D'Arcy Echols & Co.: 450 Rigby Part 5

Having sent more than my share of bullets down range over the last 4 decades my right shoulder has developed Brachial Plexitis. This limits me to how many rounds I shoot each time I go to the range and what recoil levels I should stay away from. This 450 Rigby falls into the DO NOT SHOOT category. Loading the test fire rounds reminded me of how much I had begun to loathe this part of the job. Time to call Roger Inman again and he quickly confirmed that the rifle did feed and function at speed and that the sights were close enough to continue the construction.

LB pitched up and handled the rifle, he was all smiles so we headed to the range. Having been educated from the school of hard knocks I elected to pass on the typical bench top and we started shooting from my standing bench. The target frame was 70 yards from the bench top when LB touched off the 1st round. I happened to capture the recoil event on my iPhone and the image is quite revealing. It was evident that LB's Left hand has completely left the grip. I include this pic in no way to embarrass LB, but to illustrate that when you get into the heavy caliber recoil zone that a lot goes on during that millisecond of time as the bullet heads down range. This event is hardly a "one off "case I have seen it happen numerous times in the past when a client shoots a rifle heavy caliber rifle that is new to them.

I showed LB the pic and he was shocked. Note: that that his hand off the pistol (he knew that) grip, but that I had captured it on my phone. Now aware of the situation and a little miffed I wouldn't delete the pic, He applied more tension to his grip hand didn't have a repeat. Apply checkering to the grip and fore-end and the loose rifle event simply goes away. As they say a picture can be worth a thousand words.

After a 3 or 4 rounds Lb began to settle into the rifles recoil idiosyncrasies so we began to work on sight regulation. The Iron Sights I've preferred to install for decades has been a receiver sight I manufacture that is adjustable for windage at the rear sight and the elevation regulated by the height of the front sight. This sight system is simple, easier to use with aging eyes and not easily fiddled with by curious hands once the final adjustments have been made.

LB wanted a barrel band front sight base so I chose a Recknagel Universal with the built in elevation adjustment feature. Being color blind as well then LB could pick and choose from a variety of bead colors as to which one he could see best.

Over the next day the range sessions fell into sync and LB was shooting the rifle very well off hand. We started off shooting Barnes 500gr TSX's and Barnes Solids. Later Lb settled on the Barnes 450gr TSX and Solid for Buffalo hunting. Sight regulation complete it was a now time to checker, engrave and blue the rifle.

The stock was checkered 24 Lines per inch with an open point pattern. Nothing ornate but very functional.

Checkering complete I now moved onto the final metal-work. Lb wanted the standard minimal engraving on the metal-work but did have an interesting badging idea. I stepped to the side and began the final polishing. Illustrator Dan Burr and the team at CVM went to work to create the badging concept LB had in mind. All the this tilting lay out design work was done by CNC on a test block before the real receiver was bolted into the vise.