Rigby's Big Game vs Heym Express

[Rule 303]

Heym every day of the week.

A Heym is a F350 or Landcruiser 79. A Rigby is a Range Rover.

Well the Ragie will climb and go places the other two can only dream of doing. Proven. So you are saying the Heym cant do it's job. hahahaha I don't think so. Don't judge something based solely on those who have them.

Yes, to me the Rigby is way over priced and I do prefer the Heym, if I had the money.
Re the magazines, the Heym one is of finer tolerance and hence the most likely to jam and fail. Not saying it will just the most likely to. It is the one thing on the Heym I am not keen on, but that is me.

HWL that is a very nice looking rifle.

 

[chashardy]

The Heym is a beautiful rifle, but after handling both, I bought the Rigby Big Game in 416 Rigby. It was just the feel and finish of the rifle (along with the history and tradition.) I have had absolutely no issues with it feeding and extracting ammo. You just have to realize that it's a magnum action and pull the bolt all the way back. Don't try to short stroke it.
This discussion is a lot like the age old argument about Model 70 pre '64 and current model. I own both. I promise you the current model is every bit as good as the pre 64 and in some respects (trigger and finish and wood stock options) even better. Old is not always better than new.

 

[WAB]

The Heym is a beautiful rifle, but after handling both, I bought the Rigby Big Game in 416 Rigby. It was just the feel and finish of the rifle (along with the history and tradition.) I have had absolutely no issues with it feeding and extracting ammo. You just have to realize that it's a magnum action and pull the bolt all the way back. Don't try to short stroke it.
This discussion is a lot like the age old argument about Model 70 pre '64 and current model. I own both. I promise you the current model is every bit as good as the pre 64 and in some respects (trigger and finish and wood stock options) even better. Old is not always better than new.

Couldn’t agree more!

 

[Muskox]

Well the Ragie will climb and go places the other two can only dream of doing. Proven. So you are saying the Heym cant do it's job. hahahaha I don't think so. Don't judge something based solely on those who have them.

Yes, to me the Rigby is way over priced and I do prefer the Heym, if I had the money.
Re the magazines, the Heym one is of finer tolerance and hence the most likely to jam and fail. Not saying it will just the most likely to. It is the one thing on the Heym I am not keen on, but that is me.

HWL that is a very nice looking rifle.

That is not what I am saying at all. The Heym has one job to do, protect you from Mama Tembo when all hell breaks loose.

It is engineered to be a better mouse trap.

The Rigby (that is really a Blaser, saying that I own 3 R8's) has zero tradition, it is Blaser using an old company name.

Same as Mauser (at least the Magnum Mauser is still made in the Blaser factory).

Some people get hung up on the name. I have handled both the standard and magnum versions of the Rigby. They are nice rifles, but for what they cost you could have a nicer rifle built.

I preferred the Paul Roberts Era Rigby, and the Blaser rebranding to me is just silly.

 

[Muskox]

Ferrari is a company who once made the worlds most exciting sports cars, now smaller companies are turning out sexier cars and Ferrari's business model is to sell hats and jackets and perfume.

Reminds me a lot of Rigby.

 

[WAB]

That is not what I am saying at all. The Heym has one job to do, protect you from Mama Tembo when all hell breaks loose.

It is engineered to be a better mouse trap.

The Rigby (that is really a Blaser, saying that I own 3 R8's) has zero tradition, it is Blaser using an old company name.

Same as Mauser (at least the Magnum Mauser is still made in the Blaser factory).

Some people get hung up on the name. I have handled both the standard and magnum versions of the Rigby. They are nice rifles, but for what they cost you could have a nicer rifle built.

I preferred the Paul Roberts Era Rigby, and the Blaser rebranding to me is just silly.

I’m sorry but your comment doesn’t even make sense. A rebranded blaser??? Saying it is a rebranded Mauser might make some sense. Common ownership does not mean common design and craftsmen. A Rigby rising bite is a true London Best. If you doubt that visit their shop, they are very accommodating. The Rigby bolt guns use Mauser barreled actions just like they did in the heyday of London gun making. You don’t like Rigby, fine, but at least get your facts right.

 

[Muskox]

So you are saying that the Mauser barreled actions are not made in the Isny Blaser factory?

 

[Muskox]

I never said anything about their double rifles, you are changing the rules of the debate.

 

[WAB]

I don’t really care to debate any further with you, it is obviously a waste of time. Have a nice evening.

 

[Muskox]

I don’t really care to debate any further with you, it is obviously a waste of time. Have a nice evening.

