Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only The big 40+ calibers. What's your favorite?

Every fall for years, a high school friend & I go on an annual hunt together when he passes through my state on his way to visit his sister for Thanksgiving. During that time, he has repeatedly mentioned the idea of traveling to Africa to go hunting when we both retire in a few years. Because this might actually happen based on how well I know this person, I decided to educate myself by asking some questions of some more experienced hunters just to learn a bit more about a type of hunting I've only read about in books & magazine articles (many of them years ago when I was much younger).

In a different thread I posted on using DG rifles for PG hunting, a substantial number of posters recommended the 375 H&H as the rifle I should consider acquiring if I was going to get a left-handed bolt action. It's a caliber I can find in LH models and the ammo is readily available world-wide. I agree that for plains game hunting and possibly buffalo that this is a solid choice. It doesn't hurt that it's a classic which I have a nostalgic affinity for.

While no one has to convince me that this is a smart, practical & probably the more affordable option, the repeated mentioning of the larger .4** size calibers in that thread did pique my interest a bit. I have a single-shot 1885 in 405 Winchester that I love to shoot. But I have never shot or known anyone who owns a more powerful bolt action commonly used on African game. Over the last several months I've enjoyed reading various posts by members of these forums on their favorite large-caliber rifles. But to hopefully get some additional input from other hunters and get this information condensed into a single post, I thought I would ask about it here:

Question: What is your favorite .4** caliber suitable for large game (especially African & Alaskan)? I'm curious about the 404 Jeffery, 416 Rem Mag, 416 Rigby, 416 Ruger, 450 Rigby, 458 Lott, 458 Win Mag & any other ones I might have missed. Pros? Cons? Why do you like it? It's always interesting to see what other hunters get rid of & what they decide to keep.

The reasons don't all have to be technical as "sentimental favorite" is a legitimate response. Telling me that the juice isn't worth the squeeze & I should just stick with the more common 375 H&H is a good answer too. But history has shown that I don't always do the smart thing. Sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants (this applies equally to rifles & women). Because my left-handed shooting could make the effort to acquire an LH bolt action of this size a challenge, an obvious option would be to acquire an affordable & currently available 375 Ruger Hawkeye African and have it rebored to 416 Ruger since they use the same parent case. So any suggestions on rebores or rebarrels of known LH models is always a tip that's appreciated since the nuances of how certain rounds don't feed well through particular rifles aren't always obvious. A mention of a favorite custom gun maker would be great too since I may need one depending on where this goes in the future.

I don’t have any big-bores and have no experience with them, but if it were me I’d want the 416 Rigby….jus’ because! 😉 memtb

Fortunately, “jus’ because” is a totally legitimate reason for acquiring a new rifle. 👍

Your .405 WCF may be all you need.
I shoot the .405 and .458 and both have been effective in the USA and Africa on game from Ele on down through Leopard. Proper bullets are the key.

I shoot the .308 and .338 and skipped the .375.

Enjoy.

Based on ability to kill elephants cleanly, the 404J, 458 WM, 460 G&A are my choices.

Although I’ve shot the 450 Rigby Rimless quite a bit, circumstances have prevented use on elephants thus far. No reason to believe its performance won’t duplicate the above 45 cartridges, as the ballistics equal or surpass those listed. So pending a field test, it will probably join my list.

All these cartridges penetrate very deeply in a straight line with monolithic solids of proper design, break heavy bone without deflection, and kill thick skinned DG quickly. That, in the end, is the acid test after all. All can be chambered in rifles of reasonable weight which can be carried a long way and shot without undue recoil. Especially important when walking long distances and delivering follow up shots when needed.

Just my 2 cents based on my limited experience.

Thanks for the info. My 405 is a single shot with a 28" barrel. This new rifle I'm thinking about would be shorter and have several rounds in the magazine. So my interest in other large calibers is definitely not a criticism of the 405 which I do like. It was mainly a reflection of a desire for a different rifle configuration.


Taking a cursory look at the various bullet weights, velocities & energy these rifles were producing, I had a high level of confidence that they were all more than adequate for just about anything I would attempt to do. I figured the nuances that might make one more popular than another would come down to things that a reader would have trouble discerning just by looking at numbers on a page. But it's nice to know that the chances of making a bad choice are low.

