.416 Rigby

Mr. 16 gauge said:

I had found a great deal on a CZ550 in .416 Rigby; did my research as far as reloading.....most of the powders listed I already used. Then I went to a local gun shop that supposedly caters to those who hunt Africa.......they had one box of .416 Rigby cartridges (20 rds) at $200/box! They also had 4-5 different boxes of .375 H&H cartridges, the cheapest being $3/rd.

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This is exactly what I have found. The cheapest loaded .375H&H ammunition I can find is £211 - per hundred! .416 Rigby will likely cost close to that for one box of 20. The same manufacturer doesn't even make Rigby ammo.

Home loading, the cost will be significantly lower. Still not cheap but acceptable. I can load a Rigby round with quality bullets for approximately £2.50 each, so not too much more than the cheap H&H factory stuff. With a cast bullet I can half that cost, allowing 100 rounds worth of initial setup cost for the bullet mould and sizer die.

It won't be cheap to shoot, but I will be able to get the cost down to a level I can tolerate. The biggest expense is brass and the fact that I will only get about 80 rounds from a tub of powder!

Njc, your analysis of the reloading costs of a 416 Rigby are right on the money. Re. only getting 80 rounds per "tub" of powder, that is ok as well. I don't know about you but my 416 isn't my favorite plinking rifle. Once I got it sighted in it tends to stay in the safe while other more comfortable rifles go to the range. For me the ratio is at least 100 /1. Now if and or when a DG hunt was to be undertaken, no doubt my bigger bores would get more use. Do you have any access to bulk and or blemished bullets? From time to time these become available in the States. When available they cost less than $0.50 apiece. While I wouldn't use them for hunting they make great paper punchers.

I'm not sure how much I'll shoot the gun until I've fired it. I haven't even got the thing yet, so will need to assess my tolerance of the recoil. My .375H&H didn't bother me at all when I had it, so I'm expecting the Rigby to be usable for a few rounds per range visit at least.

Little and often seems to be the key. I really am guessing though until I have experienced it first hand. It's my intention to shoot it as much as I can, most likely with cast bullets most of the time. The great thing about these big bores is they tend to have a relatively low velocity, so lead bullets function ok. Once the moulds have been purchased, old bits of scrap lead are easy to come by and I alloy it with old pewter mugs to get a bit of tin into it cheaply. I also have a big bin of scrap printers type, which can be mixed in to harden the alloy as and when required. I have enough materials here to make 10,000 bullets or more before I need to think about buying/finding more.

We don't see blemished bullets often. Certainly not in big bore offerings. Our market is just too small I think.

Njc as a case in point a friend of mine bought 500 Hornady Solids for his 470 NE for $150.00, several days later I purchased 500 Hornady solids for my 404 Jeffery at the same price $0.30 each. Sometimes you just get lucky. I think most reloaders tend to buy in bulk when the prices are right.

I think being patient is the way forward. Now and again people sell up or change guns and have things left over that they don't need. Again in Britain I wouldn't expect to see that happen often with .416 stuff but you never know your luck. I just paid £65 for 100 Woodleighs, 50 soft and 50 solid. I don't know whether that's good or not but it'll get me started. It's hard to find bullets like that anywhere here so I grabbed them when I had the chance!

njc110381 said:

........ I grabbed them when I had the chance!

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That is a good plan.

njc110381 said:

Unfortunately I have to avoid most Hodgdon powders. New REACH regulations (don't ask me what it means!) have banned the import of a lot of powders to the UK. I will most likely be loading Vihtavouri N165 or Alliant Reloder 22.

I have some Woodleigh softs and standard solids on the way. The Hydro's do look very interesting though and I will be trying them when I can source some, as well as Barnes TSX, most likely in 300gr if I can get UK use added to my conditions.

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I got very good results with Vihtavuori N560 and Woodleigh 450 grain solids. 30mm 3 shot group to 150 meters from Sako rifle.

Riksa said:

I got very good results with Vihtavuori N560 and Woodleigh 450 grain solids. 30mm 3 shot group to 150 meters from Sako rifle.

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Good to know, thanks. I wonder how long a barrel lasts on a big bore like these? I was thinking I'd avoid double base powders but I'm not sure how much it matters in these low intensity rounds. There's a lot of powder to burn but at the same time they are hardly overbore!