Enjoy your evening as well Sir!

 

[The Engineer]

I have the Heym Martini Expres sin 416 Rigby and am quite happy with it. However, I did want to make a comment on scope choice. When I bought my Heym you could purchase it package with the Swaro Z6i at a significant discount for the scope. I elected not to purchase he package as the Z6i had to be mounted so high due to the ocular lens housing size. I had a Z6i on my plains game rifle and the same high mounting issue caused to me lose a good cheek weld. On both rifles I installed Zeiss Victory HT scopes (Much smaller ocular lens housing.) to regain a lower scope mounting. The picture below is the Zeiss on the Heym and is the lowest that scope can be mounted (Clears bolt by about .050"). The pictures below it are my plains game rifle with the Z6i and Zeiss scopes. I believe the higher mounting of the Z6i is easy to see. Lest you think I am picking on the Z6i it is an EXCELLENT scope and I am enjoying it on one of my single shot rifles where the large ocular lens housing is not an issue. Just some food for thought.

 

[One Day...]

Today, I made my decision.....
The "non nonsens edition" of the Heym Express .416 Rigby, used, ....but affordable...
HWL

Has that rifle been repaired at the wrist?

I do not think so Red Leg, and I only say "do not think so" because I do not want to sound terminally definitive saying just "no." This is the 1970's / 1980's version 1.0 of the Heym Express, recognizable by the characteristic bolt shroud/3 position safety; non-machined flat tops; and relatively long trigger guard bow. It was factory fitted with both a behind-the-recoil-lug cross-bolt and a wrist cross-bolt, but no behind-the-magazine-well cross-bolt.

Some have criticized its Teutonic look; Chris Sells of Heym USA mischievously characterized it as "the East German tractor" when I was last chatting with him at SCI 2020, and I can see the point in both comments, when compared to the slimmer Martini version 2.0 of the Heym Express.

But a dead-solid reliable rifle it is, and I will confess that, like HWL, I am not insensitive to its rugged and beefy charm...

The newer Heym Martini Express is clearly Anglicized in its stock and steel-work style, and Americanized in its "Winchester-type" safety style, but the core Heym Express action seems to be unaltered (see bolt stop design) and there is no arguing that Heym's machining of the magazine box and feeding rails and ramp to the specific cartridge is a plus, whether one prefers London styled or Continental style M98-style repeaters, all nowadays manufactured/assembled on more-or-less close copies of the original Mauser commercial magnum by corporate entities (Rigby or Blaser) that factually have no direct link - aside from commercial rights to the brand names and ownership of the corporate records - to the original Rigby or Mauser, or by smaller shops (Prechtl or Mayfair are two good examples, one on each side of the Channel) that have no link whatsoever to the legendary brands.

My own vote regarding Heym vs. Rigby vs. Mauser is "whichever you prefer, for whatever reason motivates you." Sure, Rigby has its legend; sure, Mauser also has its own legend, and they always produced the actions that Rigby used ... so Rigby/Mauser would have likely been a more accurate designation; and sure, Heym too has been developing its own modern legend in the last few decades...

But I too have turned the page on the "Mauser magnum" era and now carry a synthetic stocked Blaser R8 PH in the African fields...

I elected not to purchase he package as the Z6i had to be mounted so high due to the ocular lens housing size. I had a Z6i on my plains game rifle and the same high mounting issue caused to me lose a good cheek weld...

Yes indeed. This - plus the loss of some eye relief - is a direct consequence of the current fashionable fad to provide 8x eye boxes i.e. scopes that have an 8 ratio between lowest and highest magnification. The Zeiss Victory HT 1.5-6x42 scope has a 4x eye box, and quite honestly I utterly fail to see why and how a .416 could possibly need more than 6x magnification...

 

[WAB]

I have the Heym Martini Expres sin 416 Rigby and am quite happy with it. However, I did want to make a comment on scope choice. When I bought my Heym you could purchase it package with the Swaro Z6i at a significant discount for the scope. I elected not to purchase he package as the Z6i had to be mounted so high due to the ocular lens housing size. I had a Z6i on my plains game rifle and the same high mounting issue caused to me lose a good cheek weld. On both rifles I installed Zeiss Victory HT scopes (Much smaller ocular lens housing.) to regain a lower scope mounting. The picture below is the Zeiss on the Heym and is the lowest that scope can be mounted (Clears bolt by about .050"). The pictures below it are my plains game rifle with the Z6i and Zeiss scopes. I believe the higher mounting of the Z6i is easy to see. Lest you think I am picking on the Z6i it is an EXCELLENT scope and I am enjoying it on one of my single shot rifles where the large ocular lens housing is not an issue. Just some food for thought.



