Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Advice on .416 bullets for buf

Sighted in my bud's .416 Rem M-70 yeesterday. Bill Hober at Swift said to sight at 50 yds. Well, the most convenient was 67 yds. I was using a 4'x4' piece of 1/4" Lauan plywood that I had covered with black plastic sheeting, painted it white and painted red targets. It acts a lot like a Dirty Bird target. There was a limb sticking up from a fallen tree (previous hurricane carnage) and I leaned the plywood target against it. That's the why of the 67 yds. I was using the standing bench, which IMO, is the only way to shoot a big gun.

The gun had previoiusly been sighted at a hundred with 350 gr. Speer over 74 gr 4064. I was wanting my bud to shoot it some, but he didn't. So, I pulled those bullets and loaded the 400's. I had a collet for my Forster bullet puller, but due to the hard Lee Factory die crimp, it wouldn't pull the bullet. So, I ran the round up in the press until just the bullet showed, applied Vice Grips, and pulled the bullet. Of course, no salvage of those bullets. Vice Grips "made an impression"... BTW, I put a hard Lee Factory Crimp die crimp on all of these rounds. The bullets I seat aren't going anywhere.

I tweaked the powder charges to 75 gr. 4064 for the softs, 77 gr for the solids, per Bill Hober's recommendations. That's the load he uses in his factory ammo. As previously discussed it evidently takes just a bit more powder to bring the solids up to the same POI as the softs.

I sighted in with the 400 gr. NPT's (first target). First shot was about 2" low, then I moved the scope, shot two, moved it again and shot two. The centered two were the last shot.

Then in the second photo, I shot 400 gr. SAF's and they were about as accurate as the NPT's with identical POI. And all this with the Trijicon triangle, with which I find I can shoot pretty consistently. It wouldn't be my pick for LR shooting, but does great for what it was designed to do.

Then, the Swift Breakaway solids, third photo. They weren't quite as accurate as the softs, but they do cycle thru the action really slick. That's the idea behind the design. Some of the competition's solids with big HP's, don't cycle as slick as these. These bullets cost $7.17 each (Midway), Larry doesn't have the best prices and of course he doesn't have the bullets.... A box of Swift Breakaway ammo in .416 Rem is over $200. A box of 400 gr. SAF's is pushing $150.

I'm going to load both NPT's and SAF's for Africa. My bud will shoot which one the PH prefers. I see no difference at the range and would doubt there'll be much, if any, difference on a buff.

The Solids aren't as accurate, but as I told my bud, by the time you're down to solids, MOA accuracy means nothing. You're then at a minute of a buff, and probably one on the move. BTW, these 400 gr. NPT's and SAF's are more accurate than the 350 gr. Speers, which shot about 1 1/2" at a hundred. Take these 67 yd. groups out to a hundred, I think they'd be close to MOA. But just two rounds? Not 10... Components are scarce and this isn't the gun to shoot 10 shot groups...

Here are the photos. The only way I can tell the SAF from the NPT, the SAF has no lead above the jacket, whereas the NPT has a tip of lead showing. Closer exam shows a slightly different ogive. The Breakaway is sorta weird looking, but made to cycle smoothly and that they do, like real slick. Slick cycling in the heat of battle should negate complaints about the cost...

DF