A big Thank You to Barnes for their usual impeccable customer service...

njc110381 said:

With regards to the Rigby, has anyone used the 300gr TSX in it? I can't find any load data for it!

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Hello njc110381,

I verified on the web, and indeed the Barnes data sheet for the .416 Rigby does not list the 300 gr TSX.

So, I sent to Barnes the following email...

From: "pascal"
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2019 10:52 AM
To: Barnes Receptionist <BarnesReceptionist@remington.com>
Subject: 300 gr .416 TSX FB load data for a .416 Rigby

Hello;
I notice that your .416 Rigby load data does not include the 300 gr TSX FB. Any specific reason? Bullet length vs. twist rate maybe?
If available, please kindly provide load data.
Thanks
Pascal

... and I received the following answer:

From: Young, Chase <chasey@barnesbullets.com>
To: "pascal"
Sent: Mon, Feb 25, 2019 4:24 pm
Subject: RE: 300 gr .416 TSX FB load data for a .416 Rigby

Pascal,
You can certainly load and shoot the 300 gr TSX FB in a 416 Rigby. We are needing to shoot new data on that cartridge and include that bullet, however, I have attached data from our #3 manual. You can use the 300 gr XFB data for loading a 300 gr TSX FB.
You can also use “other” (lead core) bullet load data when loading a Barnes Bullet of equal (or close to) weight. Just be sure to start at the minimum starting load and work up from there in half grain increments watching for signs of pressure such as, a sticky (hard) bolt lift when ejecting the fired case, ejector mark on the case head stamp or flattened/leaky primers. Once you notice any of the pressure signs then you will want to lower the charge about half a grain or so to where no pressure signs are present, and that would technically be “YOUR” rifle's max load. The load data published by all of the companies is just a reference point/guideline to safely start out at the minimum charges.
Thanks, Chase
Chase Young | Consumer Service

Please see the file attached jc110381, and find here under the loading data for the 300 XFB / TSX:



Enjoy!
Pascal

njc110381 said:

Good to know, thanks. I wonder how long a barrel lasts on a big bore like these? I was thinking I'd avoid double base powders but I'm not sure how much it matters in these low intensity rounds. There's a lot of powder to burn but at the same time they are hardly overbore!

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My guess is that the barrel will last a long time as the big bores usually don't get shot too much. I doubt that a hot .338 Lapua load is harder on the barrel, yet also those last 1000-2000 rounds easily if cleaned properly.

Thanks Pascal - very helpful indeed. So the 300gr can be pushed to nearly 3000fps... That's impressive! I reckon that should make a decent plains game load?!

2000 rounds. I wonder if shooting cast lead can increase that a bit? Saying that, at 50 rounds per month that's still a good life really. And I don't suppose it will consistently see that many through it.

njc110381 said:

Will do, thanks. I have 22 here but can get the others too. I use 15 in my light 6.5x55 loads and 10x in my 500gr .45-70 loads. It's not the cleanest of powders but it performs pretty well in my experience with the smaller rounds.

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RL 17 burn rate is similar to AR2209/H4350 and reportedly temperature stable.

As advised cast bullets are great training loads. I use Trail Boss or AR2206 Alliant don't have similar powders so as sugested get onto the castboolits web site.

When firing the 416Rigby from the bench it can boot, so use good padding. Then go to shooting from sticks or the same gear they use for sighting doubles. When standing they are easy to shoot as you roll with the recoil.

Rule 303 said:

As advised cast bullets are great training loads. I use Trail Boss or AR2206 Alliant don't have similar powders so as sugested get onto the castboolits web site.

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Vihtavouri make a powder called N32c which has a very similar performance to Trail Boss and I have a tub of it here. I need to find out more about it but I believe it will work, and I have Quickload data for it which was provided by a very kind chap on here.

I'm a member of Cast Boolits. It has some very knowledgeable members and they're pretty helpful.

I quite enjoy shooting from sticks. I do most of my field shooting off of quad sticks as the grass is often too long for a bipod. I'm certain my first shot with the gun won't be prone. I'll move on to that once I know what it feels like standing!