Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only .378 Weatherby parent case?

I have read that the .378 Weatherby, .460 weatherby, and .416 weatherby share the same case necked up/down as appropriate. FURTHER, I have read these cases are derived from the .416 Rigby + belt. IF that is true, has Weatherby done anything more to allow the Rigby case to handle so much more pressure? Given that (I understand it to be true that) the .416 Rigby is loaded to around 40,000 CUP, whereas a lot of modern rounds are loaded more like 55,000 CUP, is that really all Weatherby did? or is there more to it? The flip side is that the .416 Rem is essentially a .375 improved and necked out, much like the .458 Lott, allowing .416 rigby performance in a much smaller case by operating at the more modern higher pressures.

Dan

"I have read that the .378 Weatherby, .460 weatherby, and .416 weatherby share the same case necked up/down as appropriate. FURTHER, I have read these cases are derived from the .416 Rigby + belt."

You have hit the nail on the head. Some of us (you can spot us by our scarred eyebrows and detatched retina's) load up our 416 Rigby's to very near 416WBY speeds. Easy to do and still keep pressures down with modern powders. No real need to do so, we just do

Well, that gives me comfort -- I've seen wide variations in loads listed for the .416 Rigby, and it had occurred to me that it could perhaps take a lot more than the SAAMI standard that had been based on loads way back when... I don't think I need the detached retinas or (any more) scope cut scars, not to mention rotator cuff problems. BUT it is a comfort to know there's a lot of wiggle room in the reloading manuals loads...

Dan

Used to be, people would turn the belts off .378/.460 Wby brass to make brass for their Rigbys when the Brithish brass dried up.

with most appropriate powders, it is VERY difficult to overload the rigby with modern cases and rifles and you can get the velocity quite high. I for one, tend to load my rigby to about 2370 fps (this takes about 105 gr powder in my rifle). This is a comparatively comfortable load and I've never been a velocity guy to begin with. I can't say I've seen any performance differences on the animals but have seen dramatic performance differences on the shooters.

utahlefty. That's just about exactly where I load mine. Seems to hit plenty hard but is quite manageable in the recoil. I can easily get another 200 fps+ but it seems all I get is more recoil and no better performance down range.

I believe the Rigby was originally loaded to lower chamber pressures so that dangerously high pressures would not occur even when hunting in temperatures approaching 100F. I could be wrong but I think I read that.

There is truth to that, hunters in Africa/India couldn't afford sticky extraction or a stuck case. Also, the Rigby was origianally a blackpowder cartridge.

"the Rigby was origianally a blackpoweder cartridge"

ID bet you can,t document that the 416 rigby was ever a factory loaded black powder cartidge, IF IT WAS I stand corrected and learned something but ....the first referance I ever saw was a cordite or smokeless load 69 grains, smokeless, 410 grain metal jacket pressure 17 tons mv 2350fps

I don't believe it was BP; but I *think* it WAS cordite, and they were concerned about pressure. My understanding is that the 40,000 CUP is a bit of overkill, but then, who really needs *that* much more in practicality? Certainly, it leaves a ton of wiggle room...

Dan

Sorry, brain cramp. I meant cordite which was, of course, much bulkier than most of today's powders.

http://gsgroup.co.za/fotis.html

Enjoy the 416 WBY story!

The Rigby was always a nitro cellouse based powder platform.

And, SAAMI wasn't even a gleam in it's daddies eyes when Rigby standardized it and "released it to the trade", meaning they elected not to patent it as is possible in Britain, and instead let any gunsmith chamber for it.

The standard for performance was a 410g bullet at @ 2400fps. As time has shown, this delivers a powerful punch in a controlable package, making it an outstanding "medium" bore cartridge.

I love mine.

Did they release it to the trade? Boddington's 'Safari Rifles' states that only Rigby chambered for it.(talking about the first decades of existence)