All this data, while contributing, does not negate real world physics and the fact that most if not all African PHs suggest that a bullet of sufficient weight having SD above .310 and a magical speed of 2,150 fps will dispatch most anything on earth. Bottom line is that with no undue pressure the 416 Taylor without breaking a sweat will hurl a 450 gr Woodleigh bullet with SD .371 at 2,200 fps . The 416 Taylor is more than capable of stopping any bull elephant, just like all the rest, only a matter of preference for the 416 shooter.
Hear, hear!
My Taylor is my favorite .416, my .416 Howell is probably the rifle with the most sentiment since it is the first .416 Howell, and my .416 Remington is my most generic in a Model 70. They all perform pretty much the same. I'm sure the Rigby I'm building will be in the same ball park as the others.
I'm curious about all the expert opinions and their experience with any .416, other than what they've read in books and magazines. Sounds like nothing more than a bunch of hypothesizing.
bobmn, I'll see if I can glue a strain gauge over the chamber of my Taylor in a week or two and see just what I get.
My experience with the 416 Taylor isn't overly vast. But it is one of my favorite carts.
I'm a carbine addict. 18" barrels are almost my favorite length barrels on bolt rifles. Tho a couple of mine are 26" or close.
My first 416 Taylor was built on a 17 Eddystone Enfield with a Shaw barrel. I dumped a brown bear that was rushing me with it within a couple months of trading into it. 1 shot , dead on the ground bear. Bear was dead before I came down out of recoil. Chest shot, 325 gr X bullet iirc 76 gr of IMR 4320. Range around 50 ' . Mv around 2600 fps.
Barrel length 19" . I well and truly pressure tested that action and barrel. No idea what the pressures were. But they were HIGH . I couldn't get any 300 gr X bullets at the time. So I developed loads for the 325 gr bullets. And 350 X. The 400 X was too long so I didn't do anything with them . 74 gr8 of 4320 was a great load in that rifle with 350 gr X and Speer Hot Cores. They did 2450 fps from that rifle and worked Great at dumping brown bear up close . And shooting Sitka Blacktail deer. The deer usually fan about 20 yards. The bears just went straight down.
I shot a bunch of 400 gr Hornady Soft nose thru it. And Barnes Original 49 thou jacket soft nose Round nose. I worked up to 2300 for a good working load. Iirc that was 70 gr8 of 4320. All hunting, work loads had Fed 215 primers. It destroyed the wood stock that was on it when I got it so I put an MPI stock on it and bedded it with Marine Tex epoxy. I mostly kept a Vx2 1-4 on it.
That rifle went down the road years later .
Then I had Montana Rifle Co build me a stainless barreled action in 416 Taylor with an 18" barrel. It was far too heavy for my wife who I had it built for. I shot a couple few deer with that one then gave it to a friend that is a bear guide. Along with the 375 H+H barrel I got from MRC for it. I put a fixed 3x Leupold on that one. In 375 dress I killed 8 deer 1 fall. Made the single longest game shot of my life with it that early winter. Federal High Energy 300 gr Swift A-Frame factory loads. Which that rifle LOVED .
Since my friend got it he has capsized a bunch of bear with it in 416 Taylor. Iirc his load is a 350 gr bullet @ 2300 fps. He has been working that rifle for the past 14 years.
Other than a malfunction with the factory safety malfunctioning. Which cost his client a bear. . Which MRC fixed free of charge. Not the cost of the lost bear tho.
I asked him a couple years ago how it was doing and what he had changed. He said absolutely nothing. And he still packs it for spring and fall brown bear.
