Reproducing Harry Selby's 416 Rigby

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Sounds like your friend has been having too much fun. I hope to make one trip over before I go, and as I said, for Cape Buffalo only. That would probably be all I could afford. My brother's buddy has hunted all over the world, and taken just about every thing imaginable. He is single and makes a very good living. I look at his pictures and yearn for the hunt. Maybe I will make it and maybe not, but I hope to be prepared.

I have been busy with my day job lately, but hope top get back to the 416 this weekend. My dies haven't arrived yet, and I am getting irked a bit. My next step is the test firing of the barreled action. I look forward to hearing her roar. There is nothing as awesome as a big bore dangerous game rifle in my book.

jt

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

I am still waiting on the loading dies, so I thought I would inlet the barreled receiver into the faux stock I picked out. Using a barrel scrapper, a 3/8" flat chisel, a 1/2" rat tail file, and a flat faced body hammer, I got about 90% of it inletted. It only took 1 1/2 hours and cost me nothing. This may be the least expensive rifle I ever built. I still have to buy the recoil compensator and the barrel sling swivel, and they aren't cheap. I found a package of receiver bolts with the little Mauser screws I had stashed away in my parts bin. I really need to AC my shop.

jt

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Inletting & Fitting

It rained today, so I found some time to finish inletting the barreled receiver (pics). I am going to glass bed the entire barreled action, probably in two steps (receiver then barrel). I was going to use Titanium Putty, but it hasn't arrived either. I have some glass bedding materials around, but the release agent has evaporated in the kits. I will use white grease as a release agent, the spray on kind. It is cheap and works very well.

I may have the receiver too tight in the stock and I just might remove more wood. I am going to install two crossbolts, but I think I am going to glass bed first. I was going to use two old Springfield crossbolts, but they may not be wide enough.

I did some quick and dirty fitting of the stock also. I want my eye to line up with the sights when I throw the rifle into the "V" in my shoulder. The way I check it is to close my eyes and throw the rifle to my shoulder, then open my eye. I want to be looking straight down the sight. Grip and LOP must be correct to do this test or you are wasting your time. My normal LOP is pretty short (<12"), but with a heavy recoiling rifle, you want at least 3" of space between your thumb and nose when the rifle is ready to fire or you will get a case of "thumb nose" in recoil, and all that blood splatter is certain to rust your rifle and momentarily detract your attention from that 3,000 pound raging, charging Cape Buffalo in front of you that you managed to miss completely. I still have some adjustment to do, as this stock has way too much excess wood.

I will have a classic little cheekpiece that should look as it has been laid across the butt. I also have to make sure there is no wood in front of my cheek that is going to drag across my face in recoil. That is usually very painful.

I reduced the grip to fit my hand, but I still have a little wood to remove there also. You want the tip of your trigger finger to naturally lay on the trigger when you comfortably grasp the grip with the rifle to your shoulder. If the distance from the tip of the grip to the trigger is too short, your trigger finger will go too far across the trigger. Move the grip tip back, contouring the grip each time, until you are happy with the finger/trigger engagement. It is best to go slow, as it is tough to glue sawdust back onto a stock.

I thought the barrel recoil lug was going to be a problem to inlet, but it was a breeze to cut using nothing but a handheld chisel.

I am going to shorten the bolt and rebend it.

Tools used:
barrel groove scrapper
big rat tailed file
3/8" wood chisel (most work done with chisel)
flat faced body hammer (to bump chisel occasionally)
el cheapo belt sander to remove wood from cheekpiece mucho faster

Total cost today: $0.00
Time consumed: 3-hours

jt

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Inletting &amp; Fitting 2

I thought I would add the following pictures. I inletted too closely, or closer than I had to since this isn't the final stock (unless it turns out stupendous!). I do have that 03 issue at the rear of the receiver that I must attend to somehow. Suggestions welcomed. The floorplate must be deepened at the rear, as I have a 1/8" space between the rear of the magazine box and the receiver, and a bump fit at the front.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the glass bedding sequence or materials? Since my Titanium Putty is in space somewhere, I am going to use my Brownells kits I have on hand. Maybe I should add something to the mix to strengthen it. 70 ft-lbs of recoil is an eye opener and will beat a poorly fitted stock to pieces. I am particularly concerned about the wood/metal juncture at the rear of the receiver. I may leave a space, but then again that may not be such a good idea with this baby.

