I’d finished a hunt in the Cotswolds region of Southwestern England in the fall of 2024, and the wife and I had decided to take a few days in London, for some sightseeing and relaxation. Though we arrived midday Friday and left early Monday morning, I figured I’d reach out to my pal Marc Newton, the Managing Director of the famous John Rigby & Company, headquartered on Pensbury Place in good ol’ Londontown. “Sorry mate, we’re shut down over the weekend. Timing’s bad, but next time for sure. By the way, which hotel are you staying at?”
I informed Marc of the hotel, and he asked me to wait for 45 minutes, and there’d be an envelope for me at the desk. And, as promised, an envelope there was. “John Rigby & Co. requests the pleasure of your company at their 250th Anniversary Celebrations…” The date was set for Friday, May 16, 2025, and since I’d been at the inaugural hunt for the Rigby Highland Stalker in Scotland back in 2017, I knew this would be a very, very special event.
Mention the name Rigby to the average American hunter, and the association with the fabled .416 Rigby cartridge will immediately be made. That is to be expected, as that cartridge is their most famous, yet there is so much more to the company that needs to be celebrated. Founded in Dublin, Ireland in 1775 by John Rigby, his sons moved his company to London, England in 1865. Rigby’s famous rising bite double barreled action was patented in 1879, and in 1895 Rigby’s was responsible for what would become the benchmark dangerous game cartridge: the 450 Nitro Express. Transitioning into the smokeless powder era, Rigby would partner with Mauser to develop a series of rock-solid cartridges housed in Mausers utterly reliable bolt-action rifles. The .275 Rigby (which is nothing more and nothing less than a rebranding of the 7x57 Mauser, in 1907), .350 Rigby Magnum (1908), and the .416 Rigby (1911/12) were housed in Mauser barreled actions, with the British furniture.
With fine double rifles and shotguns, and affordable Rigby/Mauser repeating rifles, many British Colonies saw the Rigby brand take the field in pursuit of everything from game birds to elephant. From India to Southeast Asia, from Australia to East Africa, and from the Americas to the home isle, a Rigby firearm was well-respected. Much of that head of steam was curtailed with the outbreak of The Great War (WWI) when international hunting travel all but ceased. Between the Wars, Rigby provided many hunters and travelers with fine firearms—though ironically, less than 200 416 Rigby rifles were produced in that era—until interrupted once more by the Second World War in 1939. Up to that point, Jim Corbett had hunted man-eating tigers and leopards with his .275 Rigby, and W.D.M. Bell had taken a good portion of his 1,000+ elephants with the same cartridge. The .350 Rigby had garnered a reputation as an East African all-around cartridge, seeing duty in the hands of hunters like Bror von Blixen-Finecke and Denys Finch Hatton. After WWII’s conclusion in 1945, travel picked up again, but the ammunition production for the classic British cartridges began to quickly dwindle. Based on the trends seen in the three decades after the War, the Rigby name might have been no more than a footnote in history, sitting among the ranks of names like Gibbs, Evans, and others who barely survived, were it not for two small, but absolutely crucial events which guaranteed the survival of the Rigby name.
First, a young man named Harry Selby was employed as a Professional Hunter in the firm of Ker & Downey, operating their hunting outfit from Nairobi, Kenya. One day, after a successful hunt, Downey found Selby and his clients in the bush, and stopped to join the celebration. Selby had set his prized .470 NE double rifle down on the ground, and Downey proceeded to back his vehicle over it. Selby replaced it with the only affordable rifle in Nairobi at the time: a used .416 Rigby.
Second, an American journalist named Robert C. Ruark embarked on his first African safari, and chose to hunt with Selby, because he used a tracker who’d hunted with Hemingway and Phil Percival two decades prior. Unbeknownst to Selby—and to the hunting world—his book which documented the experience, Horn of the Hunter, would go on to be an undeniable classic. Ruark exhibited more than a bit of hero worship in his story, but it was one passage which would breathe eternal life into the Rigby name. “He had a dirty, rusty-looking .416 Rigby bolt-action rifle in his hand. He had told me once that it could not hit anything but lions.” I firmly believe that without the book, and Selby’s need to replace his double with that .416 Rigby, the company wouldn’t be what it is today, though darker times were ahead.
By the late 1960s, John Rigby& Co. was sold to David Marx, ending family ownership. In 1982, Paul Roberts had acquired the name, and brought the .450 Rigby cartridge to light. But 15 years later, the company would be sold to an American, with rifles being made in California. Despite the efforts, these did not measure up to the Golden Era of Rigby rifle production. Enter young Marc Newton, an ambitious Englishman who has a serious sense of tradition and pride, and whose efforts saw the company return to Great Britain. Acquired by the Blaser group—the parent group of Mauser—John Rigby & Company rekindled its partnership with Mauser, and moved their production to Pensbury Place in London in 2013. This move, and the appointment of Newton as Managing Director, marks the sea change in Rigby’s history.
