What do you think of the new Rigby Shikari?

[dfoster82]

Jerome told me when I spoke to him in Pretoria that it will all be made in the UK. The UK has many engineering shops that could make the actions for Rigby if that is their plan. But whether it will be a out-house job or Rigby will own the manufacturing facility itself I don’t know. Does anyone have this information?

This is interesting because I heard conflicting information from a person over the phone at Rigby in London. I asked if the gun was made in UK and he said that it was assembled in France, and that components were made in "France or Belgium". But designed and proofed in London.

If accurate, this sounded to me like a version of the "re-badging" that many UK shotgun makers have participated in for their more mass market guns -- the first version of the Purdey Sporter comes to mind. That was a high end Italian maker but a number of components were made by Purdey. They shifted to make it entirely in London recently -- which now allows them to claim it is as a fully English gun, and they lean into that heavily with the marketing.

He admitted to not being their primary sales person for the Shikari -- but it seems unlikely he would have had this impression if there was no truth to it. It would not put me off the gun entirely -- unless it really is just a rebadged continental gun (Chapuis?). I assume the component design came from Rigby and the manufacturing may be entirely on continent.

Interested to hear what others find out.

 

[VertigoBE]

This is interesting because I heard conflicting information from a person over the phone at Rigby in London. I asked if the gun was made in UK and he said that it was assembled in France, and that components were made in "France or Belgium". But designed and proofed in London.

If accurate, this sounded to me like a version of the "re-badging" that many UK shotgun makers have participated in for their more mass market guns -- the first version of the Purdey Sporter comes to mind. That was a high end Italian maker but a number of components were made by Purdey. They shifted to make it entirely in London recently -- which now allows them to claim it is as a fully English gun, and they lean into that heavily with the marketing.

He admitted to not being their primary sales person for the Shikari -- but it seems unlikely he would have had this impression if there was no truth to it. It would not put me off the gun entirely -- unless it really is just a rebadged continental gun (Chapuis?). I assume the component design came from Rigby and the manufacturing may be entirely on continent.

Interested to hear what others find out.

What one of the small Belgian gunmakers could tell me, is that he and other small gunmakers are having trouble getting their hands on actions for their custom rifles, because Rigby is buying them all up.

So they are sourcing the components from the same manufacturer(s) as everyone else. Which is not entirely surprising of course.

 

[grand veneur]

Rigby as well as Blaser and Mauser belong to the L&O Holding based in Germany.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Very few firearms/ ammunition businesses are NOT international affairs these days.

Look at Federal and Remington ammunition, for instance. They're now owned by a Czech entity since 2023.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

What one of the small Belgian gunmakers could tell me, is that he and other small gunmakers are having trouble getting their hands on actions for their custom rifles, because Rigby is buying them all up.

So they are sourcing the components from the same manufacturer(s) as everyone else. Which is not entirely surprising of course.

Any idea who the action manufacturer is, VertigoBE ?

 

[SWS1]

With the volume, they have allegedly taken, orders for I’d be surprised if there was enough talent in the uk gun trade to be able to produce them in the quoted timescales…

 

[KJE81]

The action of the Shikari sure does not look anything like the action of a Chapuis, perhaps there is a action maker of some sort that supplies actions for artisan rifle makers in Belgium and Rigby is buying their actions in the white? That would explain the rumour that the components were made in France or Belgium.

Also I would think that sourcing actions from France or Belgium would be better then sourcing them from Spain or Italy, in terms of quality I mean. Not that Italian or Spanish rifles are inferior in any way, just that they seem to make them on a larger scale more industrialized and with less hand work than in Great Britain or Belgium.

 

[VertigoBE]

Any idea who the action manufacturer is, VertigoBE ?

I do not.

 

[hoytcanon]

The Shikari is a beautiful rifle... I have thought many times of selling off my entire herd and buying just three Rigby rifles for all hunting. I would probably go with a Highland Stalker in .275 Rigby, a Big Game in .375 H&H and the Shikari in .450 NE... it will likely never happen, because I have too many rifles that I am attached to, and I love shooting and loading for different cartridges, but it is fun to fantasize about on cold winter days.

 

[Daniel Cary]

Idk if the special edition was spec'd to this extent?
.. it's almost a $100K rifle. w/o the engraving.

