Complete John Rigby 275 Renovation

[Rare Breed]

Super excited. I bought a 1956 John Rigby in 275 Rigby number 6024. It has a crack in the butt area and the finish is some type of varnish finish. The magazine shows bluing erosion. The barrel was replaced by the Rigby shop 10 years ago and the bore is near perfect

I am doing the following:
1. Just bought a beautiful stock blank of Turkish wood with beautiful contrast and swirls which is what I want versus the historic more plain wood
2. I am having the magazine reblued to match the barrel
3. Mounting a Swarovski scope
4. Have a John Rigby sling to finish it off

of course will post pictures when work is completed

 

[Rare Breed]

Super excited. I bought a 1956 John Rigby in 275 Rigby number 6024. It has a crack in the butt area and the finish is some type of varnish finish. The magazine shows bluing erosion. The barrel was replaced by the Rigby shop 10 years ago and the bore is near perfect

I am doing the following:
1. Just bought a beautiful stock blank of Turkish wood with beautiful contrast and swirls which is what I want versus the historic more plain wood
2. I am having the magazine reblued to match the barrel
3. Mounting a Swarovski scope
4. Have a John Rigby sling to finish it off

of course will post pictures when work is completed

Sorry English Walnut not Turkish

 

[WAB]

Much more appropriate!

 

[Red Leg]

Try to keep the simple, slim English stock layout - ok, so raise the comb a bit to manage the scope better. If you can get the dimensions of a Highland Stalker, it is just about the perfect balance in design and you will be mirroring an actual Rigby. And see if your stocker (you?) knows how to apply alkanet root coloring. It is what gives English guns an rifles that lovely red hue. It also will really accentuate the grain. Otherwise, you run the risk of it simply looking like a tricked out American custom Mauser rather than a special order Rigby with fabulous wood.

Alkanet Root

Making oils for gun stock finishing

Diggory Hadoke provides recipes and instruction for making gun stock oils.

www.vintageguns.co.uk

 

[Rare Breed]

Try to keep the simple, slim English stock layout - ok, so raise the comb a bit to manage the scope better. If you can get the dimensions of a Highland Stalker, it is just about the perfect balance in design and you will be mirroring an actual Rigby. And see if your stocker (you?) knows how to apply alkanet root coloring. It is what gives English guns an rifles that lovely red hue. It also will really accentuate the grain. Otherwise, you run the risk of it simply looking like a tricked out American custom Mauser rather than a special order Rigby with fabulous wood.

Alkanet Root

Making oils for gun stock finishing

Diggory Hadoke provides recipes and instruction for making gun stock oils.

www.vintageguns.co.uk

Redleg cannot thank you enough!!! This was exactly what I was looking for. No way would I do anything myself to my Rigby. I am having all work professionally done by a professional near me. I bought one of the highest upgraded stock blanks you can get and is truly beautiful. Yes neat to fix the drop with the new stock due to scope. Had no idea about the Alkanet root

again thanks so much!

 

[Rare Breed]

Sorry English Walnut not Turkish

One more change. I bought the grade 8 grade stock blank according to the Rigby shop. The only higher they offer was the grade 9 but I just did not like it…too much contrast and swirl not a money issue

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I agree with red leg, please keep the Rigby dimensions.

 

[WAB]

Redleg cannot thank you enough!!! This was exactly what I was looking for. No way would I do anything myself to my Rigby. I am having all work professionally done by a professional near me. I bought one of the highest upgraded stock blanks you can get and is truly beautiful. Yes neat to fix the drop with the new stock due to scope. Had no idea about the Alkanet root

again thanks so much!

Have your stocker do a full hand rubbed English finish. The alkanet provides the color, but the oil and filler provide a much more traditional finish than what most American craftsmen produce. If you need it I can look up the source for the products. Rookhawk probably knows off the top of his head. He pointed me in the right direction.

 

[Fixfire]

Interesting project!! Looking forward to the process and the completed masterpiece!!

