Rigby .44Express, Side-by-Side double

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louielarue

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I have this rifle, made for African safari hunts. It is classed as an antique, having been made a few weeks before the deadline of Jan 1, 1898. Good rifling, good condition, open iron sights, two exterior hammers and two triggers, lots of fancy scrollwork on the metal, with molded hard leather case. These were made to order by John Rigby of London and Dublin back in the day, and probably took 3 to 5 years from order to receipt. Been in the family for decades.

I'm trying to find other owners of these or similar rifles in order to establish a value. Thought I'd try here before I go to the Antiques Roadshow. Any ideas you'd like to share?
 
Is it an Express rifle or Double rifle..............there is a difference. An express rifle is an over/under, a double is a side by side. Just like a combination rifle is an over/under and a Cape gun is a side by side.
 
A double rifle is any rifle with two barrels...there are most definitely SxS doubles and OU doubles. I think you will find "express" is referring to the cartridge, and denotes a gun designed to shoot a lighter, faster (faster by turn-of-the-previous-century standards) bullet in the given caliber. The gun is not designed for elephants and buffalo...think more along the lines of deer and medium game.

There are probably worse places to find out the value of a gun than "Antiques Roadshow", but I can't imagine what they would be. Why don't you visit the double rifle forum at the Accurate Reloading website and ask. They'll want to see pictures, but someone there will know about your gun and can probably point you in the right direction to learn even more about it.
 
Go here:
http://forums.nitroexpress.com/ubbthreads.php?Cat=0

louielarue said:
I have this rifle, made for African safari hunts. It is classed as an antique, having been made a few weeks before the deadline of Jan 1, 1898. Good rifling, good condition, open iron sights, two exterior hammers and two triggers, lots of fancy scrollwork on the metal, with molded hard leather case. These were made to order by John Rigby of London and Dublin back in the day, and probably took 3 to 5 years from order to receipt. Been in the family for decades.

I'm trying to find other owners of these or similar rifles in order to establish a value. Thought I'd try here before I go to the Antiques Roadshow. Any ideas you'd like to share?
Click to expand...
 
There's also the "Double Gun and Single Shot Journal". Not so much on values for your particular gun, but a good source of information.
As well there might be some contacts for firearms appraisals.
Isn't Rigby relocated to the states? California springs to mind. I think they're still making double barreled rifles as a custom operation.
 
Thanks for the info everyone. I'm going to have it shipped to me after which I'll put some pics on here. I do know that it's a side by side double, .440 cal Nitro Express and made in late 1898.
 
Get it in your hands and then take lots of photos, especially marking on the barrels and watertable, then post. As it is, you've stated it's a S X S in some .44 caliber, of which there were lots. I have a car, it's got four wheels, I think six cylinders, and is red, .....what's it worth?
With the right info and photos there are some of us here that then can identify what you have, it's history, and an area of value.
 
The ledgers for Rigby are still in Rigby's possession (the London firm)
Cost for a historic letter is 350 LB's (Euro) from what I remember last time I checked on getting a letter formy Rigby shotgun.
 
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