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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) Greeley struck again! (Read 1993 times)
oneatatime
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Greeley struck again!
Jun 5th, 2024 at 12:50am
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So at the show in Greeley this year I saw a cute little (well, not so little) rifle that grabbed my ankle and forced me to take it home. It was a Rigby tip up hammer single with a Jones underlever. It is not easy to run down information on vintage Rigby rifles so I resorted to writing directly to Rigby and ordering a certificate. It came very quickly and was quite interesting in more ways than one. It said that the rifle was recorded in their ledger as a John Rigby Best Single Express with a .450 bore and was made for Lord Keane (see my other post for the big story there) and delivered to him (this would have been in Dublin, Rigby was Irish) on 5th October 1877. Other information was the stocker was Kavanaugh and had a length of 14 ¾ inch with a bend of 1 3/4” and 2 1/4”. The barrel length was 2'4” and it weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces and the sights were for 80, 150 and 250 yards. It also had remarks and the first was “for the No. 1 case” (so the 500-450 No. 1 Express – for us think a 45-110 - which then used a 270 grain bullet). The second remark was the one that floored me. I had noted that the trigger pull was rather heavy and the remark was “hair trigger”. It was a single set and went undetected by me as there wasn't an adjusting screw. There was a little bump in front of the trigger that turns out to be the other end of the adjusting screw. Seems the maker figured they knew best and adjusted it from the inside.  It worked! OK, that is Rigby's side of the story. On the barrel it says “Jeffery” and the address of the London office and it is no longer a 450 bore. The proof was for a 360 EXP (the typical 360 2 1/4” case) but using 30 grains of Cordite and a 300 max grain bullet. So it was now a 360 Nitro! For some reason the Rigby barrel for the 500-450 No 1 Express had, at some point around the turn of the century, been exactly replaced by Jeffery with a 360 Nitro barrel. The rifle shows quite a bit of use so through the last 150 plus years it wasn't just hanging on a wall. Oh, the buttplate, the pistol grip cap and the forarm tip are all horn.
« Last Edit: Jun 8th, 2024 at 12:53pm by oneatatime »  
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JerryH
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #1 - Jun 5th, 2024 at 1:21am
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Absolutely amazing, both the rifle and the history of it! Thank you so much for sharing.
  

I'm not a complete idiot, some of my parts are missing.
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Crown-C
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #2 - Jun 5th, 2024 at 7:45am
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Gorgeous old Rigby rifle! Love the sleek lines of the design and very nicely engraved. Great history of English Lords and now owned by Lord Oneatatime!
  

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marlinguy
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #3 - Jun 5th, 2024 at 9:38am
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Just a superb old English rifle, and with wonderful provenance! It's great that they saw fit to keep their records all these years!
  

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nuclearcricket
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #4 - Jun 5th, 2024 at 9:47am
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Very nice rifle for sure. Probably an impossible task but it would be great if you were able to locate the original barrel and have a nice swap barrel rifle.
Sam
  
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25cal
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #5 - Jun 5th, 2024 at 1:18pm
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Beautiful rifle and nice to have the story too. Would you share the process of getting the records from Rigby? I have a Rigby rook rifle I'd like to see if they have records on.
  
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oneatatime
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #6 - Jun 5th, 2024 at 5:18pm
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25cal, it's easy. Go to (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) then point at About us then click on Services. Click on Research & Gun Provenance. Check the list to see if your serial number is covered by one of the books they have. If so, go to the bottom of the page and fill out the information. They will send you an invoice and you pay. In a day or two you will receive the report from Diggory Hadoke, their historian. I just selected the least expensive way which is by email.
  