 

[Rare Breed]

Have your stocker do a full hand rubbed English finish. The alkanet provides the color, but the oil and filler provide a much more traditional finish than what most American craftsmen produce. If you need it I can look up the source for the products. Rookhawk probably knows off the top of his head. He pointed me in the right direction.

Thanks!!!

 

[Rare Breed]

Super excited. I bought a 1956 John Rigby in 275 Rigby number 6024. It has a crack in the butt area and the finish is some type of varnish finish. The magazine shows bluing erosion. The barrel was replaced by the Rigby shop 10 years ago and the bore is near perfect

I am doing the following:
1. Just bought a beautiful stock blank of Turkish wood with beautiful contrast and swirls which is what I want versus the historic more plain wood
2. I am having the magazine reblued to match the barrel
3. Mounting a Swarovski scope
4. Have a John Rigby sling to finish it off

of course will post pictures when work is completed

I am assuming the highland stalker barrel is glass bedded? Thanks

 

[PARA45]

Man, I can't wait for the final product.

 

[Rare Breed]

Update. Thanks so very much for everyone’s input. Here is what I agreed to today after meeting with the professional who is doing the renovation to my Rigby in 275 Rigby
1. I gave him all diminsions of the Highland Stalker…he will completely match
2. Alkanet root will be used then English Oil hand polish for finish…$3,000 cost additional cost at Rigby shop
3. Completely rebluing all metal
4. Glass bedding of new stock with hand loads guaranteed within 1MOA approaching 1/2 inch at 100 yards
5. Redleg…simple design no frills such as Monte Carlo stock…just simple English stock design identical at 14 1/2 LOP
6. The only splurge I took is to have the bolt which has almost all hot bluing gone to have a juewled finish put on it…that’s it
7. Well one more thing…I went with the highest quality checkering you can get…yes expensive but this is my special gun of a lifetime for me

can’t thank everyone enough for your advice which you can see I have taken…it will be 8 months till I go in for final measurements then another 4 months until final finish which is just in time for my 23 Zim hunt

 

[CraigV]

Update. Thanks so very much for everyone’s input. Here is what I agreed to today after meeting with the professional who is doing the renovation to my Rigby in 275 Rigby
1. I gave him all diminsions of the Highland Stalker…he will completely match
2. Alkanet root will be used then English Oil hand polish for finish…$3,000 cost additional cost at Rigby shop
3. Completely rebluing all metal
4. Glass bedding of new stock with hand loads guaranteed within 1MOA approaching 1/2 inch at 100 yards
5. Redleg…simple design no frills such as Monte Carlo stock…just simple English stock design identical at 14 1/2 LOP
6. The only splurge I took is to have the bolt which has almost all hot bluing gone to have a juewled finish put on it…that’s it
7. Well one more thing…I went with the highest quality checkering you can get…yes expensive but this is my special gun of a lifetime for me

can’t thank everyone enough for your advice which you can see I have taken…it will be 8 months till I go in for final measurements then another 4 months until final finish which is just in time for my 23 Zim hunt

Sounds like a solid plan. Did you get a chance to contact my stock guy? Sounds like you sorted it out locally?

 

[Rare Breed]

I did find a pro only an hour from me. Thanks!

 

[VertigoBE]

Very much looking forward to the final product! I hope you will share some pictures from the work in progress over the next few months

 

[Rare Breed]

I absolutely will. In about 6-8 months I will get my hands on the rifle with everything done except sighting in with the glass bedded new stock to insure the comp drop fits me perfectly and the final finish. The guy doing the glass bedding will present me with the target showing the best loads and bullet. I will then fire it to insure my comfort then another 3-4 months to get the finished version with English hand rubbed finish

 

[Nevada Mike]

Please do NOT jewel the bolt... tacky and not 'Brit".

Otherwise, a nice project.

 

[Rare Breed]

Thank you so very much…I did not know. I have called and cancelled the jewel bolt. I want it like the Brit’s

 

[Monsai52]

Thank you so very much…I did not know. I have called and cancelled the jewel bolt. I want it like the Brit’s

Good call!

Best regards,