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Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 6:48 am
by buckstix
Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Hello All,

One of the members of another forum suggested I share this with you here.

I wanted to take a moment to share with you my excitement about my most recent acquisition - an Original John Rigby Rifle in 275 HV caliber. (7x57mm)

I always wanted an original Rigby rifle in 275 caliber, and I am so very pleased to have finally found one, and this one is a Take-Down model.

The rifle was built using an Oberndorf Mauser Action with its original serial number indicating it was manufactured in early 1924. The action is an "Intermediate Action" that Mauser made specifically for their 7x57mm cartridge. This action is also a very unique one because it has a "single square bridge" at the rear of the receiver, a feature I've not yet found on any other .275 Rigby rifle. The rifle is topped with a 4x scope with a cross hair/post reticle in a German Akah lever-detachable side mount. (similar to a G&H side mount)

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I contacted John Rigby & Co. in England and obtained a Factory Letter. It confirms my rifle was a .275 cal Mauser Sporting Rifle - High Velocity Take Down - 24" Barrel - weighing 7-1/4 pounds - a 14-1/8" LOP - Sold to: T.P Dunhill - Sept. 12, 1924.

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The Take-Down function is simple and slick. While holding the rifle "belly-up" under your left arm, you lift the Deeley Locking Lever that is on the bottom of the forend. (this retracts the lock-pin that extends into the front of the stock) Then you twist the forend / barrel counter-clock-wise, and unscrew the barrel. To reinstall the barrel, you simply screw it back into the action. The Deeley Locking Lever automatically lifts open, and then snaps shut when the barrel is fully seated, thereby locking it back in place with the forend lock-pin.

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In researching T.P. Dunhill, the purchaser of this rifle, I was very surprised to find that he was a famous Surgeon who served during WWI, and then later became the Surgeon to the Royal Family in London, England, and in 1933 he was "Knighted" by King George V.

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In addition, on June 11, 1947, in a small private nursing home on Berwick Street, London, "Sir Thomas Peel Dunhill" performed a hernia operation on none other than the 73-year-old Winston Churchill. How cool is that!

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I especially like the fact that when discussing John Rigby .275 cal. rifles, names of Famous Hunters are sure to come into the conversation. Names like WD Bell, aka "Karamojo" Bell, (he also owned a take-down model) who killed over 1,000 elephants with his 275 Rigby. And, Jim Corbett, another hunter of fame, who used his 275 Rigby to kill over a dozen Man-Eating Tigers and Leopards that had killed over 1,200 people in India.

............... W D Bell Image ............... Jim Corbett Image
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The Rigby is now cased and ready for the hunt, albeit not likely for Elephants, or Leopards, or Tigers, Oh My!

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Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 7:47 am
by Vineet
I also own this model. Will post pics soon.

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 9:10 am
by Shivaji.Dasgupta
An old Classic. Truly a beauty.

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 1:36 pm
by shooter50
(y) (y) What a beauty

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:57 pm
by narach93
Corbett had two rifles of .275. One was Rigby and another was westly&rechards. The former one was awarded by the then lt. governor, northern province when he eliminated the maneater tigress of champawat. He killed the infamous man eater leopard of rudraprayag by the Rigby and the man eater of talladesh. I had a very brief oppertunity to shoot 5 shots in a Rigby. Congralulations for this legendary rifle.

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:25 pm
by Vikram
Buckstix,

That is a lovely rifle with a very interesting provenance. Congratulations! Thank you for sharing the photos and history of the rifle.


Best-
Vikram

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 4:38 pm
by SMJ
What an absolute beauty!! Very lucky to have acquired this (y) (y) Apparently Jim Corbett's 275 also came back to India for a short while and was on display at the museum in the Corbett musuem in Nainital

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 7:33 am
by herb
Awesome rifle, a true classic. Congrats!.

Herb

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 9:28 pm
by marksman
Congrats.....A very fine rifle indeed. Came across an engraved one in 1989. It belonged to some small time movie producer from Rajasthan who had actually bought it to save on hire charges of gun suppliers in movies. I am sure he had no clue of what he possessed except that he got it cheap from some small time princely family. Unfortunately, when it reached me it had turned almost into a .275 smooth bore due to cheap crudely made black powder reloads shot through it which was made by these dumb witted gun suppliers and never cleaned ever. It was eventually sold to Tahir Arms ,Mumbai for a couple of thousand Rs.
Many a wonderful pieces of art of this kind have been lost to the world of gun enthus in our illustrious country due to ignorance.

Marksman

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 3:51 am
by buckstix
Hello,

Well, over the last 4 days I conducted a shooting test of the Rigby rifle to determine the repeatability of the rifle's take-down feature.

The rifle was removed from the case - assembled - scope attached - and fired "one time" with my 140g load. It was then disassembled, scope removed, and returned to the case.

I repeated this over the next 4 days - one shot per day. Each time starting from a cold disassembled rifle.

I am pleased to say that I would not hesitate to assembly the rifle, attach the scope, and go hunting, (without further sighting) knowing with confidence that I could make kills out to 300 yards.

Although the Rigby catalog of 1924 lists 3000 fps for their 140g High Velocity ammo, it must have been fired from a test barrel over 30" long. The MAX load listed is only 2825 fps in my 24" barrel and is a VERY HOT load - and may not be safe in other rifles.

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Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 10:17 am
by marksman
One silver lining to our colonial era......exposure to the best samples of British gun making Art & skill.
Marksman

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2018 11:04 pm
by captrakshitsharma
Lovely ... has gained lot of popularity post Jim's rifle was brought back to India by Rigby.

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 1:40 pm
by NAHMINT284
Beautiful classic rifle......closest I have is an old Model 91 carcano,greek rechambered to 6,5x54ms. its NOT a RIGBY but a fine shooting cartridge....
I'm just 71 so I still have many years to find one for myself. mabe.
cheers NAHMINT

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 5:12 pm
by Shivaji.Dasgupta
NAHMINT284 are you in India, if so then 6.5×54mm Mannlicher–Schönauer is available here??

Added in 6 minutes 59 seconds:
NAHMINT284, Extremely sorry that I have missed your prev. post. Welcome aboard.

Re: Original John Rigby 275 Take-Down - a recent acquisition

Posted: Sun May 06, 2018 7:10 am
by NAHMINT284
Shivaji.Dasgupta wrote:NAHMINT284 are you in India, if so then 6.5×54mm Mannlicher–Schönauer is available here??

Added in 6 minutes 59 seconds:
NAHMINT284, Extremely sorry that I have missed your prev. post. Welcome aboard.
(y) Hello,
It WOULD be most enjoyable to be in INDIA,. but I see you saw my first post.
what is the most popular calibre for hunting various game where you are ?

Tomorrow morning I am off to a GUN SHOW about 75 miles /115 kms. from home... :D I am sure I will acquire something I really do NOT need ROTFL ROTFL
cheers Shivji Dasgupta :cheers:
NAHMINT284