In 1943 John Rigby & Co. made exactly one rifle. During the height of the war, Rigby was busy making "machine gun clips." His Majesty King George VI ordered a .275 Rigby for Princess Elizabeth. Rifle number 5747 was completed on July 31, 1943. The rifle weighed 6 lbs 14oz with a 23.5" barrel and a 13 1/4" length of pull with a silver oval bearing her crest.

This year for the SCI Live Auction, we are donating a copy of this historic rifle, with case and accessories. Serial number 5747A will have a 13.5" length of pull. Here are a few pictures of the rifle at various stages of work.

Kent,

What a great testament to the Rigby traditon. What do expect this rifle to sell for?

I don't know what it will sell for. I guess like every auction, it will depend on who is in the room.

Any photos of the original?

We don't know of any photos of the original. We contacted a fellow who photographed the Royal guns, but he didn't have one either. All we have are the specifications per the original ledger.

Ha ha! Thirdbite! I do! Never gets old!

Oddly enough, 6 years or so ago when I was trying to decide between a Holland, a Purdey or a Westley double .375 I visited Purdeys, they didn´t have any double rifles in stock as they were "away at a gun show" but the young chap left in charge went downstairs and brought up the double they made as a gift to Elizabeth II on her coronation, in . 400 Purdey as I recall, very neat tang aperture and as far as I could tell, unfired, I loved the gold oval, ER best

The next step will be final stock shaping.

I love it, a true classic and unquestionably "Rigby".

hmmmm..so you make your ledgers available to customers,, they look thru it and have a gun built to copy some prince ,maharaja,or great white hunters rifle of yesteryear !!!! just a marketing thought,, btw im liking what i see nice work on the front sight block and the barrel sling swivel many rigby wannabes overlook these telltale peices....paul

Maybe I'm slow, but is that one of Corbett's actual rifles?

Yes

What caliber is the Corbett rifle? Thx.

.275 Rigby

WOW!!! Thanks for sharing!! Wow, which maneaters did he kill with it?

that second "wow" should have been a "now".

built for capt e. york not sure if hes famous ,,feel free to copy!!!..paul

this has to be one of the best threads I have seen in a while. What an amazing project!!!! And the Corbett and York rifles are literally perfect examples of a project I have been rolling around for a while. Having seen such great examples confirms my plans and really helped me refine a lot of the details. Thanks so much for posting them.

Would it be possible to see photos of the cheekpiece sides and maybe complete rifles on the Corbett and York rifles?

Kent, thanks for being a part of AR & posting pics
& info.

You & Rigby are such a value resource for us.

Cheers, Allen

Mr. Porter, and Paul J.A., perhaps you can answer a question that I have always wondered when looking at older Rigby rifles as those pictured. The rear sight base appears to have been milled integrally with the barrel? Is this correct? Or is it merely appearances in the picture?

I have a 7x57 Rigby style rifle coming back from the stock makers shortly. I do not know if it would do justice!

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by M1Tanker:
this has to be one of the best threads I have seen in a while. What an amazing project!!!! And the Corbett and York rifles are literally perfect examples of a project I have been rolling around for a while. Having seen such great examples confirms my plans and really helped me refine a lot of the details. Thanks so much for posting them.

Would it be possible to see photos of the cheekpiece sides and maybe complete rifles on the Corbett and York rifles?

I believe Jim Corbetts 7x57 did not have a cheekpiece.



[quote]
Initially, Jim Corbett indulged in regular hunting and fishing. However, with time, he started shooting the big game with camera, rather than rifles. As his love for wildlife photography grew, he vowed never to shoot tigers and leopards unless they turned man-eater or threatened cattle. In 1911, his hunt for man-eating tigers and leopards began and came to an end in 1938. During this time, he hunted at least a dozen man-eaters, who had killed more than 1500 people, men, women and children combined.

Jim used to hunt alone, taking great personal risk, since he knew that man-eaters are quite capable of stalking and killing the hunter as well. His sole companion was a small dog named Robin, about whom we see much information in his first book 'The Maneaters of Kumaon'. Jim's most noted kills are the Champawat Tiger, the Leopard of Rudraprayag, the Tigers of Chowgarh and the Panar Leopard. He has shot 19 Tigers and 14 Leopards i.e. he has a total of 33 recorded and documented kills. [end quote]



also...http://www.huntinglegends.com/...11/rigby-and-mauser/ ..

