100% original Rigby Mauser .275 takedown, how to tighten bbl

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

I have been looking at an original Rigby .275 Mauser takedown. It has been well used and probably spent many, many years riding around in a farm vehicle.

The rifle is in fair to good condition except the "screw in barrel" is a bit loose. Is there any practical way of tightening the barre.? As I look at it, if one thread was added to the barrel then the fore-end metal would have to be moved forward plus having the fore end trimmed of course this means the fore end would no longer match the receiver wood.

I assume that there is a way of dealing with this problem, I just do not know if it would be worthwhile. At this point the rifle has never been touched, just used.

Lon

 

[spike.t]

If you don't want to ask Rigbys...then try Paul Roberts as when he owned Rigbys he built a friend a 275 take down rifle ...

http://jroberts-gunmakers.co.uk/

 

[Hogpatrol]

If this the same, you may be able to make either one or both of the mating plates a few thousandth's of an inch thicker to take up the slop in the threads. Headspace may be affected but fireforming rounds to fit could solve that issue.

Edit: A headspace gauge should be used to determine which plate to make thicker.

 

[Shootist43]

Lon, just a couple of thoughts. How do you know the barrel is loose? Possibly "flash chrome the barrel threads. Properly locate the barrel and have it pinned similar to how Smith & Wesson used to fit their revolver barrels.
Please bare in mind that I'm not a gunsmith, just a retired engineer thinking "out of the box".

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Hi I want to thank everyone who has given me info and suggestions. As to how I know the barrel is loose? I can easily wobble the barrel in any direction. I also believe the plates do not come in contact with each other. As I understand it the rifle spent many many years riding around in a farm vehicle. I have not been able to examine the bore but I am sure it has been seen many rds. I would like to know the full story.

Am I wrong but would it not increase headspace no matter which plate was replaced or "thickened"?

I just took posession of my latest Rigby acquisition an original single square bridge in .404J it started life in 1912 as a .350 and converted to .404 by rigby at a later date, bore fair. Very light, mag holds 4 rds.. At some time or another someone shortened the stock to 14.4". When the pad was reinstalled they epoxied and screwed the pad back on. Grrr! In the next couple of days I hope to ruin some baboons day with it!

 

[HWL]

Back to Rigby, and it will be a Rigby, the years to come….

Don't let a backyard gunsmith deal with this piece of history….


HWL

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Back to Rigby, and it will be a Rigby, the years to come….

Don't let a backyard gunsmith deal with this piece of history….


HWL

HWL If I do end up with the rifle it will be treated with the respect that it deserves. Sometimes the costs can be so high it is better to just leave it as it is. This is what I am trying to determine. If it would require re-barreling with new sights it might not be worth it to me, but possibly someone else. I have had my eye on this piece for a long time and my time to enjoy these wonderful rifles keeps getting shorter.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Lon, another option is to make shims in .001 increments up to .003 thousandths of an inch and place one behind the plates. Pushing the threads forward, headspace would increase if shimmed on either side. If the shoulder that butts up to the receiver face is actually a spacer, that piece could be made thicker to take up the slop. Can you post photos of your rifle disassembled and shown as in my previous post?

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

If this the same, you may be able to make either one or both of the mating plates a few thousandth's of an inch thicker to take up the slop in the threads. Headspace may be affected but fireforming rounds to fit could solve that issue.

Edit: A headspace gauge should be used to determine which plate to make thicker.

View attachment 287133 View attachment 287134

Hi Hog Patrol,

Is the Rigby takedown in the picture yours? I recently saw one for sale on guns international. Do you know if there were many made?

 

[Hogpatrol]

No, I pulled that photo off another web forum.

 

[Shootist43]

Lon, I may be to late but I just thought of another possibility. "Spray weld" the threads on the barrel and have them recut.

 

[Shootist43]

Lon, have you taken the rifle apart to see which of the threads is "loose?" You could easily place a thread gage on the barrel threads and hold them up to a light. Any discrepancy would show up immediately.

 

[bruce moulds]

the more thought goes into this, the more I see it ending in tears.
bruce.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Lon, have you taken the rifle apart to see which of the threads is "loose?" You could easily place a thread gage on the barrel threads and hold them up to a light. Any discrepancy would show up immediately.

Just an FYI, a thread gauge is used for determining the pitch. Measuring threads is done by the three wire method or with thread micrometers.



Everything you ever wanted to know about measuring threads.

 

[Hogpatrol]

the more thought goes into this, the more I see it ending in tears.
bruce.

Can it be fixed? Yes. Is it worth it? Considering it's been hard used or abused, maybe. If it were mine, I'd try the shims and check the headspace.
Aside all the fixes, this was a extremely poor choice of a truck gun and the result of that is now being paid.

 

[Shootist43]

Bruce, I think your post will prove to be prophetic.

 

[bruce moulds]

the only way to tighten that rifle up is to adjust the mating shoulder on the barrel where it contacts the front of the action such that you can turn the barrel, and any other faces that need it, in enough full turns to take up the slop. then run a reamer in to correct headspace.
in order that the forearm will now not have a gap between it and the barre, wood will have to be removed from its rear end, and the locking plate modified to fit, while probably doing work to the locking mechanism.
by this stage the rifle is buggered as a collectors item.
might be better to buy a new barrel, and chamber and fit it normally, then make a new forend to fit that.
this would then not be a switchbarrel, a good thing for longevity.
the old barrel and forend could be put back at a later date to help with selling value.
with a new barrel you might consider removing the butstock as well, and just using a synthetic.
but by now you don't have a rigby any more.
I saw a win m70 featherweight in 7x57 that might even be a better rifle.
bruce.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Bruce, Yep, and now it's worth half or less of what one has spent and with that much money in it, could probably find a good one for the same amount.

 

[Hogpatrol]

One more "gotcha". Even if fixable, I would not purchase this rifle without borescoping it.

 

[rookhawk]

I'm not sure the process of evaluating this gun is on the right track to be honest. I've owned many take down rifles with "loose barrels" and I'm not sure they weren't loose the day they were made, nor that being loose is an important concern.

The risk of "looseness" is that there is an issue of headspace. Step one, assemble the rifle and use a go and a no-go gauge. If the headspace is good, then on to the minor problem.

The minor problem: It's annoying that the barrel doesn't lock up tight to the action. Analyze that problem. The stock probably shrank. We don't want to mess with the action, so we really can't mess with rear stock joined to the action. We don't want to mess with the barrel because headspace checked out above, so what's next? A.) shim the back of the forend to let the plate protrude another .001"-.010" until there isn't a nasty gap between the plates. A feeler gauge will tell you how much shimming you need to do. B.) The plunger spring is weak and/or is worn so the seating depth of the plunger isn't enough to tighten up the barrel play. These things are all related to the forend lockup and not that hard to cure.

I think the concerns are focusing on an unestablished idea that the action and barrel have stretched and that they now must be "unstretched" until they join tightly... I don't think that's a foregone conclusion at all. In fact, betting on stretching metal as a problem versus shrinking wood is a bad bet.

Headspace doesn't go bad bouncing around in a vehicle, but the wood roasting for a century would shrink it. A set of go / no-go gauges will prove my theory completely. The repairs needed are simple.