Before this rifle was acquired by my client it had been poorly rebarreled with new fore end. I rebarreled it with a modern Metford rifled barrel to 500-450 #1 express, built a new fore end in the proper shape, fabricated sight bases and a sling swivel base. The bluing was removed from the action and the patina was restored. A very enjoyable project. Flat top checkering by Steve Dalzell.

Before:






After:

Forgive my ignorance, but the plating on the side of the stock, is that original to add strength, or an old repair? I assume a repair, but it looks awful well done for a repair. Glad to se they aligned all those screw heads, wouldn't want to get the screw slot police all fired up.

Nice refurb either way.

John

That rifle looked pretty bad before you got ahold of it. I really appreciate the way you brought it back. Really looks good Steve.

quote:

Originally posted by gasgunner:
Forgive my ignorance, but the plating on the side of the stock, is that original to add strength, or an old repair? I assume a repair, but it looks awful well done for a repair. Glad to se they aligned all those screw heads, wouldn't want to get the screw slot police all fired up.

Nice refurb either way.

John

The plates are known as Selous side plates and they original to the gun, not a repair.

Looks great. How did you reatore the actiin patina?

quote:

Originally posted by thirdbite:
Looks great. How did you reatore the actiin patina?

A combination of adding and removing oxidation. Rust blue and very fine abrasives.

I'm sure your client will be very happy with that rifle!!

John[/QUOTE]

The plates are known as Selous side plates and they original to the gun, not a repair.[/QUOTE]

Thank you.
John

What a beauty!
Would love to shoot a rifle like this sometime.

Looks great, Steve-- can't wait to see what you do with mine!

quote:

Originally posted by skb:

quote:

Originally posted by gasgunner:
Forgive my ignorance, but the plating on the side of the stock, is that original to add strength, or an old repair? I assume a repair, but it looks awful well done for a repair. Glad to se they aligned all those screw heads, wouldn't want to get the screw slot police all fired up.

Nice refurb either way.

John

The plates are known as Selous side plates and they original to the gun, not a repair.

I think I remember seeing a Selous Hollis that had stretched and tacked cartilage from an elephant’s ear for support, Livingstone’s gun from his trip also had this treatment if I recall.

Excellent work!!!

I am super pleased with how this project turned out!
Had to take her out in the sunlight for a bit of a photo shoot.

For those interested, I'll give a little background on how this all came together.

I bought the rifle as shown in Steve's first three photos.
The rifle had been rebarreled to 7X57R iirc, and the forend had been replaced at that time.
The action was blacked but the stock and steel plates looked generally unmessed with.
Oddly and fortunately, the smith set the original rear sight leaves on the new barrel island.
Often Gibbs Sporters have the powder charge and bullet weight engraved on the sight as this one had. Some even had the charge and bullet weight for TWO different loadings - an express load and a load with a heavier bullet each shooting to the same point of aim!

The barrel we used is a Ron Snover Metford rifled barrel that I got off of a big Webley which had been barreled in the '80s or '90s as a long range match rifle chambered in 45-90.
That rifle was rebarreled by Steve as well in .500NE. See here: https://forums.accuratereloadi...741057522#9741057522

In the match configuration, the barrel had enough length to cut and chamber and enough weight to replicate the profile of an original 461 Gibbs sporter, which I happen to have.

So, I had a Selous plated Gibbs action and stock, as well as a spare correctly rifled Metford barrel. The decision was obvious!

The only question for me was, which 450 to chamber this rifle in?

The barrel is a .458 so slightly smaller than the correct .461 Gibbs Metford barrels but, interestingly, some 461 Gibbs sporters - even one Selous himself owned - were stamped "450EX" so mine would be too.

I chose the 500/450 No.1 Express because it is very cool, of course, but also because I already had brass and dies as well as bullet swaging dies to make patched .458" bullets of any weight I desire. Being a former match rifle barrel, it has a fast twist so heavy bullets will stabilize nicely - Steve and I shot this with 480gr patched bullets during the build but I'd think that any from the 360gr on the sights to the full weight 570gr bullets will shoot satisfactorily.
We will have to see just how a 100/360 load shoots but honestly I hope that the 480s shoot closer to the sights being the exact bullet I use in my WR Match rifle and I was pleased to find the paper patches perfectly cut into ribbons just as they should be when we shot it.
The extra case capacity of the No.1 Express will allow me to really dial in a good load with plenty of oomph.

So, the stars aligned and this fantastic rifle was brought back to it's original state and purpose by a smith whom truly understands British rifles of the era (as well as the demands of his eccentric clients )
What a wonderful rifle!

Awesome project and restoration.

Well done! (both of you!)

Nice match on the butt stock and forend wood, they pull the whole project togeather.