.425WR - Thoughts

[Jack Stevens]

Holy pre-Covid necro thread! OP started this in August of 2019.

Nonetheless, I’ll play.

Below is my sole pic of a Westley Richard’s ‘Best Grade’ .425 rifle. Guessing the barrel is at least 26”.

It’s the most elegant-looking piece of DG field artillery I’ve ever seen.

 

[Markinnz]

Heres what my son thought of our WR425,best grade circa 1924..

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

That last picture says it all.
Gumpy

 

[PCC600]

The 425WR in a best grade WR rifle is superb . It is by far my favourite of the medium bore 400s . I’ve got them all and I always go back to the 425 . Here are my 2 . Planning to add a double as well . The takedown from 1913 - 26 inch barrels . The scoped rifle is 70 years old with a flush magazine and 25 inch barrels . It was unused when I bought it 14 years ago !

 

[318AE]

They are so highly underrated and misunderstood. Mine feed flawlessly and are simply devastating on game. It’s my favorite medium bore as well. I have a takedown (which apparently has taken quite a few tigers when owned by “Jungle Jack Grisham”) and a “straight-leg”rifle as well. Pondoro was quite the fan of the 425.

 

[Jumbo]

Aaaaah now my heart is glad. Those "Best grade" rifles are works of art. My "White Hunter" version from the Tsetse Dept doesn't hold a candle to them, but I still love it and really enjoy shooting her!

Can't wait for the opportunity to hunt a buff with mine.

 

[Xpraetor]

Good luck on the hunt!

 

[Xpraetor]

Always have been very fond of Westley Richards firearms, absolutely beautiful specimans. I used to get WR catalogs, a gentleman who hunted with us would send them to me, as they were originally his and he mailed them after he was done perusing ....

Only one I could find at the moment, not sure where the "pocket" Gun Catalog is .... believe it was from 2015 or 2016

I have been looking for older .425WR for sometime, but as "un-luck" would have it, I am always late .....

 

[Xpraetor]

They are so highly underrated and misunderstood. Mine feed flawlessly and are simply devastating on game. It’s my favorite medium bore as well. I have a takedown (which apparently has taken quite a few tigers when owned by “Jungle Jack Grisham”) and a “straight-leg”rifle as well. Pondoro was quite the fan of the 425.View attachment 778336View attachment 778338

Absolutely stunning!

I certainly like Double Rifles and those are ubiquitous with hunting/safari, but the WR Rifles are without a doubt a melding of Craftsmanship & Art for a magazine rifle.

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Jack Stevens]

Always have been very fond of Westley Richards firearms, absolutely beautiful specimans. I used to get WR catalogs, a gentleman who hunted with us would send them to me, as they were originally his and he mailed them after he was done perusing ....

View attachment 778386
Only one I could find at the moment, not sure where the "pocket" Gun Catalog is .... believe it was from 2015 or 2016

I have been looking for older .425WR for sometime, but as "un-luck" would have it, I am always late .....

^ ^ ^ Looks like a young Clint Eastwood. I knew Clint liked cigars but didn’t know he was a connoisseur of WR rifles.

 

[Wes350]

The questions then become:

• reliability of feed - it doesn't have the magazine clips. What can be done at this stage?

It's a shame that WR has not gotten rid of the rebated rim on the .425 on the new rifles they build.

The rebated rim has always been what has prevented the .425 from achieving the same level of adoption that the .416 rigby and .404 Jeffery have had.

Especially since it's not like there were a lot of rifles out there, so the switch would have been relatively painless...

 

[PCC600]

My 2 best grade Westley Richards rifles do not have the clips . One is 113 years old . Can be , and has been loaded from stripper clips . I’ve used it culling buffalo in Australia’s Northern Territory . Fast firing , quick reload and keep shooting . Superb . The much newer best rifle ( no extended magazine ) every bit as good . The issues relating to feeding problems are well documented - nothing to do with the cartridge - cheap war surplus Mauser actions were the problem .

 

[Jefferry404]

Respect to folks who take on the 425.
Was asked by a member here to look at engineering those magazine clips, studied the patent And for me, just to much. But hats of to WR for bringing it to life.
I suppose the 416 Taylor is a near modern equivalent.

 

[318AE]

It's a shame that WR has not gotten rid of the rebated rim on the .425 on the new rifles they build.

That’s an interesting perspective. IMO that would be an abomination. I’m pretty certain WR feels the same way. WR has always been an innovative film, at least as British makers go. They’ve been pretty clear they feel they have the right solution here. Of course, they also made doubles with rimless and rebated rim cartridges.

The rebated rim has always been what has prevented the .425 from achieving the same level of adoption that the .416 rigby and .404 Jeffery have had.

In its heyday, between the wars, more 425 WRs were made than 416 Rigbys, that required the magnum action (and likely more 425s than 416s and 404s combined). The 425s were even used by game departments. The 404 was built on either action, but is a real shoehorn to get to fit right in an intermediate action. We’d likely barely know about the 416 if it weren’t for Shelby and Ruark. Bill Ruger just about single handedly resurrected the round (and I’m glad he did). I’ve found the criticism of the 425 is often by people that have never owned one, and often not even held or fired one.

Especially since it's not like there were a lot of rifles out there, so the switch would have been relatively painless

While tradition carries great weight, I doubt this influences their decision one iota.

 

[Beck]

Lol!

Never said it was a logical choice!

The way I see it, is being a big bore I won’t shoot it too much, so I can order and plan ammo. (I have a few more sensible calibers if I need something in a hurry) but it ticks my box of being a proper classic.

I like the weird shit too!

 

[Jack Stevens]

My 2 best grade Westley Richards rifles do not have the clips . One is 113 years old . Can be , and has been loaded from stripper clips . I’ve used it culling buffalo in Australia’s Northern Territory . Fast firing , quick reload and keep shooting . Superb . The much newer best rifle ( no extended magazine ) every bit as good . The issues relating to feeding problems are well documented - nothing to do with the cartridge - cheap war surplus Mauser actions were the problem.

Well, if you read the accounts it seems that the ‘Game Ranger’ .425WR rifle, a ‘working grade’ or base-model rifle sold to African Game Departments, had intermittent jamming issues due to, allegedly, the use of weak mag springs and/or the incorrect Mauser follower that was incompatible with the cartridge’s length for consistent feeding purposes.

WR’s high end ‘Best Grade’ WR rifles didn’t exhibit these feeding/jamming issues. (See my post #41 above).

So yes, it wasn’t a ‘cartridge problem’ per se.

Nonetheless, enough problems with .425 GR rifles jamming in the field during encounters with DG went on to attach a sour reputation to .425 rifles generally. That, and the absurdly unwieldy 28” barrel made the .425 less popular than even base model .404s which enjoyed an excellent rep for performance in the field - as to both reliability and stopping power on DG.

 

[HunterX]

425 WR podcast
So, here is a podcast that came out last month, as a discussion about the 425 WR with the lead Westley Richard’s person. It was very informative and discussed the Feeding issue and what caused it. As mentioned above. If the follower is correct, and the rails are right, and you don’t have a weak military Mauser spring, it works without the side clips.

I think the rifle would have to be tuned by a competent Smith like Tim Ditmore, but it’s the same think you would do with a 500 Jeffery which also has a rebated rim. Still a neat cartridge despite the controversy.

I have brass, dies and a reamer, so I’m going to have to make one without the clips sometime and test it out. Maybe toss it in a blank like one of these exhibition grade Turkish or Bastogne walnut blanks.