450 Rigby Part 6: LB Field Report Cape Buffalo

I’m on the sticks and ready to shoot an old dugga boy when he finally stands up.  Assuming, of course, a good shot presents itself.  Two good bulls are bedded down in the thick Zambezi Valley jesse about 30 yards in front of me.  I can see one, but the brush hides the other from my view.  Rob, my PH suggests I get on the other bull, but it’s too risky to move so I stay with the bull I’m on.  We’ve been on their tracks for over 4 hours since early morning but lost them about 30 minutes ago.  Rob was about to call the whole thing off when we heard the faint whistle from the lead tracker – the track has been found and we’re close.  A few yards further into the bush, the bull is spotted, Rob gets the sticks up and I’m in position.  Now we wait...

So far, I’ve taken three good cape buffalo bulls with the Echols Classic M98 450 Rigby; one in Tanzania in 2022 and two more here in Mozambique 2024.  Each has been stung hard by the 450 gr. TSX at 2350 fps prompting the PH’s to say things like, “That 450 nocks the socks off him.” and “That 450 really barks, hey.”  It does hit with authority I will say so myself – no doubt about it.  Obviously, the 450 Rigby case supports more powerful performance, but for controllability, shootability and with cape buffalo as the primary quarry, these loads are fine.  To put things in perspective, my handloads for buffalo are about the same power level as a 450 Lott.  

The bark of the mighty 450 Rigby has been so effective, that up until now, I haven’t had the need or the opportunity to see how well the whole package performs when things get interesting, which is, as we all know by now, what this gun is built for.  This is about to change...

But before I get to that, some more of the back story first.  In addition to the normal range work, I have done a fair amount of practice with the rifle to get familiar with its personality.  In March of 2024 I visited Tim Fallon’s FTW Ranch in Barksdale TX for a few days to participate in their excellent SAAM Safari Course.  The rifle performed great, shooting and handling exactly as I had hoped.  The stock fit proved to be just about perfect.  Mounting the gun to my shoulder, no head position adjustments are necessary to center the white front bead in the ghost ring.  At 65 years old I wear progressive lens glasses while shooting the ghost ring set up, so I only need to focus on the front bead and the target.  No mid sight v-notch to worry about.  Speaking of the front bead, I set the gun up to shoot to the center of the bead at 75 yards.  Some folks like a 6 o’clock hold.  Not me.  I want to put the bead right where I want the bullet to land.  The gun swings great on movers.  I’m not even aware of the ghost ring and I love the open-space awareness (that is, the opposite of looking through a scope) when engaging the target.

Recoil with my handloads, though stout is manageable.  The gun is controllable too.  For shooting big bores off African style shooting sticks, I like to wear a glove on my support hand and then place my support hand in the crotch of the shooting sticks with a firm grip on the fore end.  I imagine this approach isn’t for everyone, but it works great for me.  It gives me much better control of the gun during recoil allowing a much better follow through, efficient bolt operation and quick target re-acquisition.  During alpha testing (engineering development term) of the M98 I had problems holding on to the pistol grip during recoil. D’Arcy, when he wasn’t taking pictures of this, assured me the problem would go away once the stock was checkered.  He was right.   By the end of the Safari Prep course (really a beta test of sorts), my confidence with the gun is sky high.  I’m ready for the field.  However, one little issue did crop up during the course and I’m glad it did.

Tim recommends Safari Prep students bring some low power loads to save their shoulders from the cumulative effects of recoil over the three-day course.  I didn’t have time to develop practice ammo, so I brought 50 rounds of full power loads to the course.  The recoil took its toll, after 2 days of shooting about 45 rounds through 450 Rigby my left shoulder was smooth wore out.  I simply couldn’t take it anymore.  However, I’m glad I used all full power loads during the course.  Here’s why.

You do a lot of field simulation drills at the SAAM Safari course. Over the span of a day and half I seldom emptied the entire magazine over the courses of fire.  To get ready for the next drill I’d simply top off with more cartridges from my belt and carry on.  All good.  No problems, that is until the charging elephant simulation. 

The drill is to shoot two stationary life size elephant targets, then engage a third, but charging bull.  It’s a 3 shot drill, so I only loaded 3 rounds in the rifle.  First two shots are good, but the third round would not chamber.  With the charging bull rapidly approaching I had to eject the problem round, single load the rifle and kill the cardboard ele before being run over.  While my “PH” is screaming “Oh no, you’re gonna die!  Ahhh!” in my ear, the chief instructor is filming the whole event on his iPhone.  Here it is with Tim’s permission:

Obviously, I would have been toast in a real charge.  So, what happened?  Was there a problem with my ammo?  Or was there a problem the rifle?