 

[spike.t]

Easy to run up the bill with engraving....and depending on which engraver used....I remember the options I had when had my rigby sidelock double built....price options made my jaw drop...and that was back in around 1991/2

 

[uplander01]

I'm glad there are wealthy people to keep the English makers going, sadly I'm not one of them. LOL

 

[DieJager]

I'm glad there are wealthy people to keep the English makers going, sadly I'm not one of them. LOL

Count me in as well, unfortunately

 

[Pondoro]

Soo.. .£40.000,- for a re-badged double rifle with an unknown action..? I think not...the John Rigby name is not worth it to me..

I would rather by a Heym 89B if in the market..but as of now I have more doubles that I need..

 

[Daniel Cary]

Soo.. .£40.000,- for a re-badged double rifle with an unknown action..? I think not...the John Rigby name is not worth it to me..

I would rather by a Heym 89B if in the market..but as of now I have more doubles that I need..

Idk much, but that was my thoughts. My extended congrats to those that could move forward on the 89 .. the action, fences are beautiful, imo.

 

[roverandbrew]

The Shikari is a beautiful rifle... I have thought many times of selling off my entire herd and buying just three Rigby rifles for all hunting. I would probably go with a Highland Stalker in .275 Rigby, a Big Game in .375 H&H and the Shikari in .450 NE... it will likely never happen, because I have too many rifles that I am attached to, and I love shooting and loading for different cartridges, but it is fun to fantasize about on cold winter days.

That is my plan. I am currently selling off most everything not in active use. I am keeping a plains game rifle per kid, waterfowl shotgun, upland shotgun, 22LR rifle, my 275 Highland Stalker, and now looking at the Big Game Lightweight and Shikari Double over time.

 

[roverandbrew]

Soo.. .£40.000,- for a re-badged double rifle with an unknown action..? I think not...the John Rigby name is not worth it to me..

I would rather by a Heym 89B if in the market..but as of now I have more doubles that I need..

I see your point. Where I deviate slightly is I pay for the customer service. I have always been able to 1) Get a hold of Rigby and.....2) Have everything sorted immediately. I get frustrated dropping a lot of money for a product and then getting the run around.

 

[spike.t]

Soo.. .£40.000,- for a re-badged double rifle with an unknown action..? I think not...the John Rigby name is not worth it to me..

I would rather by a Heym 89B if in the market..but as of now I have more doubles that I need..

OK this is in reply to your post...asked Marc to give me the facts..

"Sat here with Paul Roberts at the Guntrade Association AGM. Please go ahead and use that photo for your post if you would like.

The Shikari is a rifle I’ve wanted to bring to market for a long time. It is NOT a rebadge gun and no part whatsoever is rebadged. The gun was designed by myself and Jerome at Rigby, in close consultation with Paul Roberts my mentor and Rigby hero. We bought a couple of pre-war examples of Rigby boxlocks and designed it from there.

Our sidelock Rising Bite has been a huge success since its relaunch 8 years ago and now has a price tag north of £100,000, due to the amount of hand work involved.

In the spirit of John Rigby himself and looking at the company of a century ago, we wanted to build a double that was more affordable to most hunters. I feel very strongly about this. That Rigby belongs to everyone and we should build rifles at all prices, so as many people as possible can live the dream of carrying a Rigby in Africa. With the use of modern machining technology we’ve been able to cut considerably the cost of production and this has been passed onto the client. We source parts from both inside and outside the UK. Just like the boxlock double rifles made a century ago, we use gunmakers both inside and outside our main factory, in order to keep up with orders and offer good delivery times.

We have a Rigby range set up at West London Shooting school and we would be delighted to welcome anyone interested to come and test shoot a Shikari with us. I have my own .450 NE in production and hope to take delivery next year.

Thanks to everyone out there for their continued interest in Rigby and hello from Paul and I at the GTA AGM!"

Marc and Paul in the photo

 

[KJE81]

Does that mean that they build the actions from scratch inhouse or is it more like buying actions built to their specifications?

 

[spike.t]

Does that mean that they build the actions from scratch inhouse or is it more like buying actions built to their specifications?

With respect I am in zambia and Marc is in London...I know him and Paul from years back, so try and put the correct facts by asking him....if you want anymore detailed info maybe email rigbys....think he explained how they make them....but if not adequate then as I said send an email....