doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Rigby "The Chatsworth"

I'd be interested in your feedback on this Rigby side by side marked "The Chatsworth" on it's sunken rib. The action looks like a standard Webley & Scott but with much better engraving. The secret date code shows crossed scepters and the letter "R" which I take to be 1936. The trade label in the Rigby motor-case that came with the gun refers to King George VI whose brother only abdicated in December 1936, so the case and it's trade label might have been made up shortly afterwards in the new year.

The gun is open choked; 1/4 and 1/2. 28" barrels, 2,1/2" chambers, good bores. Tight action still goes snick! Ejects nicely. Straight stock with a light cast and just 2" drop at heel but seems to fit well. Unlike my Webley & Scott of this vintage, there is no 3rd bite, being more like a Holland and Holland.

This shotgun was sold to me by a gunshop owner, who said he purchased it off the original owner who was given it new as a wedding present by his parents. The second owner's son "couldn't shoot a side by side" and much preferred to shoot an over and under, so it came up for sale. He was told there were only 10 like it made. I'm not so sure about that.

This shotgun ticks all the boxes for me in terms of the features I'd want in a gun with "walked up" pheasant shooting in mind. Not too flash to use, but not too plain either. It's looking like the one they'll have to pry from my "cold dead hands" !!!

I'm guessing it was Rigby's entry-level boxlock for a number of years? I'm sure some of you with Rigby histories can better comment.

[img]http:/[IMG]http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii489/ten_gauge/Rigbyrib_zpsb81cab40.jpg[/img][/img] [img]http:/[IMG]http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii489/ten_gauge/Rigbyflats_zpsb1cc66a9.jpg[/img][/img] [img]http:/[IMG]http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii489/ten_gauge/RigbyChatsworth1_zpsa519e4f1.jpg[/img][/img] [img]http:/[IMG]http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii489/ten_gauge/RigbyScroll_zpsb846b448.jpg[/img][/img]

Here you go Kiwi, this will make it a little easier on everyone.
Steve

My good deed for the day.



Steve

What a great gun. Congratulations.

That is a beauty!!! The fit and finish on those English guns just defies us meager mortals.

It's a grade "D" from Webley.

How do you know that Steve?

I'm the Rigby historian.

hello steve,
would you kindly elaborate and provide further info re the id of the rigby.I am always curious to learn re webley models,
cheers
mrwmartin

Mr W martin,
The ledger simply reflects that the gun was sold in 1940 and that the stocking, engraving and barrel filing was done by Webley.

hello steve,
thanks for info.how do you determine d grade and which model?i see the horseshoe lever and reasonable engraving plus panel and points.
as an aside webley made a chatsworth(also kinmount and bowood,country houses) under their own name in early 80s appx. i think they were nicely finished 700 models.
thanks again,cheers

mrwmartin

This looks like a book well worth reading!! I'm surprised I don't have it already.


http://www.amazon.com/Rigby-Grand-Tradit...eywords=helsley

"I'm the Rigby historian".

You can't argue with that!!!

The original owner, according to my vendor, was the late Mr Haywood of New Zealand.

By the way, weight is 6 pounds, 5, 1/2 oz making it one nicely balanced game gun. Thanks guys for calling up the pics.

Mr W martin,
The 1940 edition of Stoeger's The Shooter's Bible contains a helpful ad. The top Rigby grade was the "Regal." The second was the Sandringham" - both of which were sidelocks. Next came the the "Sackville" and then the "Chatsworth" - both of which were boxlocks. The Chatsworth was priced at 35 Guineas ($285.00). Think of it as A,B,C & D.

Kiwi - He (the vendor) was misinformed. It was a Col. E.J. O'Meara.

hello steve,
thank you for the clarification ie rigby "d grade".
I misinterpreted your original post to mean the gun was supplied by webley as a "d grade".
For my own interest i shall try to find which webley boxlocks were available immediately prior to 2nd war(when sporting gun production ceased for the duration)and try to decipher which model provided the rigby.
cheers
mr w martin

Yes, that helped explain the D-grade to me too.

Regarding the buyer, I wonder if it's the name of the new father-in-law? I'll see what I can find out. Thanks very much for the ledger advice.

