1899 Rigby keyhole wobble

Great old rifle with real character.

Adam Stevens said:
Got setup at 25 yards again 'to make sure I could see what it's hitting'
Two sideways 140gr bullets.
Click to expand...
Keyholing with even 140gr at 25yds is a bad sign, sorry. I suspect it's more than the crown.
I've a cute phrase about worn rifling: "pits form a spiral "

IIWM, two choices: leave it as is for a wallhanger, or rebarrel it (and maybe a full restoration).
Keep us posted!
 
Adam Stevens said:
Finally got around to shooting my 1899 .275 Rigby Mauser. The previous owner had never shot it.

View attachment 794076

Wound up getting some 175gr federal round nose soft points 2390fps which should be what the gun was regulated for "173gr"

First three shots at 60 yards. Nothing. Moved alittle closer. 2 more nothing. Hmmmmm I'm not that bad lol.

Moved to 25 yards away and first hit. Far right of Center and perfectly keyholed sideways. I've never even see one in real life haha. Eye opening for sure.

After 11 rounds. Only 1 fired where I aimed and true. Everything else went hard low and right. I later picked up my target and saw 3-4 rounds had hit the dirt and ricochet.

View attachment 794075

I will eventually try a lighter bullet, 140gr but will need to reload for it to lower fps for pressures in this intermediate action Mauser. But I figured the 175gr and slower was what it was regulated for.

It's going next week to a gunsmith I've used to give it a once over. It had decent rifling majority of the barrel but last 1-2" and crown could be the issue. Even he said it's odd to keyhole that quickly and bad. Maybe ammo.

View attachment 794074
Click to expand...
You might have luck with Hawk bullets with thin jackets.
 
Brand new rifle with multiple weights of factory ammo, same results. Certified tomato stake.
My 2¢, time to stop wasting time and money. The money you can get back but not the time.
keyhole.jpg
 
What a morning lol. Fired 2-3 shot groups today.

Quite Happy with the results.

THEN I noticed something on yesterday's brass and today's. Case head seperation. I can see the shiny line 1/4" up, and one had a hairline crack. My last shot, when I pulled the bolt back the brass split in two. Not good.

No other ammo has the marks and I even cut the others open and no stretching, just the 10 or so spce rounds. Very funny how the one ammo that works, is having case head seperation.

It has to be dropped off at the gunsmith for sure and see what he says. Definitely a headspace issue. Probably a worn throat. Be curious if this relates to the keyhole issue or seperate.
 
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Hornedfrogbbq wrote on Rhoyland4's profile.
Do you mind me asking what auction you are referencing? I'm not in the market for any of those rifles...just curious.

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