Spencer's double rifle from the 1923 TV Series

[longbow51]

I could have done without the BDSM stuff though, and my wife 1000% could have. In real Montana someone would have lynched that guy. And unnecessary deaths. Overall good though.

 

[noharleyyet]

Watched Ep1 of season 2 last night. Fading interest might be because of spoilers or Sheridan's lazy writing...probably both.

 

[Thundering Death]

Did any of my fellow 1923 watchers happen to catch Spencer disclosing the caliber of his double rifle in last night's episode? No doubt the rifle and caliber are correct for the period.

.416 Rigby

The .416 Rigby / 10.57x73mm is a rifle cartridge designed in 1911 by London based gunmaker John Rigby & Company, for hunting dangerous game. It is the first cartridge to use a bullet of .416-inch (10.57 mm) diameter bullet.

I called BS when he said that was the caliber because I always understood that to be a rimless cartridge that wasn't suitable for doubles. It was designed from the beginning to be used in bolt/magazine rifles. However, there are currently doubles in that chambering. Just not sure if there were any back then, because the extractors and ejectors are quite a bit more complicated to design and make work correctly, and I don't know enough about the history of doubles to speak authoritatively on exactly when they figured that out.

Definitely an awesome round. I've been within a whisker of buying one a few times and talked myself out of it for one reason or another. I'm sure some day I'll give in to the temptation.

 

[Thundering Death]

I thought the .416 rigby was designed to specifically offer a similar alternative to all the Nitro Express cartridges, but in a bolt rifle, therefore cheaper?
Is has a rebated rim, which would seem really problematic in a double rifle with something trying to eat you.

I thought the same thing--and I'm pretty sure we're both right. They've made a few doubles in that cartridge, but I don't believe there were any around that far back in time. It's a bugger to get rimless cartridges to work in doubles, and took a while to perfect the technology. This chat group made similar points: https://www.africahunting.com/threads/yellowstone-prequel-1923-double-rifle.91558/

I'm a little surprised the writers were that sloppy with their research. Is as if one of them just wrote in the name of the only huge dangerous game cartridge he happened to know about without first determining whether it was plausible for such a rifle to be so chambered. There were plenty of very powerful big doubles back then in 450 and 500 NE, etc. that would have made the script more realistic.