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oneatatime
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #7 - Jun 5th, 2024 at 6:55pm
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While I'm at it, here is one more (lousy -sorry) pic of the action partially open. It's partial because I was holding the rifle in one hand and the camera in the other and the muzzle was resting on the background and trying to reclose itself. Anyway, you'll get the idea of several things. One is that the building of a new barrel was not a minor effort due to the odd shape of the breech end (not to mention the locking lugs you can't see underneath). The new one also had to match the original forend channel. The wide extractor is driven by two rods activated by the forend. The flat area on the top of the barrel is marked for the case length (2 1/4"), the Cordite load (30 grains), and the bullet weight (300 grains). As I mentioned the barrel is trying to close itself which is why you can't see all of the extractor or its full travel. The firing pin is spring loaded. The hammer is at half cock which is required to swing the underlever to the side to open the action. Also note the amount of steel surrounding the chamber - remember the original barrel was the same size externally but had a gaping 500-450 hole in it. While down at this end I should mention the the 3 leaves on the barrel sight are marked 100, 200, and 300 yards. There was also a flip up ladder past these but it has decided to part ways with the rifle in the last 100 years (I don't have immediate plans to shoot it past 300 yards anyway!). The leaves have the typical fairly wide English "V" with a vertical platinum line from the bottom of the vee. The entire leaf sight base is in a shallow dovetailed base so can be adjusted to center for windage. The front sight is inserted from the front into the ramp. The sides of the ramp are slotted for a hood (also departed). If the wind ever stops blowing I intend to shoot the thing with light loads just to hear it go bang!
  
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jk16
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #8 - Jun 10th, 2024 at 12:49pm
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What a handsome and gracefull rifle. Wink
  
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oneatatime
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #9 - Jun 14th, 2024 at 1:05pm
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I managed to slip out to the range early this morning before the desert winds and heat came up and let it go bang with some light loads with the 200 grain bullets I use in my 9.3x57R (360) rolling block. It was not extremely fond of the light bullets with 4198, 4227, and 4759 shooting about 10 inches high and several left at 50 yards with the 100 yard sight. Oddly the loads with 5744 it liked better at only 8 inches high and a tad right. I had a few left over loads for the rolling block which were also 5744 and got 5 straight hits on the 100 yard gong. I tried a light "cordite" level load of 4831 and it was lighter than my other loads. I'll be playing with that more when my 300 grain mold arrives. I found a very few 313 grain 38-55 bullets last night and I ran one into the 367 sizer with no problems and I may try a few of those next time out just to see where they go with the 100 yard sight. Anyway, pleasant to shoot and the "hair" trigger works just fine.
  
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oneatatime
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #10 - Jun 26th, 2024 at 3:52pm
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Still waiting for my 300 grain mold so I looked through my supply of other possible bullets. Besides the 313 grain 38 caliber bullet I found a 275 grain GC 38 caliber bullet. I found that if I size/lube them through a 38-55 sizer die first that I can then put them through my 9.3 sizer easily if a little messily as it takes a ring of lube off the outside but the lube grooves are preserved. I had enough of these bullets to load 13 each of these up (1 sighter and 3 4 shot groups) using 5744 and 38-55 loads. We'll see what happens.
  
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Nero
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #11 - Jun 27th, 2024 at 12:54am
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A really nice looking rifle.
Would cost a fortune to make these days I should imagine.
Probably a new barrel in that new fangled Cordite that was all the rage back then. 
I wondered as a Rigby best finish rifle if  the cost new was shown and how it would correspond in todays prices?
  
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oneatatime
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #12 - Jul 19th, 2024 at 7:24pm
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My supplies have arrived and now I'm moving over to the Loading thread under 360 Nitro Express. By the way, Jeffery and Co was formed in 1891 (the original owner of the rifle died in 1901) and was at the original 60 Queen Victoria Street London address until at least 1921. I suspect that whoever inherited or purchased the rifle from Lord/Baron Keane's estate is the one who had it rebarreled in a newfangled Nitro cartridge at the earlier time. The Jeffery barrel has Birmingham proof marks that date between 1904 and 1925 so the rebarrel happened between 1904 and 1921. I will try to contact the Birmingham proof house to see if there is more info.
« Last Edit: Aug 10th, 2024 at 6:13pm by oneatatime »  
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CptCurl
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #13 - Aug 9th, 2024 at 7:41am
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That's a very nice little Rigby.  You will enjoy shooting it.   

I have two rifles chambered in similar fashion.  One is Rigby double rifle completed in 1880 and chambered for the close cousin, their .380 2-1/4".  The other is an Alexander Henry single shot chambered in .360 2-1/4".

For loading, your best approach is to duplicate as near as possible the original factory load.

Curly
  
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Judge 1879
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Re: Greeley struck again!
Reply #14 - Aug 19th, 2024 at 8:34pm
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absolutely stunning rifle! what a find!! and this history is outstanding, such beautiful craftsmanship. thank you for sharing.

Judge Smiley
  
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