416 Rigby rings a bell! Brother and I knew a gunsmith that went by the name of Eric Woods (passed away a couple years ago). He specialized in big bore African rifles, and was very well known for his work. He took my brother with him to some kind of a big bore shoot in Kentucky. Take three or four rifles with him, and the first rifle was a Griffen & Howe bolt gun. Pulls out three rounds and loads the rifle, then hands it to my brother to shoot. Brother be a brave sort, goes upto the line and kicks off a round in the standing position. To quote my brother, he said it whipped him around like a wet dish rag. Not wanting to admit to Eric that this may have been one too many, he pops off a second round. Felt like it broke every bone in his body. About this time a guy walks up beside him with a .477 double just as he was about to fire the third round. He fires as the other guy fires, and the blast like to ate him up from the .477. He thought the bolt gun blew up! Eric walks up to him with three more rounds, and brother said it was his turn as he didn't think he could stand another hit on his shoulder right now! Eric then hands him a beautiful .450 Nitro Express #2 to try. Told Eric that he would in a few minutes as he wanted to rest up. In the mean time Eric shoots the .450, and a beautiful .470 H&H double rifle. Brother shoots the .450, and decides he's done for the day. His shoulder was black & blue for almost three weeks!
Eric was the guy most folks sent the rifles in to be rebuilt and tuned up for a dangerous game hunt. His shop always had twenty doubles being worked on, as he was that good at his craft. Served his apprenticeship at Purdy in the UK, and was actually from Scotland. We lost him to Leukemia.
gary
