Gibbs/Rigby/ Whitworth Rifles

[highwallbo]

I recently assumed ownership of a Pedersoli Gibbs rifle and now have had a chance to play with it .
In the course of learning to shoot this rifle the one thing that absolutely stands out about this rifle is, it flat out shoots! Gorgoeus barrel,I have not shot it past 100 yds.just tryng to get the loads down and the cleaning between shot regimine.I am surprised at how exact one must be wiping the bore and must be dry! I am pouring 100gr. Swiss 1 1/2 down a 36" drop tube with a greased felt wad ,tamped with stainless steel range rod then a .448-540gr swaged Postel and all lit up with CCI magnum caps.It will put all 5 shots in the 10 ring @ 100 yds.
I am getting near MOA groups. I just junked the Pedersoli sight and got a base from MVA and mounted a MVA 108 soule. I had to put .012 of shim under the Pedersoli to time the front sight to the rear. With the MVA sight and base it was perfectly timed!Pedersoli did put a pretty good front sight on ,the bubble is a little small on the spirit level other than that it's as good as a MVA.
I have been shooting a Shilo Sharps Sporter #1 45-2.1 for the past couple of years and have shot thousands of rounds through the Sharps and Highwalls and nothing has come close to what this Gibbs has shown on the 100yd. line. I bought this rifle fot the 1000 yd. line. I am all smiles :drinks: :drinks:

[johniv]

Good on ya,keep up the good work.!!!

[45 2.1]

I have been shooting a Shilo Sharps Sporter #1 45-2.1 for the past couple of years and have shot thousands of rounds through the Sharps and Highwalls and nothing has come close to what this Gibbs has shown on the 100yd. line.

That 45 2.1 can be made to shoot every bit as well or better. You just need a fitted boolit.

[Buckshot]

...............My Rigby:

http://www.fototime.com/79E8B23CAB84AC7/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/103B7CD70CB7B7A/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/BE135D6E73B7ADE/standard.jpg

Some of the slugs I've shot in my Whitworth:

http://www.fototime.com/80FE2905B341AA5/standard.jpg

That 100gr charge sounds healthy, but all rifles are different. I understand the Perdersoli Gibbs is one fine shooting machine and set a new record at the LR matches at Quantico.

I work weekend nights so I'm not able to take part in any matches. The local range only goes to 200 meters. The farthest I've ever been able to shoot was 600 yards at the range in Sierra Vista, AZ using my Parker-Hale Whitworth. It was a hanging steel diamond about a foot square. Two reasons it could be seen. First was the rangemaster pointed it out and second was the 600 yard line was on a bulldozed cut on a hillside. The light colored dirt allowed the black speck to be seen.

I had to switch from an apurture to a post as the speck would disappear in the apurture. My favorite load was 85.0grs of Elephant 2Fg via a drop tube. Then a lubed felt wad, grease cookie and a card wad run down all at once, then a Saeco # 745 @ 530grs and sized .450". This was thier silhuette bay and they had hanging steel targets every 100 yards. I had 200 yard sight settings already so smacked it a couple times.

Since the P-H Whitworth is a copy of a 1862 Military Match rifle it has military type sights (other then a hooded insert type front). I stood the ladder up and ran the elevator to the '6'. It was close but it took a couple more rounds to find the plate. Of 25 deliberate shots fired I hit the plate 18 times. Even at the l;ast I was not used ot how long it took for the sound to come back. The rangemaster watching through his spotting scope would tell me I hit before I'd hear it.

We had a nice mild breeze from our 3 o'clock. I'd fire and the breeze would just lift the powder smoke and I'd think, "Crap, I missed" but the rangemaster would say Hit! and a second later you'd hear a faint clang! Neat stuff, lemme tell ya.

................Buckshot

[highwallbo]

Buckshot,
Thank you for the great information.
Can ask you what sight you have on your Gibbs?
If I remember correctly,you built that rifle from one of Pecatonica River's kits and had to do some tang enhancements to properly fit the rear sight, nice rifle. Your copy of the Whitworth how is it as a shooter?
What is the cast size of your boolit before they are sized.
I have been buying the Gibbs ML boolits from Buffalo Arms, they appear to be a sized(.448) Lyman Postel. I have 2 .45- cal moulds ,Paul Jones Creedmoore 540gr.,Lyman Postel 535gr.
You see any problems with sizing these boolits to .449? both moulds cast at .458.
Is there enough lube left in the G.G. for easy cleaning. I assume that is what Buffalo Arms is doing. Is that how you are getting properly sized boolits for your Gibbs and Whitworth rifles.
Thanks again.

[Buckshot]

...........highwallbo, sorry for the tardy response. Between work (and no internet there anymore) a bathroom build, machine work on the side, and seasonal stuff it's hard to get time to spend here.

"Can ask you what sight you have on your Gibbs? "

........It's a ah............. creation :-) It's one of those Italian sights that had the single pivit screw at the bottom for additional windage. They call'em flip flops. You'd actually lean the staff. I cut that off. I made the block by milling a slot to straddle the lump I soldered to the tang, then drilled a crosshole for the mounting screw.

From the top of the block I drilled down and installed the spring and plunger from an M1 Garand extractor. The D&T'd the top of the hole for an adjusting screw. You can just see the slotted head of it in the photo. Then I MiG welded the staff to the block. Works rather well, which surprized me.

"Your copy of the Whitworth how is it as a shooter?"

............It's as nice as a person could ask for once I quite trying to re-invent what the British had worked out 140 years ago. See my comments about shooting it at 600 yards.

"What is the cast size of your boolit before they are sized."

.............The ones designed for 45 cal rifles are all .458(ish) cast of pure lead. The 457gr Lyman 457121's cast at.452".

"You see any problems with sizing these boolits to .449? both moulds cast at .458."

.............I go from ,458" to .450-.451", so what's another thousandth? If you're serious you should seriously look into a custom mould dropping what you want from the git-go.

"Is there enough lube left in the G.G. for easy cleaning?"

..............I use a lubed felt wad, a grease cookie and a cardwad under the slug. I have no problems in re-loading down a fired bore. What happens is eventual fouling in the breech, and you may find a fouling ring developing at the powder-wad location. It's cumulative and you eventually have to clean to the breech. Bore fouling is of no consequence and I don't clean between shots. You shouldn't have to.

..................Buckshot