Reproducing Harry Selby's 416 Rigby

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

I am going, but it would have been nice to have you along. I am no spring chicken either, as I have hypotheroidism, and am still getting over the side effects of the medication. They tell me I will get used to it, but I don't see how spending 1/2 a day sick and goofy is getting over anything.

Well, when I go, I will send you pictures every day. I keep looking at the price of the trip and it is just staggering, at least to me it is. I'll cut every frill out. Pick me up at the airport and take me to the bush and let's hunt for buffalo, but I suspect it is more involved than that. Let's see, do I have any rich friends?

jt

[da gimp]

Buy a Powerball ticket & remember, it ain't bad for the kids to make their own money, if you leave zero inheritance & your bills are paid, the kids & grandkids will be fine. But you'll always have the memories of looking down the barrel of a daam fine rifle YOU built & taking down an old dugga boy, on His turf.........and that my bro is fine living..............

[Liam]

This thread is a good read. This, along with this month's Rifle magazine, has my Mauser interest reinvigorated. The recent Rifle magazine is an issue completely dedicated to Mausers - Swedes, German wartime & peacetime, BRNO offerings, Oberndorf actions, et al. Even a Gibbs 505 is featured. Lots of minutiae to include the various magazine profiles to accept the larger (sometimes rimmed) calibers. Very interesting! Your efforts are enjoyed by many. Can't wait for the checkering pics. But, remember to convoy to the slowest vehicle!

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Liam, you old dog. How are you? I just got the pictures back from the trip to Stoney Point. I have a great picture of Maj Land, SSgt Flores, and myself. You remember Jim Land, no? I hope you are doing well.

Jim

[Liam]

Jim - I do fondly remember meeting he and you at the Dulles Expo in Chantilly, VA. Sometimes I feel like dropping in on the NRA in Fairfax, VA just to see if Maj. Land is sporting one of my M1903 t-shirts! If he is, I'm going to hit him up for a job. Again, great thread!

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

If the job required you to work as hard as Jim Land, you don't want it.

jt

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

I made the half-moon cut to clear a loaded round upon extraction, and as expected, it was a very small cut indeed. Old Rosey will now load, feed, and extract factory 410 gr solids rounds as well as 350 gr cast rounds without hesitation. It feeds, chambers, and extracts very smoothly, and much better than I originally expected. Loading is best done from the top by inserting the round nose first into the chamber area and the popping the tail down into the magazine in one smooth motion. Unloading is as easy as pressing the release button on the homemade hinged floorplate.

Today I am rust bluing the receiver. I start by polishing the receiver with wet or dry sandpaper, starting with 240 grit and ending with 400 grit. I then buff the bejezez out of it. The higher the polish, the faster and better the job will be. It takes me one day to rust blue the receiver. The pictures go from polished to the first application, to the second application, and to the fifth. The darkest picture of the receiver is the fifth coat, spaced about 1 hour apart. I do not boil or heat the receiver during this period.

Note the bolt handle, that is the second coat, and for some reason, the bolt handle will require twice as many coats as the receiver, probably due to being a different metal composition. Mauser receivers are easy to rust blue, and they take to it like a duck to water.

Throughout today, I will give another coat every hour or so, and card just before I apply another coat. I card 100% of the loose rust off before application. You should see an instant darkening upon application of solution, depending on your solution (the real secret of the process). My method is a technique that Neidner used, slightly modified. The very last thing I do will be to dip the receiver into boiling water on the stove for 15 minutes and then apply RLO while it is still at max temperature (but dry). The receiver will dry within seconds of removal from the boiling water, and you will see a loose film of brown rust that needs to be carded off. I use a carding brush I bought from Brownells and 0000 steel wool washed in acetone first.

Any questions? If you are thinking this process is faster than hot tank bluing, you and I are on the same page. It is a way more durable blue that will stand up to a powered wire brush. The job will last a lifetime and look as good on day 10,000 as it did on day 1. Touchup is simple, fast, and you get an exact match. Old methods are good methods, and nothing beats a good rust blued finish.

jt

[Tom]

I want very little drop to make the recoiling rifle come straight back. Those Weatherby style stocks tend to make the barrel rise which creates greater felt recoil. I will install some kind of compensator in the stock to further reduce felt recoil. I am also going to epoxy a steel pin through the wrist and add a weight in the buttstock. I am going to stick with the iron sights, as a scope into the brow with a 416 Rigby is one chance I don't want to take. I ordered some bullets last night for test firing. I am trying to decide if I want to Blue Pill the puppy, and if so, what Blue Pill to use. The only real issues I have are the right side cut into the front receiver ring, and making the box magazine that will hold three rounds and still feed properly. I was making some preliminary measurements last night, and it appears I have to extend the box back AND forward, and most likely make a longer follower. I will probably weld the floorplate onto the box. I will only get one shot at those rails, so I want everything mechanically completed prior to starting that job.

