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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,682
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,682 |
I keep sitting on my two Winchester LH Classics thinking a 338-06 and 416 Taylor would make a neat pair of guns.
The way life should be.
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,330 Likes: 1
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,330 Likes: 1 |
I had one someone put together on a Mauser action. It was beautiful and put together right. But the rifle was very light. With 350 or 400 grain heavy loads the recoil was sharp and not pleasant and I’m not recoil sensitive. I sold it. In hind sight I wish I had just rebarreled it. I loved the cartridge and I loved loading for it. I’d definitely own another Taylor but I’d want it in a rifle 9lbs or heavier. My Taylor, completed last summer weighs 7.25 lbs with a peep sight. 400s at 2300ish are quite unpleasant, but at 2165, it’s as gentle as a .375.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,579 Likes: 1
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,579 Likes: 1 |
I had one someone put together on a Mauser action. It was beautiful and put together right. But the rifle was very light. With 350 or 400 grain heavy loads the recoil was sharp and not pleasant and I’m not recoil sensitive. I sold it. In hind sight I wish I had just rebarreled it. I loved the cartridge and I loved loading for it. I’d definitely own another Taylor but I’d want it in a rifle 9lbs or heavier. My Taylor, completed last summer weighs 7.25 lbs with a peep sight. 400s at 2300ish are quite unpleasant, but at 2165, it’s as gentle as a .375. My 411 KDF weighs 9 1/2 lbs,, 400gr Barnes @ 2150 is a comfortable and makes for follow up shots with ease. 300gr TSX @ 2350ish shoots groups with ease.
I tend to use more than enough gun
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 808
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 808 |
I keep sitting on my two Winchester LH Classics thinking a 338-06 and 416 Taylor would make a neat pair of guns. That would be a nice combo.
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Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 516
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 516 |
If you wouldn’t mind - can I get the load info on RL-15 for that 416 Taylor? I’m building one now and I use RL-15 in my other rifle loads. You can text me at (540)420-3003 if you don’t feel comfortable posting it on here. I really appreciate it.
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Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 516
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 516 |
What powder/load are you using in your 404 ?
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 10,426
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 10,426 |
Now that I sold my Rigby, I have to decide 416 Taylor or 416 Ruger. I' think that I'll put a SS barrel on my Ruger 77 Tang. If I were to put a barrel on a 700 action, the 416 Remington would be another choice.
But seriously, I really doubt I'll go to Africa again, though I'd really like to. I only went there on a building trip and repairing a hospital (Cameroon) and didn't didn't bring a gun. I prefer having a rifle that others don't have so much. But that can be counter productive, I suppose. (I could give a rats --- if the cartridge has a belt or not.)
I prefer classic. Semper Fi I used to run with the hare. Now I'm envious of the tortoise and I do my own stunts but rarely intentionally
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 10,426
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 10,426 |
Phil,
Can you ream out the Taylor to a 416 Ruger? Not Phil, But looking only at case dimensions it looks like a guy could do that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.416_Rugerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.416_Taylor
I prefer classic. Semper Fi I used to run with the hare. Now I'm envious of the tortoise and I do my own stunts but rarely intentionally
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 9,097
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 9,097 |
FWIW: In 1988 I executed my first of 24 trips to Africa. My rifle(s) of choice: Pre '64 Model 70's. Light rifle: .270win/150gr Nosler Partitions for plains game/leopard. Dangerous game rifle: Custom pre '64 Model 70 .416 Taylor with 25" bbl shooting 400gr Jack Carter original bullets, Trophy Bonded Bear Claw soft points, and Trophy Bonded Sledge Hammer FMJ. Velocity for this rifle was originally 2400fps with both bullets. Ultimately, I reduced the load to average velocity of 2350fps. The reduction in velocity improved the accuracy shooting both SP, and FMJ bullets. (The reduction in velocity had nothing to do with pressure, or extraction problems.) The .416 Taylor" behaved" perfectly in all conditions, and temps (85F-100F) This rifle/caliber successfully accounted for nine buffalo, eleven elephant, one lion, one hippo, and more plains game than I can recall. Mooshoo, if you're looking for a forty caliber rifle in today's world, there are several other choices which will be sufficient for big bears, or any of the African DG. But, if you're keen on the Taylor, go for it. As an aside; South Africa, Zambia or Zimbabwe customs never gave me any grief regarding my wildcat ammo. When I began planning for my safari in 1987, there were not many choices in forty caliber rifles. Remington had not introduced their cartridge, and I certainly couldn't afford a Rigby, so I concluded a custom forty was the way to proceed. That decision was quite fortuitous. I'd do it again in a heartbeat! Sir, That is the most badass review of the 416 Taylor I've ever read.. By far superior to listening to pages of drivel/ suckup from gunwriters on sponsored hunts. Re: action length- does matter to some . IIRC Phil Shoemaker and WDM Bell wrote they prefer a shorter action to magnum length., but folks are free to consider them inexperienced or their views trivial. If anyone here has done fast close shooting on DG where buck stops with you - with the frequency they have , please share.
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.
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Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 2,962
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 2,962 |
You won't be disappointed with the Taylor.
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Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 75
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 75 |
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.
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Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 75
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 75 |
If used Ruger M77 Mk2 RP in 7 mag, or 300 Win. Were available like they used to be. I would build a 16" barreled 416 Taylor and put a fat short muzzle brake on it. Keep the scoped weight less than 8 lbs I figure I could get 2200 fps with a 400 gr bullet and 2550 with a 300 gr TSX. I'de probably take it hunting Everything up here .
Last edited by CTF; 02/08/21.
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Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 75
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 75 |
Now with the 416 Rem mag I have more experience. I've had 3 of them. My current one is a reboared/chambered from a 375 H+H . Whitworth express . I restocked it in a nice synthetic stock I had . bedded it FULLY with JB Weld. I got it just prior to moving and starting a homestead. It has a peep rear on it and shoots to the sights @ 50 yards so at the moment it's resting but ready.
Last edited by CTF; 02/08/21.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 379
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
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Safarilife:
Since I'm a firm believer of "Heavy for calibre" bullets, I only load/shoot 400gr bullets. Early on, I loaded only Trophy Bonded bullets, both Bear Claw, and Sledge Hammer. I checked my load data for RL-15. and began with 69gr and worked up from there to 72.gr.
Good luck with your Taylor.
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Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 75
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 75 |
For some reason I didn't have as good a success with Rl15 or 4895,4064 as I did with 4320. Perhaps its because I had short barrels or I was just able to wiggle and dance more of it into the cases. I do know that the next one I get I will give it more throat . More along the lines of the 458 Winchester.
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