52 Bore Best Quality John Rigby Percussion Match Rifle of historical importance, being attributed to Lord Elcho. 32¼” heavy round tapered barrel marked “John Rigby & Co Dublin and London”.
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Rigby: Rifle No. 12169
52 Bore John Rigby Percussion Match Rifle. 36″ heavy barrel marked “John Rigby & Co Dublin & London”.
Whitworth: Rifle No. 449
This is a military Whitworth, serial number 449 in excellent condition.
Report of Experiments
In the Annual Report of the National Rifle Association for 1875, General Alexander Shaler (President 1875-1877) reported on experiments with powder charges for long range shooting. The experiments commenced during the summer 1875 and were concluded that December. The aim was to determine the proper charge of powder to use in long range shooting in the Remington Creedmoor Rifle. Swaged bullets weighing 550 grains were used, and interestingly made of a hard alloy composed of fifteen parts lead and one of tin.
An Illustrated Interview with Sir Henry Halford
In 1893 the influential London magazine ‘The Strand’ published an illustrated interview with Sir Henry Halford. “The Grand Old Man of Shooting,” Sir Henry Halford revelled in records almost from the very first meeting at Wimbledon in 1860, and it is a remarkable fact that amongst his prizes are those of the Albert at Wimbledon in 1862 and the same trophy at Bisley in 1893, a record lapse of thirty-one years!
Men of The Hour: Sir Henry Halford
He is standing among the British team at Creedmoor. He watches the wind, directs every shot, knows the fate of each bullet before it reaches the target. A figure tall and erect; a commanding presence. His men obey him implicitly; he is their Marlborough, their Welllington. As the books write him down, he is Sir Henry St. John Halford, Bart., of Wistow Hall, in the County of Leicestershire, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Leicestershire Rifles.
Sir Henry Halford (1828-1897)
INDEX. “The country owes to him the debt which is due to a man who made the science of rifles, as well as the practice of rifle-shooting, the main pursuit of his life, who without thought of pecuniary advantage, laboured without ceasing to discover all that could be discovered about the infantry weapon and to bring that weapon to a state of perfection.” The Times, 5 January 1897
Sharps Long Range Bullets
Pictorial feature of boxed sets of long range bullets for the Sharps rifle, manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Co.
Joshua Shaw, Artist And Inventor
This biography of Joshua Shaw, Artist and Inventor, from 1869 also features the early history of the copper percussion cap. Many people claimed invention of this system but it was such an obvious development from the patch lock that it must have occurred to a good many people almost simultaneously.
American Rifles, 1877
Following defeat of the British rifle team by American riflemen at Creedmoor, USA, in September 1877, there was debate about the reasons for defeat and this discussion included talk of the rifles used. Here Irish gunmaker John Rigby offers his observation on Remington and Sharps Creedmoor rifles.
The 1862 London International Exhibition
The International Exhibition of 1862, successor to the 1851 Great Exhibition, was held at London 1 May to 1 November. Featuring over 28,000 exhibitors from 36 countries, it represented a wide range of industry, technology, and the arts and attracted about 6.1 million visitors. Amongst the arms and ordnance exhibited were a number of long range rifles, which were described, briefly, by John Rigby for the Practical Mechanic’s Journal.