I knew, or thought, the ammo was good.  I double check everything, even three times before going on a field trip – training, and especially hunting.  At my loading bench I had noticed some finished rounds would bind a bit if ejected after being chambered.  I’ll test/verify each round chambers and ejects (firing pin removed) before going on a hunt.  With this rifle I had noticed if there was sufficient bullet run out extraction became difficult.  Smudge marks on the bullet showed exactly what was going on.  I made some changes in my reloading process to correct this little problem and sorted all the ammo before the class.  I knew this wasn’t it.  Something else was going on.

Close inspection of the guilty round showed a slight bulge in the case neck just below the crimp.  Turns out, the round had been in the bottom of the magazine box through several exercises.  As a result of the recoil the bullet slammed into the front of the magazine box and compressed the bullet into the crimped neck enough to bulge the neck to prevent chambering.

This problem is nothing new with magazine fed big bore rifles.  I don’t think there is a solution, other than to be careful to inspect all, not just your newly loaded, of your ammo before going on a hunt to make sure it chambers.  I did test to make sure the final (first down, last out) round in a freshly charged full magazine would chamber and fire properly when I got home.  Everything worked fine.  If I’m careful to inspect the cartridges in the magazine box I won’t have any problems.  My guess is that the problem round at FTW had been in the bottom of the magazine for several shooting sessions.  Lesson learned.  Glad I brought and used full power loads in the class. 

This little episode does bring up a few important “features/liabilities” of the M98 action, and control round feed actions in general.  First, I’ve always valued a CRF action’s ability to reliably eject a loaded round as an even bigger asset than the famed claw extractor.  Of course this is a highly debatable topic.  Nevertheless, I’m of the opinion the importance of blade ejectors (“blade”, not “mechanical” – the misnomer to differentiate them from spring ejectors, which are also “mechanical” is a personal pet peeve of mine) is too often overlooked.  As the video shows, even though the deformed round wasn’t fully chambered it was ejected quickly.  Good!  Second, the single loaded round chambered into the action without inserting cartridge into the magazine box.  Very Good!!  I believe some, maybe many, M98 actions require cartridges be fed from the magazine box.  I much prefer a rifle action to be able to do both.  Reliably, 100% of the time.  I wouldn’t have had time for the third shot in the video if D’Arcy’s M98 had to be fed from the magazine box.  High marks to the Echols Classic M98 450 Rigby in this simulated field test. 

I highly recommend Tim Fallon’s SAAM Safari Preparation course at FTW Ranch in Barksdale Texas.  https://ftwsaam.com

D’Arcy provides a small aperture Delrin insert on the ghost ring for load development and sighting in.  It works great.  Keep it installed for precise work such as sighting in, load development or verifying zero in country, then remove it for hunting.  D’Arcy says they get lost often.  I still have mine.  So far...

The Echols Classic 450 Rigby holds 3 down and 1 up.  It’s been on three safaris so far.  Interestingly, each of my PH’s have recommended I hunt with a round in the chamber.  This makes perfect sense in dangerous game country.   However, I never do so anywhere else for safety reasons.  It’s my understanding this approach is NOT universal in Africa.  And I am making no recommendation one way or the other.  I bring this up because it would be nice for the rifle to hold 4 down in the magazine box in case a PH requires the chamber be empty on tracking/spotting hikes.  But when you can hunt with 3 down and 1 up it’s not that much different once the action starts.  In my 3 safaris with the 450 Rigby, which isn’t many at all, a 3 round magazine box limitation has not been an issue.  D’Arcy could have made the gun with a coffin floorplate to support 4 down.  But it would ruin the look of the rifle.  I’m fine with the magazine capacity at 3.

The rifle weighs 11.25 pounds with 4 rounds of 450 gr ammo and a Latigo sling.  It’s not too heavy to carry all day long.  It’s comfortable to shoot.  And as I’ve already mentioned, the stock fits perfectly, which is a key factor to making this whole project “work”.

