John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
From the early 80`s
The Perfect Stalking Rifle
- Thread starter Heym SR20
- Start date
did they keep and reweld the original pear shaped bolt handle/knob? I love those, makes the whole gun IMHO...yours is very very pretty, can't be a gun made on a commercial oberndorf, best action of all time, only 127,000 made, finding a good one for a new project these days is not only very very hard, but usually costs around £3,000+ just to secure an action alone...worth every penny though...as long as no oberndorf type A, B rifles are chopped up for said purpose of course!!! only those worn out or broken should be considered for sporterising, otherwise it's purely wrong.
Leupsak
Well-Known Member
This is gun porn......what lovely looking rifles and im sure some of you must be professional photographers.
I love this thread as im hankering for a full stock blued beauty in walnut
However my point of view is that the perfect stalking rifle is the one you feel confident in, the one you reach for over all the others, the one that may be battered but the one you feel confident will do the job..........discuss!!!!
I love this thread as im hankering for a full stock blued beauty in walnut
However my point of view is that the perfect stalking rifle is the one you feel confident in, the one you reach for over all the others, the one that may be battered but the one you feel confident will do the job..........discuss!!!!
My next 'perfect stalking rifle' will be a 416 H&H - but it might have to wait until the next life
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
I keep saying ha ha..I`ll have two of the LB`s @ 27 thousand quid each,one in .300 H+H the other in .416 RIGBY!
The London Best - John Rigby & Co.
The London Best - John Rigby & Co.
Just configured my London Best Vintage in .416 Rigby and it came out at £30,860....
Errm.. might have to be a second hand Ruger I think.
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Go for it Finchy,you`ll have it for life...don't tell the Missus though as you may not retain your child fathering pair for long haha
Have a look on the Dorleac and Dorleac website, often loads of very nice kit on there some of which may even be affordable
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
If you do that you may as well order two.
GJ, Dorleac is half the price generally..but its not a Rigby.
I have two from Dorleac, anything they do is about 20 times superior to anything Rigby could ever aspire to do
Ronin
Distinguished Member
This is doing my head in
Ronin Any chance you could delete yours (looks great just what i would like) . As do many others
I guess I could add a few more rifles I’ve built for customers over the years to upset you even more
The pinnacle would be a 275 Rigby on a Borden Action stocked by a famous English artisan
The owner may post an image if they see the thread
For seriously beautiful works of art I suggest you look at the following rifle smiths
Duane Wiebe
Jim Kobe
Roger Vardy
Don Klein
Butch Lambert
All at the top of their game in the states
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Rigby today is very distant from what they once were...at a time they built a lot of their goods in-house, had a good skilled team and a wide breath of well thought out products in their portfolio...They were innovators for hunters and explorers alike.
Today, Rigby may have been saved from total destruction by their short stint in US ownership; however, some facts remain:
a. Rigby are no longer in-house producers, apart from finishing and a degree of in-house custom work for the highest end guns, most of their products are bought in and re-branded.
b. Re-branded goods include apparel, leatherwares, safari goods, knives, shoes/boots, etc. etc.
c. Rifles are as we all know, supplied as stocked and barrelled, and sighted, actions from Mauser Isny to Rigby's specifications.
d. Are even the 'best' rifle stocks cut with draw-knives and files these days in-house, seriously doubt it,,I'd put my money on them being supplied as CNC'd by other parties for finishing and final touches and inletting.
e. I'm quite sure engraving is outsourced,,may be Marcus Hunt in fact..
My point is, someone like Joel Dorleac creates the highest level of work BY HAND, the finest wood, picked up by eye for the right grain, veining, strength and density as well as layout..it's hand shaped to the client, all metal work is meticulously polished and trued and blued. All parts beautifully engraved to the customers requirements, all sights, H&H, Clawmounts, etc. etc. are fitted with tolerances that operate like a swiss bank vault. Blacking is flawless and traditional, inletting is perfect, any bedding is done with clear invisible bedding. Triggers are disassembled and re-worked in the internals, polished down and then re-blued before re-assembly..EVERYTHING is done to absolute perfection, sights are sighted in and regulated by hand,,and so on..
Such a rifle sits around 20,000 euro's, which in my book, is about 20 times more gun than something Rigby received in the mail from Mauser Isny, polished a bit, then oil finished and tarted up at best...
Evidently, their frames for the Rising Bite are supplied by another small German company, which means again, outsourced parts..OK, made to their specifications, but its not made by Rigby, perhaps 'finished'...I was in a bish bash with them about this a few years back as they claimed everything was done in-house..I was invited down to London, but they would never confirm if I was going to be able to see any actual metal work being worked on, actions being made by them, sights fitted, engraving done, etc. etc...that's when I got radio silence..because...they don't do that...
Today, despite Rigby's historical and important roots in the British guntrade, they have become an outsourcing and re-branding business in my opinion.
I hold Westley Richards to such higher esteem as a gunmaker that they shouldn't even be put in the same class. I believe the late Simon Clode had very similar feelings on these subjects as myself, and saw through the modern Rigby like a laser..
not only states but I'd add, Stuart Satterlee, Martini and Joe Smithson not to forget Joel Dorleac..probably some of the best worldwide IMHO
PKL, like you said Rigby etc. were Innovators, always on the forefront of development. Now we say they are not allowed to innovate … draw the line at??? 1910 ...earlier... later? So in other words innovative companies that can't innovate... what is left? Like drawing the same old Mona Lisa over and over again. I had this discussion with the late Simon Clode also.
edi
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John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
I have seen Dorleacs work many times on John Hahns forums,great stuff indeed.
I want a .416 Rigby,...and I cannot see why you pick schite that they are made with Mauser actions..what is wrong with the Mauser actions?
I really fail to see your point in condemning the Rigbys
I`ll have a bet with you...I will shoot far more deer with my rough piece of schite Rigby than you will with your 20 times better choice ha ha.
I want a .416 Rigby,...and I cannot see why you pick schite that they are made with Mauser actions..what is wrong with the Mauser actions?
I really fail to see your point in condemning the Rigbys
I`ll have a bet with you...I will shoot far more deer with my rough piece of schite Rigby than you will with your 20 times better choice ha ha.
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