P.S.Jim, I like to see the blackest, shiniest,deep bluing on this rifle because it is not mil. You can always tone-it-down with something when hunting. In nam we had some spray primer or something,that would wash-off later with bore cleaner. I know thats your territory also.

jt

JIM,
Very interesting, I missed this whole thread because I only read 1903 threads. I wish I knew how to copy this to 1903 also because it is universal info.
Anyhow, I'm confused about wanting recoil to come straight back. I thought the reason for pistol grips, etc. on a rifle (for instance) was to get recoil going down and away from the face. Now Sniper want's it going straight back. I'm probably way off, he's the expert. But- Being practical I imagine that the recoil goes in a straight line,and all the "fancy wood" does-not detract it. Even when recoil reaches the wrist area it tries to stay on that line. In-other-words it goes straightback to the butt pad "using the closest wooden curves", to that end..- I imagine the "felt recoil" must be felt after shock absorbing butt pads etc. But!! the last inch of wood ,regardless of shape, will get the recoil one way or another.
Yes, I realize a pistol kicks up and not back, but that is because there is no butt at the shoulder.If the pistol grip was behind the pistol it would kick back.

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Big bore rifles, putting out tons of energy, impart a lot of energy to the shooter, and you want to manage that energy to lessen what is called "felt recoil", which in my mind can be different for different shooters. I want the recoil to come back as straight as possible to minimize muzzle rise, and I want that recoil to be distributed evenly as possible across a large recoil absorber to minimize lbs/in2 on my shoulder, and I want the recoil directed slightly to the right to pull the rifle away from my cheek just a smidge to prevent cheek skid marks that might detract from my natural good looks. You don't want your face to look like the inside of Bwana Jim's drawers after only two weeks of heavy hunting in the bush.

The closer the centerline of the recoil pad to the centerline of the barrel, the less the muzzle rise during recoil (less moment). Cutting the stock with a slight butt offset (a few degrees to the right) not only puts your sighting eye closer to the centerline of the barrel, it will save that cheek by directing recoil away from your face. In addition, you want the angle of that cheek rest to be such that in recoil, every part of that rest is going away from your face (no cups). You want at least 3 to 4 fingers between your right thumb and your nose when the rifle is at your shoulder to prevent an unsightly bloody nose when your right thumb knocks the crap out of your nose in full recoil, so LOP may be slightly more than normal as it is in my case (1" extra).

I start by cutting the butt of the stock square with the bore. Without the recoil pad, Old Rosey will stand straight up if placed butt down on the floor. For some reason I don't fully comprehend, cant can lessen felt recoil. Everyone has a natural "V" when the hunch their outer shoulder forward to cup a rifle butt. I like my butt to fit that valley exactly, regardless of the angle, and regardless of who says what. So my own shoulder determines the cant of the rifle. So I make my stocks such that they fit me perfectly, while directing recoil away from my face, and acting straight back against my shoulder which is my best avenue for not having to search for my rifle in the bush. Last, but not least, I use a recoil compensator (Pachmayr 550) that does not give that bucking sucker a run at my shoulder.

The grip for me is a strange factor. I like pistol grips that do not look as they have been flattened for aesthetic reasons, and cut the stock such that I have both a pistol grip that places my finger tip on the trigger while maintaining that closeness of butt centerline and bore centerline. I get my nice looks and still adhere to the plan.

There is one other huge factor, and that is rifle weight. Ideally, you want a lot of rifle weight to lessen felt recoil. The heavier the rifle, the more force it requires to get it moving. I wanted form over weight, so my rifle will be around 9+ lbs fully loaded. I don't mind the extra punch.

Poor recoil management can make a rifle unbearable. To give you some idea, I once owned a Rem 700 in 300 Rem Mag. That rifle would put me on my knees when I fired it. I hated that rifle, and once tried to give it away at the range and had no takers as they had all seen me rolling on the ground crying like a little girl every time I pulled the trigger. That rifle put me on track to figure out how to reduce MY felt recoil. I read a lot of books, including Jim Howe's and some stuff by Alvin Linden. Using that info, I made a new stock for that Remington, and the difference was night and day, although at that time I was using the old "X" recoil pads, which isn't a good idea on a heavy recoiling rifle (collapses too soon). I carried that rifle until some SOB stole it out of my truck.

OK, those are all my ideas of how to tame a big bad bodacious bucker. You can put mercury absorbers in the butt, cut muzzle breaks, and other neat stuff, but all have down sides to me. Fire a 460 Weatherby and try to carry on a conversation afterwards. Over 8,000 lb-lbs of energy and a huge amount of that muzzle blast is coming back at you. You won't be wearing hearing protection in the bush. If you and your guide are close together when the charge comes, your ears are going to take a beating, as he (and you hopefully) quits shooting when the monster is dead on the ground, then he puts in another shot.

Everyone has their own ideas about recoil taming. Old Rosey is fun to shoot, and muzzle rise is only about 3". I do get a nasty rap on the knuckle from the trigger guard, but I will put a small pad there to take care of that problem. I fire Old Rosey wearing nothing but a tee shirt, and I get no bruising, no pain, and no discomfort other than that knuckle thingee I mentioned. My ideas work for me, and not one of those ideas is original. Good stock makers who liked to write books paved the way for all of us.

Sweet dreams, Alvin.

jt

[da gimp]

2 points,

1) make sure there is NO FIGURE in the wood of the pistol grip area, as this weakens it. On a lesser recoiling round, say .243Win, .358Win, .35 Whelan this is no big deal, but on a big medium bore or large bore, it could be disastorous.

2) not sure that I'd want a mag floorplate release on this heavy a kicking gun either, know of several that dumped the mag when fired, keep it in mind, inspect for movement after firing.......

Now go out & enjoy the hell outta it, using her for what she was intended for.......... a big old nasty Dugga Boy........