Now the question is, would I change anything on this rifle?  The stock fits.  It’s accurate.  It handles like a dream.  I love the “awareness” of the ghost ring in the field.  It looks terrific.  The lines, the wood, the minor adornments are classic.  At first glance it’s nothing over-the-top, but for someone who knows dangerous game rifles, it’s special.  A ‘subtle flex’ my kids would say.  Sure, it only holds 3 down, but as I’ve already mentioned this isn’t a big issue for me.  The only item I can think to change is maybe have a red, rather than a black recoil pad for a more classic look.   Another half a pound heavier to tame the recoil just a bit more would be good too, come to think of it.  Those nits aside, D’Arcy may have built me the perfect dangerous game “stopping” rifle.  Or so says this west coast dreamer wannabe PH with only a few buffalo under his belt.  

Thinking about that a bit more...  In a perfect world I would change the chambering from 450 Rigby to 460 G&A because the 460 G&A offers essentially the same performance but in the more compact 404 Jeffery platform, which would be more portable and allow 4 down in the magazine box.  But even the 460 G&A isn’t perfect, the shoulder angle is too shallow.  

In his book, African Dangerous Game Cartridges, Pierre van der Walt puts it this way, “In .458” calibre there are four hot babes with which I will cheat on my wife anytime of the day.  The 450 Rigby Rimless Magnum and the .460 Weatherby Magnum, the near-perfect .460 G&A and my own shortened, slightly modified .458 African derivative, designed for its compactness.”

After just a few trips to Africa, taking 4 cape buffalo and a few American bison, I’m inclined to agree with Mr. van der Walt; the 460 G&A, or better yet a 460 G&A Improved (call it the 458 Echols?) would be just about the perfect .458” big bore if properly head-stamped brass was readily available.  It’s not of course.  So short of that, my vote goes to the 450 Rigby.

That said, if D’Arcy and I were 25 years younger I might just order another FZH M98 action, source a nice stick of French walnut, order a .458 Krieger barrel, purchase a 460 G&A (I) reamer and somehow bribe D’Arcy to go to town.  With a red recoil pad of course.  All things considered; the 450 Rigby is one of the best options available today.  I’m thrilled with the outcome of this project.

Or, to put it another way.  I recently shot my 450 NE Verney Carron double at the range and was quickly reminded how different it is from the M98.  The double is just not my cup of tea.  I’m a bolt action guy. Definitely. Granted, the perfect stock fit and ghost ring set up have a lot to do with my opinion. With a few safaris with the Echols Classic now under my belt, I sold the VC.  I won’t miss it a bit.  

...now, back to the story.  Buffalo #4 took the first shot through the heart then turned and ran away but turned in our direction. Not a charge, but a close pass by of about 15 – 20 yards.  Rather than write about it, see for yourself in this short promo video for D’Arcy Echols and Co courtesy of African Safari Photo https://www.africansafariphoto.com.  As you can see, the shot window was short and quick.  The second shot went in on the point of the shoulder and the bull keeled over a few short yards away.

Nicely done and thank you Mr. Echols.

Recovered Bullets from Buffalo #4

Bullet on the left first shot (450 gr., 100% weight retention)

Bullet on the right second shot (334 gr. 74% weight retention)

Recovered Bullets From Buffalo #4

Bullet on the left first shot (450 gr., 100% weight retention)

Bullet on the right second shot (334 gr. 74% weight retention)

2024 and 2025 Field Pics

Below are a few pics from last summer, fall and this spring where Echols & Co. rifles and one shotgun were in the field were at use in the field 

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.

The team had a few mis-starts and corrections to make but the final results turned out very nice indeed. 

Final assembly complete and I took the rest of the day off and went fishing. 

 

450 Rigby Part 4

Part 4 is going to be lacking some pictorial support. My I Phone which contained all but a few of the inletting, shaping and sanding pics went to the bottom of the Tallulah river in Northern GA. 

Stock Fit, where to start?  How many times have you heard the phrase " I want my DGR's to fit and point like a fine bird gun". Not me thank you.

Let me be 1st to admit that you can use almost any commercially made rifle to hunt dangerous game, admittedly some handle better than others for this application. The Pre-64 Winchester Model 70 375's and 458's are great examples if you can use the average LOP of 13-1/2" to 13-5/8 " and are Right Handed. The straight comb height on the older versions allowed most hunters to acquire the factory iron sights very well. The later Monte Carlo Version worked out equally well with a low mounted scope from that era such as the 2.5X to 3X and the later 1.5x20 Leupold.