First came the revival of the Big Game rifle in 2013, chambered to the .416 Rigby cartridge; it was very well-received by the hunting community. The reintroduction of the Rising Bite double rifle came two years later, and in 2017 Rigby announced the introduction of the Highland Stalker rifle, purpose built for the traditional red stag stalks in the Scottish Highlands, but a great rifle for nearly any hunting situation. Then 2019 saw the introduction of the .416 Rigby No. 2—a rimmed, or flanged, version of the .416 Rigby, designed for single-shot and double rifles. The year 2021 saw the release of the Falling Block single shot rifle, hearkening back to the Farquharsons which F.C. Selous had championed more than a century prior, and in answer to a demand for a more affordable Rigby double rifle, the Shikar was unveiled in 2024. Back was the London’s Best bespoke rifle, and it seems that Rigby’s excellent team just keeps getting better.
The 250th anniversary was finally upon us, with 250 invites being issued to people around the globe. A handful of my American colleagues, as well as friends from Europe, Africa and Australia, gathered in England to celebrate the quarter-millennium. We were whisked away in the morning to the West London Shooting School, where we had the opportunity to reconnect, as well as put the Rigby lineup through its paces at the range. There were stationary Cape buffalo targets, running boar targets, and a 200-yard range for those who wished to take things out a bit farther.
It was the evening’s events that made the celebration so special. All the invitees gathered at Portsmouth harbor, where the famous HMS Victory was docked, undergoing massive renovations. For you history buffs, the HMS Victory was captained by Vice-Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, who was killed onboard during the Battle of Trafalgar off the Spanish coast in October 1805, the battle which saw Great Britain assume global naval superiority. Vice-Admiral Nelson and John Rigby were both born in 1758, the year the Victory was commissioned. Adjoining the Victory was HMS Warrior, an iron-clad warship dating back to the 1860s, upon which we’d be dining.
A military band, in full regalia, entertained guests before we gathered around the stern of Victory, where a bagpiper preceded Marc Newton’s welcoming speech; for the record Willy Wonka was, quite appropriately, quoted twice. After an opportunity to tour the HMS Victory—a fantastic experience—cannon fire marked the moment to follow the band to the HMS Warrior, led by none other than banner-bearer Melissa Rigby, a descendent of John Rigby. The cocktail hour was culminated with a pair of WWII-era Spitfire planes performing aerobatics over the English Channel.
Our dinner was nothing shy of culinary magic, with the menu chosen by world-class chef, and my friend, Mike Robinson. A proper shank of fallow venison was the main course; rather fitting to celebrate the history of Rigby. After dinner, speeches were given, again by Newton, and by Admiral Nelson’s direct descendant, toasts were raised, and rounds of applause swelled the mess deck of HMS Warrior. Retiring to the aft deck of the ship, we concluded with the Waterloo Band and Bugles of the 7th Battalion once again gracing our ears, while musket- and cannon-fire blended with a spectacular fireworks display over Portsmouth Harbor. It was an event unlike any other I’d ever attended.
Each guest was given a special gift: a bracelet made by Down to the Wire, and organized by Blood Origins, made from recovered African snares, and featuring the Rigby logo. Commemorative 250th Anniversary rifles are available—in the Big Game in .416 Rigby, and in the Highland Stalker in .275 Rigby—as well as a number of special anniversary items, from gun racks to clothing and more. Additionally, Rigby has a very limited amount of commemorative rifles celebrating the HMS Victory, using some reclaimed wood from that flagship.
Hunting is about traditions, and offers an inexorable tie to the past. Rigby, despite its ups and downs, has risen once again to not only celebrate its history, but to cement its place in the present and in the future. If you told a younger me—who sat in class in high school reading the American Hunter, about how Federal Premium was bringing back factory ammunition for the 416 Rigby—that one day I’d be sitting on the port-side mess deck of HMS Warrior in black tie, with Col. Craig Boddington refilling my glass of Madiera wine, I’d have told you that you were crazy. I’m sure Marc Newton feels the same, but as he quoted Mr. Wonka: “we are the music-makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.” Congratulations Mr. Newton, and all at John Rigby & Company on resurrecting such a fine brand, and on a fantastic celebration. And yes, Marc, everyone said the snozberries tasted just like snozberries.