The book, Rigby Grand Tradtion and also The British Boxlock are both, I have since discovered, for sale quite close by and I'll put an order in for them.

I need to get that book just to find out to what extent John Rigby had in building his guns. The British gun industry is fascinating, in that you always have something new to learn.
I always knew that W & C Scott & Son and later Webley & Scott had a big hand in the British gun industry but some of these other wholesale builders like AA Brown are new to me. I mean roughing out a forging is not building but some of these lesser known firms had a bigger part to play in building the entire gun for the bigger firms then initially thought.

An observation that I think is interesting. My first thought after seeing the pictures but before reading any of this was "Well this double certainly looks to be about the equivalent to a nice DHE Parker".
None too flashy but just gussied up enough to fit in with the teas and crumpets crowd.
This gun speaks to me as well and I would be pleased to own it.
Congratulations on a very nice find.
Jim

Kiwi, I believe your wonderful Rigby was built from Webley & Scott's Proprietary Model 400, which is recorded to have been made from 1900 to 1946. Great guns that morphed into the Model 700 after the war.

Did Webley make the Sandringham? I will post a picture of mine tomorrow.

hello joe wood,
The 400/proprietary model,in all grades, has a top extension,which adds to the intrigue!I do not offer this as a definitive fact,only that it is correct for all 400s i have seen and all advertising from the period.
cheers
mr w martin

Hi, here is an example of a "CLASS B" and is so marked on the face of the receiver.

Steve, do you have the records on whom this was made for?

Thanks,

KC

kcordell,
e-mail me please.
schmjh@pacbell.net

hello kcordell,
a nice webley screwgrip w&r model sidelock.
cheers
mr w martin

There's an interesting story about how this gun came to be in my hands. An Australian walked into a small gunshop in New Zealand and asked for some Super-X for his old double. For those that don't know it, Super-X is fairly strongly loaded. The gunshop owner asked him what it was for, and finding that the shotgun was in the back of his old ute, to bring it in. He said, "This old gun should only use 2,1/2" shells. I have some at home. If you call back tomorrow, I'll bring them in". The guy came back and the shop owner said, "If you ever want to sell that gun, let me know".

Seven years later he had a phone call, from an English gent who said, "I hear you want to buy my gun". It was apparently a wedding present in 1941 though his wife had died some years earlier. He worked out the Australian was only loaning it. They agreed on a price and the Englishman hung up. A few days later, the gun turned up in the post to the shop, in it's Rigby case and wrapped in brown paper tied up with waxed string. A few days after that, the phone rings again, "Did you get my gun". The shop owner said, "Don't hang up. Tell me your name and your address". It seems Haywood was his first name. He lived in Auckland, but was presently in a hospital heart ward. It was arranged to send the cheque for the agreed amount to him c/o the heart ward.

The shop owner rang the hospital a few days later to make sure he got the cheque. The nurse said he'd opened the letter but he wasn't well enough to talk and to "call back later". One hour later he was dead. The estate cashed the cheque however. So the the shop owner and the Rigby's original owner never actually met.

This was some years ago, and the vendor (to me) cannot immediately recall the surname. If Rigby in the UK sold it in 1940 to a Col. E.J. O'Meara, that would be Lieut. Col. Eugene John O'Meara, OBE, FRCS, who was a surgeon for many years in the Indian Medical Service. He wrote a book on his exploits in 1935, (which I have on order). I can tell you who O'Meara's, father, mother, brother and grandfather were, but not the names of children from his 3 marriages. He had at least 1 daughter born in India in 1900.

What I do know is that, a relation; Miss Kathleen O'Meara, youngest daughter of Mr & Mrs William C. O'Meara of Exeter, got married in 1941 to Mr Michael Arthur Nagle, R.N. Her wedding present to him was described as "a dispatch case". Could it be....?

There's a few bits missing here, but that's the best I can do in a few days. The missing link is Haywood's surname. I have a few clues to follow up that might explain how this shotgun came to be in Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand.

Outstanding Kiwi.
Please do your best as I am sure you will.

hello again kiwi,
interesting story,makes the ownership of such guns even more worthwhile.thanks for sharing.
cheers

mr w martin