Like a good suit you can tailor fit an iron sight rifle stock with the proper comb height to allow you to acquire the line of sight without having to cram your head into the side of the butt and down onto the comb. Usually the iron sights I fabricate are approximately 1.000 above the centerline of the bore. 

Put a scope on that same rifle and most people will still be able to shoot it effectively even while having to very slightly raise their face off the comb to get the full field of view in the scope which is now mounted so the optical line of sight is 1.5" above the centerline of the bore.

Conversely if you build a stock with just enough clearance at the nose of comb for the cocking piece to clear and continue that same comb height rearward to the heel and then try to use most iron sights mounted low on the barrel and your likely to have issues even seeing the sights using that comb height. Again your milage might vary as everybody is different.

Again, this stock was to be tailor fit to a left-handed client with a bent trigger finger.

LB walked into the shop early on a Fall morning and we went to work. With the pattern stock and complete barreled action bolted together we began the final refining the fit of the butt stock with the LB lifting and pointing the muzzle at nearby objects, at the ground, into the sky and more importantly directly at my right eye many, many times. LB being an experienced rifle and shotgun hand was no novice to this and other past fitting sessions.

There were no misconceptions about trying to give this rifle the dynamics of 28 gauge quail gun, a Clays gun or for that matter a typical hunting rifle. The goal was to allow the rifle be brought to bare quickly, giving the rifle a comfortable balance and point ability allowing LB to direct a single bullet accurately on demand from 5 to 100 yards and operated the bolt at speed for rapid follow up shots if required. 

A properly designed an iron sight rifle stock to some degree becomes the rear sight similar to a shotgun stock. Hence the attention to LB's required length of pull, cast on at the heel and toe, pitch angle, and the comb height at the face position on the butt when the rifle was mounted quickly or casually. My end goal was the have the front ramp pointing vertically at 12 Clock and have LB's left eye looking as straight down the barrel when viewed from the muzzle end. 

The objective was to give the rifle balance the dynamics for the execution of an accurate shot, controlling the recoil as best as possible, allowing recoil recovery for a follow up shot or three if the situation required  it.

Having built quite a number of heavy rifles over my career I already had a good idea of where these dimensions were headed but as stated before, I am not left handed, You can always guess or you can fit. 

LB happy with the final results and headed off on a deer hunt. 

Then the French walnut stock was final inlet and final shaped per the specs we'd come up with. Despite some moaning in the back-ground in regard to using a pattern stock and a pantograph, the metal still must properly be fit by hand. 

At this point you'll have to use your imagination as the pic history remember is "swimming with the fishes".

With the final shaping complete the sanding process began. Then the cross bolts, recoil pad and rear swivel base were installed followed by sealer and the 1st coats of finish. The Wells trigger was now attached to the underside of the receiver again. 

The rifle was now ready to actually shoot, except for one small set back.

Up to this point the rifle had never been dry fired, there was no need. The safety wing and striker cam angle wasn't established or timed and didn't really need to be to test fire the rifle. I assembled the bolt sleeve, main spring and cocking piece group together, screwed into the back of the bolt body and cocked the 450 for the 1st time. I then squeezed the trigger to get an idea of what the trigger weight of pull might be like right out of the box. After I doing this procedure about 4 times I noticed that opening the bolt became considerably more difficult every time I dry fired the rifle, what the .........................

I unscrewed the bolt sleeve and pin assembly and removed it from the bolt body and immediately noticed the nose of the firing was bent. Not again !!!!

I was once again the owner of a bolt body that had a firing pin hole drilled off center into the bolt face. 

With a slip fit gauge pin inserted into the firing pin hole the issue is easy clearly evident 

Believe it or not this is the 2nd time I have had a similar bolt in my shop. The 1st being a Hartmann and Weiss magnum Mauser bolt suffering from the very same anomaly, lucky me. Rather than return the entire bolt to Germany as requested by H&W I sought out a master of what I knew was now required. 

I made a call to Greg Tannel owner and operator of Gre-Tan Rifles LLC and explained my dilemma. I described the issue to Greg he chuckled and  replied " no problem, send it over ". I straightened the firing pin tip in the lathe with a brass drift and an indicator then placed both the pin and the bolt body in a box and sent it to Greg and had him bush the bolt face, one of his many talents. In short order the surgically repaired bolt returned and I was finally ready for some range time. 

