I thought I had bought my last rifle, but . . .
I've been in London for abut 8 months now, and have done my very best to ignore Rigby during that whole time. It's quite out of the way if you live in central London, so not visiting Wandsworth was not difficult. Today, I finally succumbed, and went for a "quick visit." Well, that was a mistake!
I was greeted by Mark Newton, the Man-in-Charge, who I had met before, who introduced me to Andrew Ambrose, the Head of Sales. Andrew joined Rigby recently from Holland & Holland, and this is a man who knows his rifles. We talked for over an hour, having a look at various rifles, both new and historical (including the Jim Corbett rifle, which they have on display). Rigby is quite compact in terms of space - a compact showroom, some other things to buy, but this place is about the guns. The workshop is out back, and a busy place it is. Smaller than I expected, but everyone working side by side to get the rifles built. Andrew tells me it takes about 1000 hours to build a "London Best" and about 1600 hours to build a "rising bite" double (and a long waiting list for that gun).
The newish (by now) Highland Stalker is based on the Corbett rifle. The goal was to build a beautiful, well-balanced English rifle which weighed less than the Big Game, in calibers which would be useful for stalking smaller game. Based on the rifles I handled, I'd say they've succeeded.
So this has got me to the point where I think I need a highland stalker in .275 Rigby . . . I'm going to sleep on it and see if I feel differently tomorrow . . . but if not . . .