I have been using items I have on hand to hold down cost. It appears my total cash outlay will be less than $200 since everything I am using was off an old rifle I already expensed, or something I bought super cheap, like the $15 stock. Of course that doesn't include what I have spent for bullets, dies, and powder. The empty Norma cases came with the barrel.

I will make my own hinged floorplate by modifying one I already made. I want the magazine to hold 3-rounds loaded with 405 gr bullets to an OAL of 3.72". With one in the chamber, that will give me four rounds to expend. I suspect the floorplate/magazine is going to be one trick pony to manufacture.

The first picture shows the forearm contour where the horn tip will attach (black line). I drew that line before I started inletting, so I did pretty good keeping things straight. The second picture shows it is beginning to look like a real rifle.

Enjoy.

jt

[older than dirt]

Very fine looking project so far. By the way, MT your ash tray. LOL

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Thank you.

jt

PS
I do empty it on occasion, when I am not carving on a stock.

[da gimp]

are you going to lower a lil wood from either side of the bolt release?, might make it handier to access..........

an ivory bead shows up well in bad light too............

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

I Agree

are you going to lower a lil wood from either side of the bolt release?, might make it handier to access..........

an ivory bead shows up well in bad light too............

Yes, I will lower the wood all around. When I start inletting, I just go straight down. I trim to fit later. I have been working on the grip and cheekpiece today. I finally got them both where I wanted them.

I wish I had an ivory bead. I like their looks and they work so well. I may opt for the translucent green or red ones. I have a couple on some old non-scoped rifles, and they are outstanding in all light, particularly dim light. The ivory bead is a class act though, and if I had one I would use it.

This is the grip and cheekpiece as they are now. I will carve the cheekpiece to give it that sculptured look. You would think it would be hard to do, but actually, with a Dremel tool and a rough cut square file, I can whip one out in a jiffy. If you look at the pictures below, you can tell I have removed a lot of wood from the cheekpiece, reducing it in both height and thickness.

I have reduced the grip from 5 3/4" diameter to 4 5/8" in diameter. The grip cap (steel) is a sacrificial cap. The final cap will be a heavier steel one. I also moved the grip tip back about 3/8" to get my finger on the trigger correctly. The grip shape lends itself to checkering in a nice way. I only hope I can do a decent job of checkering. Sometimes my jobs look like they were done by a drunk pig on ice skates. I hope to do better.

I am concerned about lack of weight. The rifle as it is weighs a little over 8 lbs, and my goal is 10 lbs. I may have to add some lead to the stock. I am also concerned about the LOP to get my thumb off my nose. I am a scope crawler big time. That won't get it with this puppy. If I crawl this stock, I will be smiling out my ear.

It is coming together, as it is time for glass bedding and crossbolts now. I still haven't received my loading dies, which is beginning to irritate me, but I can do other things in the mean time. One thing I need to do is finish my CAD drawing of a new digestion facility I am designing. Never a dull moment.

jt

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

I said I could create a sculptured cheekpiece quickly, so I decided to time myself. It took me 1 1/2 hours to go from what I posted this morning to what you see below. It was actually entertaining in a way. Once you can visualize what the rifle will look like, it gets to be fun.

I ordered a Pachmayr D550 Decelerator Trap Pad ($39.99, grind to fit, black, trap profile, pigeon face), the barrel swivel band ($28.99), and re-ordered another set of dies ($32.99) from Midway today. I hope that Pachmayr is as good as they claim.

Tools used:
big rat tailed file
coarse square file
hand sander
3/8" chisel

Cost: $114.12 - parts

jt

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Good Grief!!

I don't think I will be checkering this rifle. I am so bad at checkering, and I try so hard to master the craft, I must be bewitched. I decided to practice on another rifle. I just finished checkering a grip panel on that rifle, and it looks like something the cat drug up. I suck at checkering. Anyone know someone on the forum who checkers stocks?

Emri, do you know anyone? Someone needs to profit off my inability to run straight lines.

Just to be humble, I will post pictures of my checkering job tomorrow sometime. I thought it would look better in the morning, but I was wrong. I haven't made any attempt to clean up the over-runs, etc. Good grief.

Mercy.

Tools:
a bunch of expensive checkering tools

Cost:
self respect

Jim

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Cleaned Up

The job looks better after I cleaned it up, but it still sucks. I will do the other side of the grip tonight.

jt

[da gimp]

we live about an hour north of Gary wnnig, & the old Fajen craftsmen, you might consider calling him & asking for a name from him. We got spoiled with Bishop & Fajen being so close to us.

