Ruger 416 Rigby RSM feeding?

[RudiB]

How reliable do these in 416 Rigby feed? I am only intetested in DG rifles that feed…

Please give me your thoughts if you have first hand experience with one.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

I have only had experience with one Ruger .416 Rigby. I found it to feed 100% and was very accurate with Federal ammunition.

 

[sierraone]

I have owned three RSM .416 Rigbys. Still own one. I have never owned one that didn't feed. None of the three ever went to a smith during my ownership. Still own a .404J converted from a .RSM .375 H&H and a Ruger Express in .300 Win Mag. Neither the .404J nor the .300 Win mag have ever misfired or not fed. The buff in the avatar was taken with a single shot from my .404J. I think you are worrying about a t non existent problem unless you just happen to buy a lemon. Might add that all of these rifles shoot more accurate than I am able to shoot.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Buzz Chartlon used to employ one as his dangerous game backup rifle before switching to a Heym Model 88B in .500 Nitro express. He found the Ruger to be as excellent as a bolt action rifle can possibly be.

 

[deewayne2003]

I kicked myself ever since selling my last RSM in .416Rigby; so when the chance came up to buy another one I jumped on it!

 

[JimmyJack54]

I have owned three RSM .416 Rigbys. Still own one. I have never owned one that didn't feed. None of the three ever went to a smith during my ownership. Still own a .404J converted from a .RSM .375 H&H and a Ruger Express in .300 Win Mag. Neither the .404J nor the .300 Win mag have ever misfired or not fed. The buff in the avatar was taken with a single shot from my .404J. I think you are worrying about a t non existent problem unless you just happen to buy a lemon. Might add that all of these rifles shoot more accurate than I am able to shoot.

@sierraone, I’m interested to know what all work was done in order to convert the RSM .375HH to .404J? The .375 has the reputation to be heavy for caliber among the RSMs. If you experienced this pre-conversion, did you notice an appreciable difference post-conversion? Given you still have the 404J you must be pleased with the conversion.

I have a RSM in 458 Lott and a 300WM Express and haven’t experienced feeding issues with either.

 

[flatwater bill]

Got rid of my CZ, and got two RSM rifles.....feed problems solved.....FWB

 

[sierraone]

@sierraone, I’m interested to know what all work was done in order to convert the RSM .375HH to .404J? The .375 has the reputation to be heavy for caliber among the RSMs. If you experienced this pre-conversion, did you notice an appreciable difference post-conversion? Given you still have the 404J you must be pleased with the conversion.

I have a RSM in 458 Lott and a 300WM Express and haven’t experienced feeding issues with either.

I bought the converted rifle from .375 to .404 from @AZDAVE in October 2016. The conversion he made was a .404 barrel, a flat finish and an extra long recoil pad. He has a very long LOP. By re -barreling the rifle, he lost the intergral rear sights. I bought the rifle to have a .404. I immediately sent the rifle to a smith (can't remember the name in Alabama, he passed away three years ago, and had him refinish in near new condition. That is the photo shown except it has a 1x5 Weaver scope on it It weighs about 10 pounds.

The gunsmith I used to bring it back to "normal" in my opinion was John Gallagher of Jasper Al. But he passed about 3 years ago.

 

[Doug3006]

RSMs have a solid reputation for reliability…feeding included. The Hawkeye that replaced the RSM has a somewhat more checkered reputation. My hunting buddy and I had bought 2 Hawkeye Alaskans in 416 Ruger for our first go at Buffalo. Neither would feed properly even after being returned to the factory. Ken Jorgenson at Ruger sent us Hawkeye Africans to replace them. Apparently the feeding issues were a known issue. The Hawkeye Africans performed well in all respects.

 

[318AE]

I have one (had a 375 too). It feeds. There are some elephant and buffalo that “know” that now…. These rifles were undervalued for years. Hard to get that much express rifle at the price these often sell for….

 

[JimmyJack54]

I bought the converted rifle from .375 to .404 from @AZDAVE in October 2016. The conversion he made was a .404 barrel, a flat finish and an extra long recoil pad. He has a very long LOP. By re -barreling the rifle, he lost the intergral rear sights. I bought the rifle to have a .404. I immediately sent the rifle to a smith (can't remember the name in Alabama, he passed away three years ago, and had him refinish in near new condition. That is the photo shown except it has a 1x5 Weaver scope on it It weighs about 10 pounds.

The gunsmith I used to bring it back to "normal" in my opinion was John Gallagher of Jasper Al. But he passed about 3 years ago.

Very nice looking rifle. I was wondering about the quarter rib.

John Gallagher had a great reputation for his Ruger wheel gun work. His rifle builds look really nice although I’ve not held one. Yours is the first rifle I've seen come out of their shop with a wood stock. John’s son, Issac, is now running the shop.

Also, my RSM 458 Lott carries a Weaver 1-5x24. So far so good.

 

[sierraone]

I bought the converted rifle from .375 to .404 from @AZDAVE in October 2016. The conversion he made was a .404 barrel, a flat finish and an extra long recoil pad. He has a very long LOP. By re -barreling the rifle, he lost the intergral rear sights. I bought the rifle to have a .404. I immediately sent the rifle to a smith (can't remember the name in Alabama, he passed away three years ago, and had him refinish in near new condition. That is the photo shown except it has a 1x5 Weaver scope on it It weighs about 10 pounds.

The gunsmith I used to bring it back to "normal" in my opinion was John Gallagher of Jasper Al. But he passed about 3 years ago.

@AZDAVE, I couldn't find a pic I have of the .404 as I received it from you. (I do have one somewhere) If you have time, please explain to @JimmyJack54 what you had done to the rifle before you sold it to me and I sent it to my smith, since passed away. Thanks.

 

[Labman]

I have an RSM in 416 Rigby. The only, albeit minor, problem I had with feeding was with Barnes flat nose solid bullets. The last (bottom) round would sometimes faill to feed. I solved the problem simply by loading a round nose solid in its place. With the round nose bullet on the bottom of the mag feeding has been 100%. Barnes 400 Gr. TSX and Hornady interlocks of the same weight feed with no probems.