Rigby mauser

[Ontario Hunter]

The magazine walls should follow the taper of the cartridges. If the box is too wide ONLY at the front, the front of the cartridges will have room to move and jingle around. Even though the rear is in spec. I have seen this myself.

Note above the 404 and 350 have the same dim at the rear, not at the front. A loose front end will allow cartridges to move.

It just needs to be inspected from the ground up.

Correct. But if the mag walls at shoulder are so far out of whack with Mauser's prescription that cartridges would rattle in the magazine, they likely wouldn't feed properly. In an overly fat box cartridges would be released by the rails too late. Result is bullets are jammed into ramp or forward end of the box. Even if the rails can be trimmed back to release the cartridges on time, the bullet ends would not be pointed into the center of chamber when cartridge leaves the rails = rough or failed feeding. But OP says it feeds fine. Ideally, the cartridge should be released fully onto the bolt face and free of the feeding rails at the moment the bullet leaves the loading ramp and starts to enter the chamber. All at the same time. If the cartridge is late getting onto bolt face, the bullet is jammed into ceiling of the chamber. If the cartridge jumps the rails too early, the bullet hits the side of the chamber or cartridge simply falls out of the action. Tuning the rails and ramp to match the cartridge, action, and magazine dimensions is an art form. Add into the equation shape and tension of extractor, follower spring tension, and follower shape (very important by the way) and there's a whole lot of things that can go haywire ... even in an action with straight drop magazine that is proper length.

 

[dogcat1]

I have one prewar Rigby, or least I thought it was.
In reality I had a cobbled together Rigby made up of parts pre war and post war as the Rigby folks were out of business in there. Someone at Rigby had the idea to gather up all of the old parts and make up rifles selling them as Rigby's. They aren't. I was very disappointed in what I had and sold it.

For me, I would not own a Rigby other than one made by the current management team owned by Blaser. The quality is not what you think it is.

 

[john corry]

I have one prewar Rigby, or least I thought it was.
In reality I had a cobbled together Rigby made up of parts pre war and post war as the Rigby folks were out of business in there. Someone at Rigby had the idea to gather up all of the old parts and make up rifles selling them as Rigby's. They aren't. I was very disappointed in what I had and sold it.

For me, I would not own a Rigby other than one made by the current management team owned by Blaser. The quality is not what you think it is.

For me, it will always be pre war

I have one prewar Rigby, or least I thought it was.
In reality I had a cobbled together Rigby made up of parts pre war and post war as the Rigby folks were out of business in there. Someone at Rigby had the idea to gather up all of the old parts and make up rifles selling them as Rigby's. They aren't. I was very disappointed in what I had and sold it.

For me, I would not own a Rigby other than one made by the current management team owned by Blaser. The quality is not what you think it is.

With all due respect, having both modern and vintage Rigby’s, there is something incredibly special about the prewar Rigby rifles. My early Rigby’s are of exceptional quality compared to modern offerings. This is reflected in the demand displayed by the discerning collectors, today.

 

[dogcat1]

No disrespect to those who like the older Rigby's. I consulted Lon Paul and George Cassell on my mess and they both agreed that the new ones are pretty darn good. Both like the prewar versions assuming they were made by craftsman and not spare parts sourcers.

 

[john corry]

Indeed. I haven’t experienced a ‘spare part’ Rigby.
The new Rigby’s are very well made (specifically the London Best grade).
As an investment, you will not get your money back on a new London gun, and that goes for all the makers.
(I worked for Purdey).