Trax,
Thanks for answering my question and the photo.

Can't wait to see the finished rifle!

Come by and see the rifle in person at DSC or SCI.

Fal Grunt, the base in made separately and "tinned" on.

quote:

which maneaters did he kill with it?

According to his book "Man-eaters of Kumaon" Corbett killed the Chowgarh tiger (a very old tigress) with a .275 Rigby, shooting the rifle one-handed at a range of eight feet.

Not sure if it is the same one pictured here, but most likely it is.

Incidentally although "Man-eaters of Kumaon" proved hugely popular Corbett did not profit from it. He arranged for all profits to go to St. Dunstan's in England, an institution providing care and support for British servicemen who lost their sight during WW II.

fal grunt,,,no the rear site base as the front site base is NOT integral it is a full ring around the barrel and the front site to be original is also a band that slips on and slides up to a stop on the barrel which is the same thickness as the front banded site so it appears to be a sweat on site ,this would probably be very costly to do today that is why you see it being made as a sweat on deal,,the sling swivel is sweat on as shown....paul

On our current .416s the rear rib is integral and the front sight is sleeved on. On our standard calibers, the rear sight and front sights are made by hand and tinned on.

kent ,,,,are you aware of the number I on the floorplate just above the floorplate release designating it a model number 1 curious if you have ever seen any other survivers as i would think it would be the first thing to wear out considering its location...paul

Beautiful wood on Corbets own rifle.We don't see wood half as nice these days.I wonder if alkanet root dye was used on it?

What a class outfit and a classic product.

Paul, we don't have any records and haven't seen any other examples with a "1" on the floorplate. Can you take a picture that shows it a little more clearly?

kent...i will get a better pic of my rifle

it is not a scratch tho it may look it ,it is the same sighting designation as the catalog model no.1

It looks like a scratch to me. Rigby didn't number rifles based on the model number, if that were the case, there would be .416s with the number 5 on the floorplate and .350s with the number 4. We just don't have any evidence, other than your rifle that this is the case. I'm not saying it's not a "1" - we just haven't seen another example. I think we would have to see it in person to say for sure. Want to bring it to DSC or SCI? It could be that the original customer had the shop put that on to help him identify this rifle apart from another one in High Velocity.

kent,,don s was at my house and seen it,, it is done with silver type ink ,,im imagining the rigby catalog just lists the 275s as being numbered because of the difference in bullet weight as you can see in the catalog ,,and the shorter barrel version as being the number 3 and like i said my gun is as nice an original as ive ever seen and ive seen plenty ,there was another rigby on this site that had its number engraved but i think it was a set of 2 guns ,,but definetly not a scratch ,,i lost my ledger copy but i may state that its a number 1 ....paul

Hello Kent,

Congratulations! Nice rifles are you showing us!!
I use since 1972 (my first big game rifle still working...) Mausers 7x57s. My last one is one very similar to the originals Rigby .275 with the forearms a little larger.
I have not had, yet, the opportunity to look at one of that originals Rigbys.
Anyway, I allways see the trigger of those rifles with interest. Apparently they seems to be a modified two stage mauser triggers to a single stage. Are they?

Thank you!

PH

And, have you any picture of the trigger of those lovely .275 Rigbys?

Thank you!

PH

The ledger entry does not make any reference to the No. 1 designation. The same catalog you show above also shows the No. 4 as a .350 Magnum and the .416 as the No. 5. I asked our historian and he believes that there aren't any reference to model numbers in the ledgers. I have the ledgers in my office and haven't seen any reference to model number either. It could have been added by Rigby or somebody else. The No. 2 had High Velocity on the receiver and the lightweight had a 21" barrel. It wouldn't have been difficult to determine the model, either 175 gr or 140 gr bullets, and of course the leaf sights were different for each bullet.

According to his book "Man-eaters of Kumaon" Corbett killed the Chowgarh tiger (a very old tigress) with a .275 Rigby, shooting the rifle one-handed at a range of eight feet.

Not sure if it is the same one pictured here, but most likely it is.

Incidentally although "Man-eaters of Kumaon" proved hugely popular Corbett did not profit from it. He arranged for all profits to go to St. Dunstan's in England, an institution providing care and support for British servicemen who lost their sight during WW II.

Thanks Dave.

I've actually read that book many times over years. This makes me want to read it yet again.