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Rigby 450 Double Rifle, Best Grade Underlever, John Rigby & Sons, London, England
Guns International #: 102662690 Seller's Inventory #:
Category: Double Rifles - Antique - Double Rifles - English
Seller's Information
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Seller: Loving Doubles
Company: Loving Doubles
Member Since: 9/6/09
First Name: Ben
State: California
Country: United States
Phone: (310) 546-6484
Number of Active Listings: 17
Total Number of Listings: 163
Seller: Private Seller
Return Policy: 3 day inspection and return policy on used guns.
3 days
Payment Types Accepted: , MO, Bank Cks
Description:
This gun is in excellent condition. It is chabered for the 450 Rigby Match (2.4" Sharps/45-90).
Rigby records show gun SN 15417 was sold to Evelyn Booth on January 9, 1883. The gun is described as a “Best Grade Double Rifle with .450 bore and barrels as 2 ft 2 in. Weight is listed as 9 pounds and stock dimensions 14 5/8”– 2 3/8”– 1 ¾”- ¼”. It also notes that sights were regulated at 150 and 250 yards and it had an “extension rib”.
In 1883 when Evelyn Thomas Barton Booth bought this gun he had just finished school at Cambridge. He was a world class shot and wanted to shoot big game. As the son of a wealthy landowner in Dublin, Ireland he could afford it and America was a place to do it. He and two companions landed at Sandy Hook, NJ on Nov 2, 1884. (A copy of thier diery recorded during the trip is encluded with the gun.) After some serious drinking, fighting, carousing and whoreing in New York and Boston he proceeded on to shooting. It so happened that Booth ran into William F. Cody (aka Buffalo Bill) in Arkansas on a hunting trip where Booth outshot Cody. Whereupon Cody challenged Booth to a contest. They agreed on a match on March the 13, 1885. It was a windy day with Booth killing 40 to Cody’s 37. Bill immediately challenged Booth to another contest with a $1000 purse which occurred on April 1, 1885 at the exposition grounds in New Orleans with 3000 spectators where Cody won.
Wild Bill had the misfortune of losing the Wild West Show when the ship bringing it to New Orleans sank with all wagons, animals, arms, ammunition, horses, personal effects, etc. valued at $20,000. At the end of the year Bill and his business partner, Nate Sullivan, were $60,000 in the hole. Boothe bailed them out and became a 25% owner of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The show pulled out and made enough money that after 3 years Cody and Sullivan bought Booth out. He was not too interested in show business and pursued other business interests - one being a ranch in Montana where he no doubt shot buffalo with this gun. He died in a fire in Oregon at the young age of 41.
SOLD
Antique: Yes
Rifle Caliber: .45-90 Sharps
Manufacturer: John Rigby & Sons,
Model: Jones Underlever
Barrel Length: 26
Chambers: 2.4
Ejectors: No
Condition: Excellent
Metal Condition: Excellent
Wood Condition: Excellent
Bore Condition: perfect
Barrels: fluid steel
Action: Jones Underlever
Triggers: double
Stock: English walnut
Stock Comb: 1 3/4
Stock Heel: 2 3/8
Stock Cast: 1/4 cast off
Fore End: Splinter
Butt Pad: Old English
LOP: 14 1/4
Weight: 9 lbs
Sights: iron
Manufacture Date: 1883
Item Location: CA
Proof:Black: yes