Nothing stokes the fires of my latent Anglophilia quite like invoking the magical name of Rigby. Frontier Partisans know that my aspirational rifle is the Rigby Highland Stalker.
John Rigby & Co. was founded in 1775 — the same year that the first shots were fired in the civil war in the North American colonies of the British Empire. The unfortunate — but necessary — estrangement was reconciled in the late 19th Century and the Anglosphere established the Special Relationship in the 20th Century.
It is hard to contemplate what the UK is making itself into these days, but at least there was a celebration last spring of the semiquincentennial of this iconic gunmaker.
Rigby has released a video documenting the event. I got a kick out of a glimpse of the legendary Rigby-wielding African PH Jonn Sharp in suit-and-tie with his signature headband…
Russ Lucas says
Someday, someway only question is 275 or 308
David Wrolson says
One of my regrets about my first Africa (Zimbabwe buffalo hunt) trip in 2013 is that I didn’t know about John Sharp then. I wish I had and at least tried to hunt with his firm -even if it was a PH that works for him-versus the kind of a joke outfit that I ended up going with.
I would love to have had some interaction with him.
JimC says
The most picturesque PH in Africa — and the real deal for all that.
deuce says
If ‘there will always be an England’, I’d like to think that there will always be a Rigby.
BTW, it just struck me that the Rigby monogram/logo bears a general resemblance to JRRT’s monogram.