great story - and the breakdown of import fees is great information. Thanks!

Cal,

So you wouldn't take it to Zim, hunt with it and, bring the ammo back with you ???

A 450/.400 would weigh less than your .600 thereby allowing weight for the ammo !!!???

Thanks for the comments, fellas.
Two bob: That's a good idea but 2019 is already planned and I will be taking another rifle. But, I will definitely keep this in mind should things change.

On another note, a copy of the factory ledger has arrived and it is quite lengthy and full of intersting information. I have never (or almost never) seen so much info in a ledger entry. Some of the penmanship is hard to identify but I am slowly getting through it when I compare a letter or letters with another word that I can read with the same letter(s). In a day or so I will post it here along with some intersting information from the Gibbs company when they emailed me the ledger.

Until then
Cheers,
Cal

Nice find and a great calibre, you have good taste in rifles.

OUTSTANDING! Old class.

Gents:
Don't pass over the ledger information from Gibbs I just posted below the photographs.
It will be great fun to play with it, ponder if it should be restored to its former glory or kept as is, and someday pass it on to another custodian.
Cheers and I'm pleased you enjoy the old pieces of history as do I.
Cal

GBP 85 in 1906 was a very expensive rifle.

Great to see the ledger info. I hope you get the Zim history as well.

Cal;

Can you take photos from the side and rear of the lumps and post it so that we can see the rear lump that was weak according to the shop foreman, but has lasted over 100 years without failure in this state of "weakness".

Will do this weekend.
I'm sure the rifle was dompeltely goe over and made right.
The original owner must have wanted a very special rifle with sights to 600 yards, a peep sight added as well as a scope.
I have an email into Gibbs to see if they have any of the Gibbs scope mounts for sale.
It was so long getting to me from when I first saw it, I honestly had lost interest in it and only bought it because I gave my word to the former owner I would do so. I was on the fence if I should keep it or not but the ledger information has sparked my interest a bit.
I will try to get more pics perhaps Sunday.
Cal

Well done Cal.
Hope it gives you great shooting like it was when used by my father in law.

416hoffman:
PM sent to you just now.
Cal

That is so cool! Thanks for posting, Cal.

Would it have been possible to Hunt in Africa and bring it back on the plane? Also how does she shoot?

Transval:
Here are the lumps. Sorry it took so long. If there was a concern, it is long gone as all works fine now.
416:
Did you get my PM?
Slider:
It would, but I have hunts planned already with another double. The ammo has been received by the folks I will be staying with. I will bring Lyman bullet puller and separate the bullets from the brass and bring it all home with me this summer. The rifle shoots as well as any double I have. 2.5 to 3 inches on the first try.
Thanks all.
Cal

Cal;

Thanks. Those lumps look very good to me.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Transvaal:
Cal;

Thanks. Those lumps look very good to me.

Steve

I don't know why the shop foreman wrote what he did in the ledger. This is a damn fine double. I will shoot it a lot this spring and summer and make a decision which .450-400 to keep. This one is much finer than my Harrison and Hussey I've hunted with for 20+ years. It will be a difficult decision but I only need one of this fine caliber.
Cheers,
Cal

The foreman's reply was maybe a "sour grape" note because his shop did not build it.

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
Transval:
Here are the lumps. Sorry it took so long. If there was a concern, it is long gone as all works fine now.
416:
Did you get my PM?
Slider:
It would, but I have hunts planned already with another double. The ammo has been received by the folks I will be staying with. I will bring Lyman bullet puller and separate the bullets from the brass and bring it all home with me this summer. The rifle shoots as well as any double I have. 2.5 to 3 inches on the first try.
Thanks all.
Cal

Hello Cal.
I recieved your PM. Will try to find more information. Best regards
Adrian

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
Transval:
Here are the lumps. Sorry it took so long. If there was a concern, it is long gone as all works fine now.
416:
Did you get my PM?
Slider:
It would, but I have hunts planned already with another double. The ammo has been received by the folks I will be staying with. I will bring Lyman bullet puller and separate the bullets from the brass and bring it all home with me this summer. The rifle shoots as well as any double I have. 2.5 to 3 inches on the first try.
Thanks all.
Cal

Have sent you an email Cal.
Regards
Adrian