Bambi Basher's Rigby .275 - YouTube

I didn't want to clutter the posts about .416 Rigbys in the Sasquatch rifle thread with this, but some of you may like to see Rigby's lighter rifle, the .275. It is just the 7X57mm loaded with Rigby's patented bullets.

Rigby also had a .350 Magnum, about on par with the .35 Whelen, but not interchangeble.

You probably know that Jim Corbett hunted man-eating tigers and leopards with his .275's by Rigby and by Westley Richards and that W.D.M. Bell killed aroumd a thousand elephants with a .275 Rigby. The rifle was also a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, for deerstalking in Scotland.Actually, I think Rigby built her a very handsome rifle soon after her coronation in 1953.

Rigby is now back in business in London. I hope they prosper. As far as I know, they have no plans to re-open their Dublin store.

I think the rifle in the video has a schnabble fore-end, like on Winchester's Fwt. Classic. Being a truly custom maker, Rigby could offer either this or a conventional forearm, usually with a black tip.

I'm almost certain that the rifle shown has had the bolt handle altered for use with a low - mounted 'scope. But you know what a basic Mauser M-98 bolt handle looked like.

If you have trouble with his accent, the chubby old gent in the video says that he plans to use the rifle on roe and fallow deer. l hope he learns to use it more instinctively and to operate the bolt action more swiftly ad smoothly.

I have always wanted a 7x57, preferably in a model 70 action, either pre 64 or the new current models. If the barrel were stamped 275 Rigby then even better. The name just reeks of British safaris and pith helmet hunting.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

Nice rifle in that video!

Texas Star, I reckon you'll appreciate this story, happened last Sunday ...

Met fellow board member zzzippper at the monthly gun show here in Denver. We found some neat stuff, wandering around looking for old collector cartridges mainly.

Stopped at a table, come to a rifle rack. Neat old bolt action. Chambered in .275 Rigby, don't see that every day. Lots of honest wear, lovely patina only age can bring.

"Look at the floorplate," table guy says.

It's engraved with a few lines of script, worn. I break out my iphone flashlight:

Built by John Rigby for W.D.M. "Karamojo" Bell London 1931.

My jaw dropped!

I asked about provenance and all that. Guy says Rigby has recently confirmed they built the rifle but can't confirm the Bell dedication floorplate engraving as theirs.

Might be genuine, someone may have added it unscrupulously (if they did it was long ago), no way to truly know. It has been carried a lot and the floorplate is near white.

Neat rifle, extra neat if it really was Bell's. Guy was asking $6,000 for it. Bell owned, I think, six Rigbys in .275 over the course of his hunting. That floorplate date would be late, but who knows for sure?

One of those times I wish they allowed photography at the the gun show, dangit.

Heh - gotta rib ya a little, since we've discussed it before ...

It's spelled Schnabel.

I've seen it spelled both ways over the years. It's a foreign word that some have probably tried to Anglicize.

Is your version that actually used in Germany and Austria, etc.? How does it literally translate? I'e never seen that. I've wondered.

It translates to crooked or bent nose.

I am zzzippper and I approved this message.

The gent shooting the rifle was not inept. He operated the bolt gently, dropping the cases onto the table, because he didn't want to eject his brass off into the grass. I do the same thing when shooting at my range with the concrete floor. I don't want the case mouths dented when they hit the floor. He does have a fine rifle though. IMO it should have a spoon handle bolt for the ultimate classic look but the Brits did fine with the knob style bolt.

Charlie

Charlie

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SWCA # 2294

I don't know the availability of genuine Rigby ammo, but Norma loads 7x57 with a 154 grain Semi-Spritzer bullet. That is what Rigby went with after WWII, when John (I think he was John Rigby III) survived a 8x57 head wound. His thinking was that if a full spritzer wouldn't go through his skull, it wouldn't perform as wanted on real game. The Norma ammo is very stout compared to any modern American ammo, @ 50 yards it is 6" high compared to Hornady (The old Frontier variety) out of my Ruger #1's 22" barrel. Jim Corbett's Rigby rifle sold at auction in the US, about 20 years ago. It went for $5000 +/- which was the going rate at the time. I was about 6 month late to the dance or would have been in on the bidding. I've been reading "Man Eaters of India" to my 81 year old dad while he recovers from heart surgery. A single 400 yard shot across a valley to kill a full grown male tiger is some great shooting. Ivan

I'm confused as usual. I thought higher velocity bullets usually strike lower because they exit the barrel before the muzzle starts to climb. I've personally witnessed with my .357 but not with a rifle.

__________________
Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

Then I've got a schnabel, right on the front of my face!!