Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only .416 Rigby CZ Safari Classic

Well here is my standard CZ550 Safari Classic chambered in .416 Rigby.



I purchased the rifle from HPGS for less than A$1,500. It arrived at AFRO408's play pen prior to my PTA. We both opened it together and checked the bedding. All was good with the correct bearing surfaces abutting wood in the furniture and ample space behind the tang so that no splits would occur there. I have read of CZ bedding horrors so time will tell if all is right with this rifle.

There are two very thin cross bolts in the stock. Neither are 90 deg to the stock but will do the job. There was some slight upward pressure from the forend which I will leave alone at this stage. I will only modify it, if hand load accuracy is unsatisfactory.

For scope mounting I ordered a Recknagel roll off ring set from Graeme Spraggon and A$225 later it arrived at home. It looks quite 'funny' but has the benefit of offsetting the scope to the rear. Being a full magnum length action, any extra latitude in mounting the scope is welcomed. I stole the idea for their use from Tilleyman :onya:



When the PTA arrived I went to pick it up and Tony quickly adjusted the set trigger to an initial pull of 3lb. I can still use it set, but never will.

It takes four rounds down in the magazine despite the factory saying it only takes three.
The stock is quite 'chunky' but adds to the weight and the recoil pad is solid rubber and good enough for the job. Feeding and chambering with factory ammo is very smooth and I have used a heavy viscosity 'Tetra' lubricant for the bolt. It is control feed (of Course) and I can't place a round in the chamber and then close the bolt over it. Feeding must come from the magazine.

The only factory ammunition I could get are Hornady 400 grain DGS (Solids). I wanted two boxes so Tamworth Firearms ordered in ten. If you want Hornady .416 Rigby factory solids you will have to go to Tamworth.

I decided that all range testing and load development should be done standing up and luckily my Spotlighting rig allows that to be done with a bean bag placed on top of the platform.



The Express sights on the CZ 550 were placing POI 6" off to the left out to 75 yards. The factory front sight is miniscule so I have ordered a white fluro front replacement sight from Brownells which is 6.5mm high. This is the same height as the factory sight. I will adjust the express sights after it is in place.

I then placed on the Recknagel roll off mounts with custom leupold 1-4x20 scope with #4 reticle.

It took me five rounds to be 2" high at 100 yards. Three rounds into 1.760" wasn't bad I thought for a 4x scope with thick crosshairs. Good enough for me.

Load development will follow as I collect more empty brass. I was starting to feel the recoil after about 7 rounds. At least this will let me get away two, three shot groups while load testing before having to call it quits. :htfu: The recoil certainly is cumulative. I only had on a thin Polo shirt and will wear a thicker coat next time. I cracked off one shot without hearing protection and it is the weirdest sound. A huge 'Whoof' followed by an ear splitting 'Crack'. The rounds sure do motor off down the range.

Load development will follow.

Here are some rounds to compare:

.243W .416 Rigby 9.3x62 7x57

Great report, thanks for sharing. Those CZ's are a wonderful bargain in the 416 Rigby and, in my opinion, are one of the biggest reasons that round has survived, and thrived, in the face of competition from other 416's.

Steelbed it anyway and epoxy in the action screw spacers (to the stock). The headaches start at 17 rounds...

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...what he said! I've owner two of these in 416R. CZ America replaced the stock on the first one after 16 rounds and a big crack under the safety area. They bedded the replacement stock for me at a very minor charge. I traded the rifle for a scope and some gunsmthing.

I ran across another a while back NIB for $650.00 and nabbed it, bedded the hell out of it and shot 100 rounds with no problems. An Africa-bound buddy asked to buy it, so now he proudly totes the CZ 550 416R and a magnum eyebrow scar.

These are bargains, IMO, but the new Rugers pushed more hot-buttons for me.

Well I fired off factory round number 17 this morning aligning the express sights to be dead on at 25 paces. Another 3 to be fired tomorrow.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I replaced the factory front sight with a white plastic one from Brownells. It is the same 6.5mm in height. It makes target acquisition a lot quicker and more accurate for my ageing eyes.

