Ruger Guide Gun 416

[TOBY458]

Well......in a moment of weakness, after seeing Charlie Austin's buffalo pictures, I broke down and ordered a new Ruger Guide Gun in 416 Ruger. Budweiser and Gunbroker don't mix! .
To those who have this gun, what velocity are you getting in the 20" barrel with 400gr bullets?

 

[CAustin]

You go Toby. You will love that rifle.

 

[CTDolan]

Toby, you can expect 2,250 fps with 400 grain bullets if you reload and 2,350 fps with Hornady factory loads (they use a proprietary powder not available to the public).

If you do reload, Alliant’s Reloder 15 is the powder of choice.

 

[TOBY458]

Toby, you can expect 2,250 fps with 400 grain bullets if you reload and 2,350 fps with Hornady factory loads (they use a proprietary powder not available to the public).

If you do reload, Alliant’s Reloder 15 is the powder of choice.

Thanks for the info! So basically I'll be shooting the equivalent of a 404 Jeffrey. I do reload, and have a couple of cans of RL15 on hand. It seems to work well for most bottle neck large medium bore rifles.

 

[CAustin]

Thanks for the info! So basically I'll be shooting the equivalent of a 404 Jeffrey. It seem like I've read good things about such ballistics......

I have read posts by reloaders on this site that it is similar to the 450/400 in many aspects. Anyway it gets the job done.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

A very detailed, 2 part article on the 416 Ruger w/ 20 inch barrel from Realguns.com. Part 2 has a fair amount of reloading data.

https://www.realguns.com/archives/172.htm/
https://www.realguns.com/archives/177.htm/

 

[TOBY458]

A very detailed, 2 part article on the 416 Ruger w/ 20 inch barrel from Realguns.com. Part 2 has a fair amount of reloading data.

https://www.realguns.com/archives/172.htm/
https://www.realguns.com/archives/177.htm/

Definitely a lot of good info there! Thanks!

 

[spike.t]

Budweiser and Gunbroker don't mix! .

congrats ...but i didnt think anything mixed with budweiser..........

 

[TOBY458]

congrats ...but i didnt think anything mixed with budweiser..........

My bank account feels the same! But you shouldn't trash talk The King Of Beer!

 

[Art Lambart II]

Congrats on the new rifle, let us know how it shoots.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Thanks for the info! So basically I'll be shooting the equivalent of a 404 Jeffrey. I do reload, and have a couple of cans of RL15 on hand. It seems to work well for most bottle neck large medium bore rifles.

Congrats on the buy. I'm not sure how much you've worked with RL15 and so maybe you've already seen this. But RL15 has a reputation for significant lot to lot variability. I have developed loads with RL15 and in it's areas of use it is a great powder. The last load I developed I believe was for my son's .308 Win and it was a good load. But when I ran out of that can I went got a big jug of it and the same load did not give the same accuracy. I had to tweak with that load a bit. Don't remember exactly how much it differed, but it was more than 1/10th of a grain or so. More like off by 1-2gr from original load. So don't be surprised if you have to rework the load you developed using the now empty can. And to be safe, you should start a couple grains lower with a new can.

An alternative is using Hodgdon Varget which is pretty identical in burn rate. It has a better reputation for less lot to lot variation.

 

[johnnyblues]

Good luck with the new rifle. I have the guide gun in 375 Ruger and just love it. Sweet handling accurate gun.

 

[TOBY458]

Congrats on the buy. I'm not sure how much you've worked with RL15 and so maybe you've already seen this. But RL15 has a reputation for significant lot to lot variability. I have developed loads with RL15 and in it's areas of use it is a great powder. The last load I developed I believe was for my son's .308 Win and it was a good load. But when I ran out of that can I went got a big jug of it and the same load did not give the same accuracy. I had to tweak with that load a bit. Don't remember exactly how much it differed, but it was more than 1/10th of a grain or so. More like off by 1-2gr from original load. So don't be surprised if you have to rework the load you developed using the now empty can. And to be safe, you should start a couple grains lower with a new can.

An alternative is using Hodgdon Varget which is pretty identical in burn rate. It has a better reputation for less lot to lot variation.

I happen to have some Varget too. Thanks so much for all the info!

 

[lwaters]

Great round. I shot my first and only buffalo with a 416 Ruger Alaskan.

 

[larry4831]

I use PowerPro 2000. I'll have to shoot it over the graph sometime and see what velocities I'm getting.

 

[lwaters]

I have seen a lot of loads for the 375 ruger using reloader 17. Haven't seen any for the 416.

 

[ldmay375]

If you are a Swift bullet user, The Swift Reloading Manual Number 2 has several loads.
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Well......in a moment of weakness, after seeing Charlie Austin's buffalo pictures, I broke down and ordered a new Ruger Guide Gun in 416 Ruger. Budweiser and Gunbroker don't mix! .
To those who have this gun, what velocity are you getting in the 20" barrel with 400gr bullets?

 

[ChrisG]

I have the African with a 23" barrel and the best velocity you are likely to get will be with Alliant 2000-MR powder. Reloader 15 works but it is abut too fast to eek all the speed out of the cartridge that it's capable of. Using 2000-MR, I can push a monometal Barnes solid to 2300 FPS and a lead core to 2350. You'll lose some for the shorter barrel. It's a great cartridge. I can't wait till more reloading data is available for it.

 

[TOBY458]

I have the African with a 23" barrel and the best velocity you are likely to get will be with Alliant 2000-MR powder. Reloader 15 works but it is abut too fast to eek all the speed out of the cartridge that it's capable of. Using 2000-MR, I can push a monometal Barnes solid to 2300 FPS and a lead core to 2350. You'll lose some for the shorter barrel. It's a great cartridge. I can't wait till more reloading data is available for it.

Good info! I imagine the shorter barrel will lose around 75fps. The actual data I've seen with the 20" barrel shows around 2275 fps with lead core bullets.

 

[CAustin]

375 Ruger fan thanks for sharing the article above.