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Deluxe A-Square rifle in 416 Hoffman caliber

Hello All,

About 3 weeks ago I found a bargain rifle, a Montana Rifle Company rifle in 416 Hoffman cal.

Well, while searching for some 416 Hoffman ammo for that rifle, I ran across another 416 Hoffman caliber rifle on Gun Broker - an A-Square "Deluxe" model with a stock of upgraded wood with a high-gloss finish. It had 4-panel checkering and a metal grip cap. It was in near "MINT" condition. This is my second rifle in 416 Hoffman caliber and my second A-Square rifle.

( I already had one A-Square in 416 Rigby cal. that has the "Appearance Package" upgrade consisting of an ebony forend tip and bright blue metal. The stock is ho-hum plain grain with dull finish and no checkering. )

In researching the current prices of A-Square rifles being offered on various sites, I found this Deluxw A-Square had a bargain "Buy-It-Now" price, and an even lower opening bid. I quickly placed the minimum opening bid and laid in the weeds waiting to see if anyone else would bid. No one did, and it was mine - at about half the price of other A-Square rifles being offerd for sale.

I know that some people think that A-Square rifles are ugly, clunky, and un-attractive, but this one is not. Although like most A-Square rifles, this one has "utilitarian" features, it has many of the features that make it a desireable Custom Dangerous Game rifle. It has a 23" barrel with a muzzle-brake which extends it's length to 24-3/4". It has a barrel band sling swivel. The barrel also has a welded-on second recoil lug under the 3-leaf rear sight. In addition, the action is full-lenth "piller-bedded" as is also the bottom metal. The magazine box is tack-welded in place to the action to keep it from shifting around during recoil, and the floor-plate has a take-down button added. It also has a fully adjustable Timney trigger and has been modified to "cock-on-open". It weighs 9 pounds 11 ounces with a 13-3/4" LOP over a brown Decellerator recoil pad. I added a Nikon Monark 1.5-6x scope, which brings the weight up to 10 pounds 11 ounces. Although it was made from a Winchester M-1917 action, the action has been smoothed and it feeds flawlessly from 3-down in the magazine and 1 up in the chamber.

I think that most people shy away from the 416 Hoffman caliber rifle thinking that they don't want a rifle that requires special hand-loaded ammunition. Well this is not the case with the 416 Hoffman. You can actually describe the caliber as "416 Hoffman / 416 Remington" because the rifle will digest both. The 416 Remington case is about 0.030" inches shorter to the shoulder and 0.003" smaller at the shoulder diameter. Because the cartridge head-spaces on the belt - rifles chambered for the 416 Hoffman can also shoot .416 Remington with equal accuracy. ( But not the other way around - 416 Remington rifles cannot shoot the 416 Hoffman cartridge ) And if you hand-load, you can reload the fired cases with either 416 Hoffman dies, or 416 Remington dies.

In reading George Hoffman's book, "A Country Boy in Africa", he talks much about his developement of the 416 Hoffman cartridge and actually describes the interchangeable ammunition of the 416 Hoffman/Remington.

As for shooting - the muzzle brake on this rifle REALLY WORKS. I actually did all my shooting "sitting at the bench" in a T-shirt, with hand-loads that clocked 2300 fps with a 400g Hornady Round Nose bullet. The recoil felt about the same as a standard hunting rifle in .308 Winchester caliber. After sighting-in the rifle with the added scope, I fired 8 shots at 50 yards that all went into the same 1-1/4" dia ragged hole - which is about as good as I could aim and hold with the scope set at 6x.

Any other 416 Hoffman owners out there? Your comments are welcome.

Nice rifle, it needs to go to Africa!

Hello hanco.

Sorry it took so long to answer you. I've been out of commission for a while.

Unfortunately, Africa is not in my future. Unless I can find a Professional Hunter that will take guns in trade for a Safari.

If you do not mind me asking how much did you pay for this beautiful piece of art?

Hello andrews1958

thanks for the reply.

I'd rather not say on a public forum - but less than 1/4th of retail.

Beautiful rifle and sounds like a screaming deal, buckstix!

Glad to see you posting again. I hope you are well.

Ed

Very nice - congratulations!

Hello APDDSN0864,

Hello 5sdad,

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, a screaming deal is right. All in all, best deal of 2017.

Stix, I too like the A-Square rifles. The design, particularly of the stock, makes managing recoil quite easy, unless you get up in the 577 T-Rex range :-)

I'm wondering if the checkering was added afterwards, as even with their "Appearance Package", A-Square rifles were left uncheckered. If you like odd calibers, there's one on GB now in 375 JRS.

Hello Biebs,

Thanks for the reply.

Not only is the checkering non-typical, but so is the metal grip cap. Both are features that I've never seen before on any other A-Square rifle. This one has very controllable recoil because of the muzzle brake.

However, both features are original as the former owner said that he was friends with Art, and that he made this as a "Special Deluxe" for him personally.

I saw the 375 JRS on Gun Broker. I'm not sure what the asking price is because it has a reserve. But there is also a 340 Wby Mag at a very reasonable price.

I'll be watching both.