Given the widespread stock splitting problems with the Magnum CZ's, why take the slightest risk it will occur while your in Africa?

A rifle is only as good as its next shot..

Just because you've shot 50 rounds through it Stateside with no problems, theres no saying that when you pull the trigger in Africa and send the 51st down range, it won't split..

To me that is a gamble I'm wouldn't be prepared to take especially when its so easy to avoid.

And those comments are from a very satisfied CZ550 owner...

Well at some stage I have to trust my gunsmith. He's built me two custom rifles. One in 7x57 (which he smoke fitted to the furniture)and a 9.3x62. He has also built a number of .404's and larger calibers for others that I know of.

He is happy that the stock is supporting all the relevant points under the action. Removing wood to replace it with epoxy seems pointless. I may as well replace the whole stock.

If the stock does split, then I'll have an excuse to go full custom. Maybe that's not a bad thing ... (evil grin)

( Pete E. I'm not stateside )

My bad mistake!

So is the .416 likely to see any action against water buff or scrub bulls up in the Top End?

I've always wanted to hunt Australia, with the Northern Territory or Victoria being high on the list..

My CZ 416 Rigby only holds 3 down

Mine holds 5 down, thanks to Mr. Wiesner. Better (stiffer) floorplate release as well.

Hundreds of rounds later mine has no stock problems at all.

I bought mine used and I have fired 75 rounds thru it with no problems. I fire between 20 and 30 per trip to the range. Our range requires you to fire from a bench, no off hand shooting. I love to shoot it. Clears all the .223 shooters from the line.

Well I'm up to 43 rounds without problems. I love it off-hand with the express sights.

I may get it to Africa in 2014 and will get a crack at a Water Buffalo cow and Scrub Bull in 2011.

The difference in magazine capacity is actually based upon the stock. On some stocks, the magazine is not able to fully nestle into the floorplate and leaves a slight gap. That small gap allows for that extra round to be stuffed in there.

I would love to use it on Cape Buffalo, but just don't think of them as good value ( $ ) at the moment.

Scrub Bulls here, have the reputation of being more aggressive than Buff. I have the perfect sedative, a 450 RNSP Woodleigh.

In looking for a sub load for my .416 Rigby and cast 350 grain Flat Nose Boolits, I found some loads listed by Hodgdon for Trail Boss (TB).

Start: 25 grains for 1,139 fps
Max: 35 grains for 1,354 fps

I sent an email to ADI who confirmed this is the technique for useing TB.

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Trail-Boss-data.pdf

I managed to score a container of TB from my local gun shop. I weighed a clean empty .416 Rigby case with an old primer in-situ. Weight was 360.80 grains. I then filled the case with TB to the approx. base of the neck. The case holds 35.6 grains of TB. 70% of that is 24.92 grains. Almost exactly the start load on the Hodgdon site.

Old news for some, but sub loads for Big Bores are doable with ADI Trail Boss.

I loaded up one round with 30 grains of Trail Boss under a 400 grain Hornady RNSP Interlock and fired it off this arvo.

Recoil was equivalent to a .243.
Noise was a bit of a dissapointment, more like a Pop from a sideshow-alley air rifle.
POI unknown.
Primer very rounded with no pressure signs.

Full load development tomorrow, weather permitting.

FWIW. 50x .416 Hornady 400 grain RNSP's cost the same as 50x .416 Woodleigh 450 RNSP's A$62 per 50.

Handled a used one of these a few days ago and the only complaint I could see was I thought the bolt handle rode a little to close to the stock to get a good grasp on it. Are they all like this or is it just me?

They're all like that; in use, it's not so bad. What I did was to fill in the hollow part of the bolt knob as when it came from the factory, the hollow had a beveled edge that wore on my hand as I worked the bolt. Epoxy took care of that. I do wish CZ would sweep the bolt handle back and push it out from the stock about 1/8" like on the standard CZ 550's.

That is the one thing I have the rifle booked into my gunsmith to change. I also find it rides a little close to the furniture and will get it re-contoured outwards.