Big Bore reloading powder selection

[skydiver386]

I've recently purchased several large caliber rifles in 416 Rigby, 458 Lott, 450 Rigby and others, and I need powder to feed them.

I have reloading manuals from Lee, Barnes, Woodleigh and several others, but 450 Rigby Data is limited.

RL-19 Seems to be one of the go to powders for these calibers, but the major retailers are all out if stock. Other powders listed are
H450
H4831
IMR4350
VV N160
AR2209

I've also seen Win 760 and Varget listed, but mostly light bullet for caliber loads.

What are powders you've had the best luck with in heavy for caliber loads with Swift A-Frames or Barnes X bullets?

 

[Hyde Hunter]

to start off with you will have a hard time finding Swift bullets they are always out of stock. For my Lott I used Rl7 but with only 400 gr bullets, you can try AA2230, AA2200, H335, you can also contact CEB bullets and request load data for the 458 Lott with their 470 gr Safari Raptor and 450 gr Safari Solid

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

My .375HH loves IMR4350 with 300gr projectiles. I had a .416 Rigby that shot 400gr bullets with H4831 very well. Of the .470NE doubles I've owned, H4831 also worked very well with 500gr bullets.

Now on the .470NE, I've recently become a IMR3031 (much faster burning in comparison to H4831) with a foam backer rod wad. The downside of the slow burning H4831 is you use a lot of it and with that comes increased recoil.

 

[skydiver386]

to start off with you will have a hard time finding Swift bullets they are always out of stock. For my Lott I used Rl7 but with only 400 gr bullets, you can try AA2230, AA2200, H335, you can also contact CEB bullets and request load data for the 458 Lott with their 470 gr Safari Raptor and 450 gr Safari Solid

Oh I've had to beg, steal and borrow to get the few A-Frames that I have. They are easier to find Data for than the Barnes or other mono bullets.

 

[Luvthunt]

458Lott IMR 4320 in the past Now Tac
416 Rigby H4350
375 HH Re 15…IMR 4350

 

[Andrew NOLA]

FWIW, not directly on point to the question. I was loading 416 Ruger yesterday with 400 TSX Barnes and CFE 223 with stellar results. Bullets touching at 100 and 3 inch group at 300. Alliant Power Pro 2000-MR is another one to consider. I went with the CFE 223 to hopefully help with the barrel coppering issue I see with monolithic bullets. Length is very important on Barnes. They like to jump. I don't have experience loading Swifts.

Load data from XXLreloading.com for the 450 Rigby. They are subscription based, minor amount per year, great source of data . You might consider them.

Load data for 190 loads in caliber .450 Rigby with .458 | 500gr | Barnes TSX FB bullet and 95 powders such as Alliant Power Pro 2000-MR, Alliant Reloder-17, Hodgdon CFE223, ReloadSwiss RS 52, ReloadSwiss RS 60. Below is sorted by velocity. They do say they have built in a 10% safety margin, so do not be discouraged by the speeds below.

 

[Mr. T]

I have loaded some for the 416 Rigby using RL22, IMR and H 4350. I have loaded quite a bit for the 458Lott using many powders, but mostly stick with Tac, AA2520, W748 and H335. Rl15 was probably my favorite, but it is hard to find. I have TS 15.5, but have yet to use it in the Lott. It does work very well in the 470 NE. I mostly run Varget, W748 and TS 15.5 in the 470.

 

[analog_peninsula]

For .500 A2 and similar, H335 is the simple choice. For .458 Lott, AA2460 is also a no brainer, with H4198 for reduced loads. In .416 Weatherby, I've used IMR 4451 (discontinued), H450 (discontinued), and H414 (maybe discontinued?, 300 grain bullets). In actual hunting, I've mostly downloaded the Weatherby to modern Rigby levels. To be perfectly honest, I haven't found any of these cartridges to be particularly sensitive to powder selection. They're all so powerful that 50-75 fps one way or the other is meaningless in the real world.

 

[Andrew NOLA]

Midwayusa has Reloder 15.5 as well as Reloder 17 right now

I find IMR 4350 and H4350 to be very similar to Reloder 19. I cant find 19 anywhere

 

[MLindsay]

Use Varget for my 500 A2

 

[Tintin]

This thread may be of interest

Thread '450 Rigby Load Advice'

Nov 2, 2020

Good Day Gents!

We have always been forced to use Somchem powders in South Africa, but with things going a bit south on their side we have also been fortunate to be able to access some international powders.

I recently acquired a 450 Rigby and have messed around a bit with 480gr Hornady DGX for the range and also some 550gr Woodleighs to get people's attention with

All of this with loads of Somchem S365 between 101gr and 105gr (Somchem S365 is similar to N550, H4350 etc)

I also purchased some Sako factory ammo loaded with the 450gr Swift A-frame doing average 2350fps+ out of my 22"...

• DWB
• Replies: 18
• Forum: Reloading

• 

 

[Tintin]

There's also a good article by Karl Stumpfe

A Google search for 'Karl Stumpfe article 450 Rigby' or similar should find it.

African Dangerous Game Cartridges, by Pierre an der Walt also has some .450 Rigby data, and is available on Kindle.

African Dangerous Game Cartridges eBook : an der Walt, Pierre: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

African Dangerous Game Cartridges eBook : an der Walt, Pierre: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

www.amazon.com.au