450 Rigby Part 3

D'Arcy picks up the 450 story again in part 3 

"As mentioned before this FZH receiver was ordered in the annealed state to allow the required machine work to be completed without the use of carbide tooling. It was time to ship the receiver and bolt off to be carburized. 

If you wanted to start a lively argument on the subject of re-heated treating 98's toss out this question in a scrum of rifle builders anywhere in the world, trades shows and conventions are the perfect venue. Liberal alcohol should be applied say an hour before you start this discussion. Let's just say opinions will very. 

This FZH is made from a modern carbon steel with its DNA and heat treating requirements well established and easy to acquire the proper surface hardness and penetration depth when done by professionals.

In due time both parts returned and the work began to re-polish the bolt body and receiver. Yes you can chemically strip off some of the scale and then bead blast the surfaces but the final work is a loathsome job requiring tedious hours of hand work, especially the 2nd time around. But you now have a complete surface envelope of hardened steel on your modified receiver and bolt body.

Once re-polished the receiver face, inner collar, bolt face, lug seats and the rear face of the recoil lugs are trued once again. These operations were all done prior to heat treatment but during the carburizing process  some minor warpage will occur, it is inevitable. If you're lucky very little material will have to be removed  .001 or less would be typical on each surface.

Now the the barrel is properly head spaced by calculating the math and setting back our pre-chambered barrel to accomplish this task, compared to polishing this is easy work. Gauges confirm we have everything in order and dummy rounds are again fed through the barreled action to ensure all is well in the Galaxy6. With the exception of the sight work the metal-work is functional and ready for the pattern stock. 

If you have followed this blog at all you know I prefer to use a pantograph and pattern stock, period. However I did not have a drop box magnum left handed pattern in my inventory. I had couple left hand patterns for Model 70's so I cut the butt section off a right hand 98 long magnum pattern as well a butt stock from a left hand stock and went to work. Sort of like grafting apple trees. 

Having built quite a few iron sight rifles using my receiver sights I have had a fair idea of what my typical LOP, drop and cast measurements were going to be. If you look at these pattern stocks you can already see where the cut pattern has been altered in the past for a previous project, note the saw cut just ahead of the comb nose and the wooden dowel exposed mid way down the grip. Visible below the dowel you can see Bondo and Marine Tex filling in the voids that held the whole thing together. The same application is applied here, cut, move, and splice. Right hand to left, add a bolt stop shelf to the opposite side, more drop, less drop, cast off or on, whatever is required so the client can mount the rifle and be looking down the line of sight comfortably. This grip would feature a Wundhammer swell and a few other cosmetic effects to the comb nose and cheek piece that are out of the ordinary for me, but LB had left index finger damaged in his youth so we needed to deal with how to allow him to best reach to the trigger lever and quickly as this rifle would not be used on ground squirrels. 

When I felt the pattern was pretty close to what we'd need, I installed a secondary recoil lug that was both screwed and soldered on the bottom side of the barrel shank. This barrel would be free-floated once completed so placing the second lug  5" or so forward the receiver would be useless, to say the least. I then installed a Universal Recknagel banded front sight ramp. Normally I would make the front sight ramp which would allow me all kinds of height adjustment correction during the sight regulation process something that was now quite limited with the banded design. I was reminded of the quote from Chief Dan George in the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales "We endeavored to persevere", and so I did. 

It was at this stage, I called a good friend of mine in town who is also left-handed and serves as my test engineer when left handle issue have to be addressed. I handed Roger the 450 and asked him to step outside and mount the rifle quite a few times and give me his impression. As I am a devout right handed shooter that is not all the fond of palm swells I just couldn't get the right feel for what I'd put together. Roger is a keen rifleman and has shot a few buffalo so any input would be appreciated at this point. I got the thumbs up and I went back to work. 

The barreled action was now glass bedded into the pattern stock and the selected piece of California English Walnut was put into the Hoenig Pantograph and cut .250 oversized externally and internally from the pattern then removed from the machine and hung on a peg to breathe. In this roughed state any internal demons bound up in that blank were hopefully set free. 

While installing the barrel band front ramp I also installed a Recknagel barrel band swivel base and cut a dovetail slot into the rear square bridge to accept my rear receiver sight base. Doing some preliminary math gave me the approximate heights required to first shots close to the desired point of impact. 

LB would soon be in the area on his way to hunt deer in Wyoming and a shop visit was planned for him to handle the assembled work to date and allow me to fine tune the pattern as I stood by with a collection of rasp and files and watched him mount the rifle.