Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 416 Remington Magnum trials

After many years of frustrations, failures and misses with the over 40 caliber class of rifles. 416 Rigby's and 404 Jeffery's for reference, I think I found my huckleberry.

Picked up a Model 70 Classic Safari in 416 Remington. Never been fired except at the factory, hang tags still in place.

Sent it to the smith to get some Dakota Arms sights installed along with pillar bedding the wood stock. Bore coated the barrel, put some Warne steel weaver bases on it mounted a SWFA 10x scope for load work up.

Initial impressions are fantastic, I can shoot this rifle with 350gr bullets all day. After experiencing recoil headaches after eight rounds of Rigby, or 30-40 rounds for the Jeffery, really enjoying this rifle. Off the bench no less.

I have both Hornady and Norma brass. Bullets are 350gr Speer and TSX. Powders have been TAC, Big Game, IMR4451, H4895 and Varget.

From inspection, Norma is higher quality in this cartridge. But have only been shooting the Hornady right now.

As far as bullets, have been unimpressed with the Speer. Bought only for practice and plinking. In defense the jump is 0.2" due to mag constraints. Best load has been 1.2" but most are between 2-3". Barnes has been much better, but they tend to be less picky about seating depth. Best load so far is 0.6, with many in the 1.5" range. That is perfect, as this is my bullet of choice. Have gone through close to 100 of each. Of course the TSX's are nowhere to be found right now. I did pick up some 350gr TTSX's to try. No worries as I do not have any plans for using the 416 in anger anytime soon. Also have some 300gr TSX's just for fun.

On to the powders, Varget seems to be the winner with most consistent chronograph ballistic minutiae and actual group sizes with both bullets. The above 0.6" load with the Barnes is clocking 2578fps with ES of 2 and Sd of 1.2.

IMR4451 is a dog in the velocity. Max load barely broke 2400fps.

H4895 is great with velocities but inconsistent ballistic data and groups to go with. Easily reaches 2600fps.

TAC is a little slower with same ballistic inconsistencies. Top load about 2550.

I have high hopes for Big Game, but could not find any 350gr bullet data. Have a request in to Ramshot for information as I type this. I used the 400gr data and started very conservatively, and likewise got conservative ballistic numbers. Never broke 2400, but I believe there is room for increasing the powder charge. At the lower charges, it shows promise. Hopefully it will continue to shine with higher charges.

I am in timeout right now. Last night I discovered I had bent decapping rod in my die. New one is on the way. So load testing will resume upon receipt.

Once I decide and thoroughly vet a load, I will file in the open sights at 100 yards and back to the smith for a coating job. Once done, A Trijicon 1-6 accupoint with circle reticle and a Leupold VX6 1-6 with circle reticle will get the call to duty. That way if I ever make it back to Africa for Buffalo, I will be ready with a back up scope and open sights.

I am thinking a 350gr bullet at close to 2600fps should easily reach 200 yards for hunting non dangerous stuff. Of course I will test it at 300 just to know where it hits.

Pictures will be forthcoming once the rifle is finished.

I learned that Swift uses 4064 in their A-Frame .416 Remington ammo, 75 gr with the 400 gr A-Frame, 77 gr with their 400 gr breakaway solids. So, I would think similar burn rate powders should work. Go with published data and work up. These loads are not full max according to Swift data. But a click or two off max is probably a good idea for factory ammo. It’s fast enough to do the job.

DF

I had read that you were using 4064 in your Bud's 416. I had a pound of 4064 that I used up in my 338-06's a long time ago and never replaced.

Maybe I should pick some up, not going to be able to replace it anytime soon.

So far testing leads me believe I will probably end up with Varget, I have plenty on hand, just trying to be conservative. If I can get BIG Game to desired velocity and ballistic numbers that is what I would like to use as I have even more of that powder in stock.

These days, you use what you can find. I just happened to have two cans of 4064, an older one, and a newer one. I used the newer powder in the 350 gr. Speer rounds I had loaded. He hasn't shot them, so I'll pull the 350's, tweak the 4064 powder charge and seat 400 A-Frames, 400 NPT's and 400 breakaway Swift solids. So, I'll have enough powder without getting into the older can. I don't use 4064 in any other rounds, will dedicate what I have to this project. It should be enough.

Fortunately, there are a number of good powders in that general burn range that should work. I have no idea why Swift uses 4064. I reckon it was a good guess that I picked it, not knowing back then what Swift used. I don't know how temp stable 4064 is. Good enough, I guess or they wouldn't be using it. I know they backed off their max loads, which is probably a wise move. Some margin is a good thing, not knowing what kinda climate conditions in which those rounds will be used. Africa can get pretty hot.