View attachment 391874View attachment 391875View attachment 391876

Excellent point. I found the same thing with my Z6 1-6x24 ee so it now resides on one of my single shots.

 

[Red Leg]

I don’t really care to debate any further with you, it is obviously a waste of time. Have a nice evening.

You have to love it when one of our correspondents, who has apparently been to Africa once and never hunted dangerous game, has this dangerous rifle thing all figured out to the extent that he lectures those who have been and opted for other rifle choices.

Of course Rigby, just like Westley Richards, will build a client a bespoke bolt action as well - though naturally for quite a bit more.

These are all very fine rifles, and all perform flawlessly upon delivery (unlike some others we often discuss here). If someone prefers a Heym production rifle, then great. I get it. It is a quality option. But I also completely understand preferring Rigby's production offering - after all, I have one. That preference says nothing derogatory about the Heym.

But like @One Day... , I must admit that I have moved on to Blaser's R8 when a critical shot has to be made on an expensive hunt where opportunity may be fleeting.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Totally agree with Red Leg. Rigby makes a fine rifle intended to be hunted. I am amused by folks who, comparing two fine rifles, in this case Heym and Rigby, feel the need to denigrate one and praise the other. It is very much like US politics these days. Can’t you just accept the fact that they are both fine rifles and the gentleman in question couldn’t have gone wrong with either one?

Come on gentlemen, it isn't all just functionality, although at this grade that is taken for granted. There is also the romance of it all, you arent shooting a cardboard cut out, this is the GRAND sport not a two and sixpence arcade game! Anyway, both of these rifles are surely exemplary, but the R8 - hmmmm, no pedigree yet.

 

[HWL]

Has that rifle been repaired at the wrist?

I bought this rife yesterday at egun and wait for delivery.

The company I bought it said, it is flawless,..... but I will see next week.


HWL

 

[HWL]

Dear Red Leg....

In many cases it has advantages to life in the United States......

But sometimes, I am happy to life in the center of the old continent.

I can reach Heym, Krieghoff, Merkel, Mauser, Steyr, H&K, Simson, Frankonia, Suhl, Ferlach, Liege, Voere, Beretta, Benelli, Sabatti, VC, FN, Husquarna without a refuelling stop.

Only English gunmakers always were a problem.

The last attempt my grandfather made, he was shot down over the Channel in 1940.

So, Rigby always was out of reach.




HWL

 

[Lowdi]

I bought this rife yesterday at egun and wait for delivery.

HWL

Dear HWL,

Congratulations to the Heym. I saw the .416 as well and was thinking about to make a bid. But i forgot the end and didn’t make a bid. I think you made a great buy. This model is a classic and one day I will have one for my Heym collection. Show some pictures when you have it.

Best regards
Achim

 

[Rule 303]

That is not what I am saying at all. The Heym has one job to do, protect you from Mama Tembo when all hell breaks loose.

It is engineered to be a better mouse trap.

The Rigby (that is really a Blaser, saying that I own 3 R8's) has zero tradition, it is Blaser using an old company name.

Same as Mauser (at least the Magnum Mauser is still made in the Blaser factory).

Some people get hung up on the name. I have handled both the standard and magnum versions of the Rigby. They are nice rifles, but for what they cost you could have a nicer rifle built.

I preferred the Paul Roberts Era Rigby, and the Blaser rebranding to me is just silly.

Then don't use silly comparisons. That is what part of my post was about.

Blaser may be the parent company, just like Beretta is for Tikka and Sako but they are still Tikka's and Sako's.

 

[yhc]

Dear Red Leg....

In many cases it has advantages to life in the United States......

But sometimes, I am happy to life in the center of the old continent.

I can reach Heym, Krieghoff, Merkel, Mauser, Steyr, H&K, Simson, Frankonia, Suhl, Ferlach, Liege, Voere, Beretta, Benelli, Sabatti, VC, FN, Husquarna without a refuelling stop.

Only English gunmakers always were a problem.

The last attempt my grandfather made, he was shot down over the Channel in 1940.

So, Rigby always was out of reach.




HWL

But @HWL, unlike in your grandfather’s days, you now have the Channel Tunnel. You can easily drive to Rigby, H&H, etc!! Now you don’t even have to risk your life flying their with all them anti aircraft guns pointing at you!!

PS I have lived in Germany for a few years. That’s where I was introduced to fine European firearms and drückjagd. I remember those days fondly.

Regards,