275 Rigby awarded to James Corbett for killing the Champawat Tigress
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275 Rigby awarded to James Corbett for killing the Champawat Tigress

London Gun Room Tour

We walked everywhere we went in London and Rigby really isn’t accessible that way. They are across the Thames in a rather industrial area. But I had met Andrew Ambrose at DSC in January and really wanted to visit their shop. So our last morning we just Ubered over there before heading to the airport.
I admit to being a bit surprised after visiting the first two shops in their extremely nice, upscale Mayfair store fronts. Rigby is an industrial looking storefront in an industrial area. The door is not open but as soon as I rang the bell a young lady appeared and very warmly invited us in. Andrew was the next person I saw and he remembered inviting me to visit in Dallas. The next hour and a half were the highlight of my London trip. You pass a couple of offices then step into a gun room that looks like it could be set up outside a tent somewhere in Tanzania. The mounts alone are worth the visit, the guns and history are like a museum. They had the 275 Rigby awarded to James Corbett for killing the Champawat Tigress right there in the room! Andrew showed us new guns and old guns, ledgers just like the ones at Purdey- he pointed out one in particular where King George had ordered a custom rifle with the stock cut down for his small young daughter Elizabeth in the 1930’s.
Andrew then took us into the workshop. He explained that was why Rigby had chosen to locate in a more out-of-the-way place. They are the only London gun shop that still had the workshop in the same building. The store space was just too expensive in the other locations to use for work space. We met a few of the guys working and you can really begin to understand what goes into a custom gun. From a guy starting on a raw stock blank with mallet and chisel, a young man hand oiling a stock and forearm, and another working to finish an action with hand files. It was a real treat to see just a brief glimpse into what goes in to those beautiful rifles out front. We also had the privilege to see 3 of the first ever 416 Rigby #2 double rifles being made. Anyone spending time in London has to make the trip south of the Thames and visit with Andrew and look around Rigby’s amazing gun room. Even Christina says she would have been very disappointed if she had not gone with me for this one, it was a very enjoyable and memorable experience.
Oh and Andrew says “Hello” David.
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