BTW, I had crunched a few cases, trying to seat the flat bottom 350 Speers. They have a sharp edge that can grip the case lip. It doesn't take much to crunch a case. So, I now use my neck expander, a 50 BMG bullet and a brass hammer. A bit of a flair prevents case loss. The amount of flair isn't critical, as the Lee Factory crimp die fixes it. Photo of this "high tech" fix.

DF

Have not had any issues with crushing case mouths.

Just with these 350’s. But I can make it work.

DF

I have not had any issues with the 350 Speers or TSX's. I have some TTSX's coming. Since they are a boattail, should even be less of a problem.

My FL sizer may be tighter than yours. A bit of a flair and it's all good. Those boat tail bullets, not an issue.

DF

I liked mine back in the 90's being a Rem take off barrel fitted to a Model 70 .458 Super Grade action.

Rel 15 was great with the 300gn X bullets with 94gn generating 2903fps.
There was a 325gn X bullet back then too and I tried 5 powders with 748 generating up to 2800fps using 95gn.
With the 340gn Woodleigh, I used 7 powders. Varget would be the best of them with 86gn for 2700fps.
The 400gn Hornady back then was different to the factory loads as it had a tapered Ojive whereas the 400gn supposed Hornady used in factory loads was a more traditional parallel sided round nose. I tried 4 powders with IMR 4064 generating 2490fps using 82 grains.
Woodleigh made the famous .416 410gn bullet where I tried 3 powders with IMR 3031 generating 2400fps using 79gn and 80gn of IMR 4064 just topping that with 2404fps. I believe Woodleigh went onto make a 450gn after than but I never tried any.
Hope this helps.

Good info. Thanks.

DF

The 350 gr TSX works.

Thanks EdM,

Your experience and Phil posting about his daughter's 416 is what motivated me to give the cartridge a try. Glad I did.

Just learned that my bud's 93 yr old Mom passed away last night in her sleep. His RN sister found her this morning. At least she died peacefully.

That's always hard. My sympathy goes out to him and his family. Good folks. I always enjoyed visiting with her, hearing stories about the old days. She will be missed.

DF

When I had my 416RM, I was using Woodleigh 410gr RNSP, still use these in my 416 Rigby, absolutely wonderfull bullet.
I used the Speer too on deer, pretty poor performer in my book.
Powders I used were Varget, RE15 and 748.
Varget was the most accurate with 410gr Woodleigh and 748 was almost the same. 748 was slightly slower than Varget.
RE15 was the fastest, and worst accuracy, but it got above 2500fps.
Unfortunately, IMR powders weren’t available here then, and still aren’t.

Cheers.

I’m getting ready to do a bunch of load testing in my .416; so will share what I find. Mine is a Hoffman, which is only slightly larger case than the Remington. IIRC, the shoulder is about 1/8” farther forward, so they’re nearly identical and can shoot Remington cartridges in the Hoffman. My ‘go-to’ load for the Hoffman has been 81.0 grains of RL15 pushing a 400 grain Bearclaw at 2,510 FPS. Jack Carter, founder of Trophy Bonded Bullets, gave me that load many years ago, telling me it kills buffalo really well. I’ve shot a few Buffalo with that load and he was right; it was very effective. That load is probably a bit too hot for a Remington, so you’d back off a bit to start.

I’ve got a bunch of 400 grain Bullets I want to try for a buffalo hunt coming up in October. Nosler Partitions, Trophy Bonded Bear Claws, 370 grain Cutting Edge Raptors, 350 grain TTSX and I still have 400 grain Swifts and TSX’s on back order. Solids to test include Trophy Bonded (which is what I’ve previously used), Cutting Edge and Swift Breakaways. Good thing I have about 6 lbs of RL-15. I’ll share what I find, as most of it should also apply to the Remington.

I will be looking forward to your results. Thanks for the future work and sharing the outcome.

Very nice Buff, old nyati. I’m embarrassed to say it but I have only shot factory Barnes in my 416RM. It’s a Winchester 70 Safari and it’s surprisingly accurate with 400 grainers.

The main issue I had with my 416 Rigby was recoil head aches. The change for you with the 416 Remington caught my attention. I was thinking the 375 was going to be my biggest caliber. Now, I might be looking a a 416 again. The Taylor would be my other choice. Interesting thread, thanks.

Which rifle did you have in 416 Rigby?

It was a Ruger - But I only shot 400 grain solids at prairie dogs with it and they were full power loads.