Have an old post WW Steyer Mauser 98 commercial rifle, in .30-06 with a long slide Lyman peep rear & a gold bead front & double set triggers, (built for a US military officer stationed there), it has the small shadow line German/Austrian cheekpiece that is comfortable to shoot.Even when he was a young officer, Bob had daam good taste in rifles, they made him a standard style stock instead of the Mannlicher full length, you can still see the trace of the nose cap of the 1st stock @ the front sight.

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Sounds like a nice rifle. I have a M1917 that was sporterized for an officer in Asia, and the style is a bit weird. The wood is a real mystery, as it is white (stained red) and pretty soft. The rifle itself is accurate and fun to shoot, but the checkering is the English flat style. I like the old rifles.

jt

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

A Real John Rigby 98 Mauser 416 Rigby

John Rigby didn't make many 416 Rigby's on the standard 98 Mauser receiver (49 or 69), but I managed to locate pictures of one of them (not Harry Selby's). The first thing I noticed was I planned to make my receiver cut exactly where John Rigby made his, which was reassuring. The second thing I noticed, and hard to see in the pictures, is he made an elongated magazine, which I will not do. Considering this is a $20,000 rifle, it is very utilitarian. My plan to use the standard Mauser safety was valid, as well as my sights, which are remarkably similar to the original.

I located my Cape Buffalo horn block, which will become my forearm tip, which this rifle doesn't have. In the box the block came in is a small square of horn to be used for a grip cap. This I may do by epoxying it onto the grip. I have decided to use this stock, if for no other reason than it fits me so well as it is. I will be glass bedding it this week, if my bedding kits haven't solidified. I will be putting in the crossbolt tomorrow. My dies arrive Thursday, so the "fire in the hole test" will be Friday or Saturday. My Pachmayer recoil compensator also arrives in the same package. They sent the swivel band by USPO for some odd reason and I have no idea when it will arrive.

I inletted the bolt into the stock today, and I may leave it at its present length. It may be more handy as it is.

Below are pictures of the real Rigby rifle.

jt

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Crossbolt Installation &amp; Glass Bedding

I will use two posts to get all the pictures in.

My first problem was the crossbolt, which is absolutely necessary for a rifle that has recoil of this magnitude. I had some old Springfield crossbolts I wanted to use, which would certainly be sufficient for the job. Some quick measurements demonstrated that they would fit, if I could get every detail correct. The crossbolt will be recessed so I can add a wood plug over it (it isn't coming out in my lifetime). I needed to recess the heads, but the recess had to be very exact to allow the serrated head of the crossbolt to engage its serrations sufficient to tighten it up.

I had no such tool, but what I did have was a sling swivel installation tool that recessed the rear stud into the stock. Once again, quick measurements showed I could reduce the OD of the swivel tool recess cutter slightly (0.011"), and it would work perfectly. I chucked the tool in a drill and using a file, I reduced the OD by 0-011" exactly. Holding my breathe, I drilled the hole, but the bit didn't completely penetrate the width of the stock. I had to use an extra long bit, which I happened to have, to drill the hole completely through. I slowly cut the recess for the crossbolt heads on both sides, inserting the crossbolt occasionally to check fit, until it was perfect. Using a screwdriver in which I had cut a slot to fit the crossbolt nut, I tightened it down until it was perfect.

Sounds good, heh? Well...I messed up by drilling the hole through a section of the stock that will be hollow inside for the lengthened magazine. I will have to move it forward 7/16". I will have two side by side wood inlays when I finish. How soon did I notice my mistake? Immediately after I tightened the crossbolt nut and leaned back to admire my brilliant, but flawed work. Oh well, it will be hard to see, and hurts nothing as I will fill the small round hole with epoxy.

In the pictures below, you can see the tools I used except for the drill and file. Note what appears to be a wooden block and a corresponding square wooden disc. These are the Cape Buffalo horn I bought from a nice gentleman in St. Louis who realized his horns were worth a lot of money if he sawed them up and sold them piece by piece. I will install the square block as a forearm tip at a later date. I will show you a neat trick on how to install it with dowels that actually line up.

Glass bedding is covered in the next post.

Tools used:
drill
extra long drill bit
big rat tailed file
10" Mill Bastard file
sling swivel stud installation tool
slotted screwdriver
vernier caliper

Cost
$0.00

Semper Fi,
jt