Thanks for reminding me of the 460 G&A. I saw that my favored Ruger #1 was chambered in that caliber once & I had to look it up to familiarize myself with its origins. I've enjoyed following your G&A post this past year.

I'll never make it across the big pond to hunt. If I did, I'd take my .375 Wby and call it "good".

But that's not a .4** So, I have this walnut Model 70 Classic .300 Wby that I have no real use for. Always thought it'd make a beautiful .470 Capstick.

Just because.

My friend who keeps talking about going to Africa has a .470 Capstick. But his "just because" is the fact that he's a big rifle looney with over 100 rifles. So it never surprises me what he has in his collection.

The funny thing about that is the hunting we do each fall is at the opposite end of the spectrum from what we're discussing in this thread. On that hunt we're going after squirrels with pneumatics.

I have a 404 Jeffery made on a LH Model 70 action. I got back about a month ago using it for the first time on dry land hippo. I was shooting a 400 grain Barnes Banded Solid, flat nosed bullet. I had them loaded by Safari Arms and they were doing about 2200 feet per second out of the muzzle. I was very pleased with the performance of this set up and results. I plan on using this same set up for Cape buffalo and elephant in the next couple of years. I’ll be using 400 grain Swift AFrames for the buffalo. All that said, I went with the 404 Jeffery when I was looking to go above my 375 H&H because the nostalgia appealed to me, it has a great history of preforming and based on my research I felt the recoil might be a bit more manageable, which I think it is, for me. CZ 550s in magnum length actions are also good candidates for a re-barrel/conversion to a 404 Jeffery. I will says the biggest draw back for me has been the expense and limited availability of ammo/components. Best of luck with whatever you decide. Hunting in Africa has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, I hope you get to experience it as well.

My choice too, is the 404 Jeffery, which I have taken (5) times to Zambia. I now shoot 430 gr. North Forks out of her, both softs & solids. I’ve taken a couple of Buffalo using 400 gr. SAFs.

Yes, I was also attracted to the nostalgia of the round as well, but equally to the ballistics (2,300 fps) and the reduced recoil compared to my 458 Lott with 500 gr. @ 2,300 fps., a noticeable difference.

But also, in a Dakota/ParkWest, my two 404J rifles weigh 8.5 lbs., which are a delight to carry on a long Buffalo stalk. And, being a maker of custom rifles, Dakota (now ParkWest) can make you a left handed rifle.

I had a 416 Rigby some years ago and sold some years later for twice what I paid. Today it is a 416 Rem M70.

All things being equal, nostalgia for a classic round could easily tip the scales for me in the direction of an older design. I had seen LH Dakota rifles in the past (I even bid on a 76 once but didn't win) and as a falling block fan, I liked some of their model 10's. But they kind of fell off my radar screen after they were sold. The individual rifle pages don't mention LH models but the Hunters Catalog does. So I might have been looking in the wrong place when I visited their site a while back. Thanks for the tip. My memory tells me that Cooper used to make larger calibers before they were sold & plans were made to move operations to Arkansas. But their caliber selection tops out in the 35 Whelen / 33 Nosler range now.

EdM, normally I don't think of fluted barrels as something I would do but I have to say that is one sharp-looking rifle. I think the barrel band in the middle that breaks them into two sections looks really good. I'm also not a fan of the way a really fat black recoil pad looks but yours is red and a good size. So thumbs up on that too. Too bad the bolt is on the wrong side.

Seilders, a left-handed Model 70 chambered in 404 Jeffery would be a really nice rifle to own. Thanks for the specific round info. A few years ago my daughter was in Mozambique so I flew over & took her to South Africa, Zambia, Botswana & Zimbabwe. We spent time in both the Chobe & Mosi-oa-Tunya National Parks. It made a big impression on both of us & was a very memorable trip.

When Dakota was sold, it was taken over by Ward Dobler, the Dakota shop foreman, and all of his workers at Dakota stayed with him. So, none of the Dakota artisans left. ParkWest is really the old Dakota with a new name.

I ordered two ParkWest rifles, a 404 Jeffery Savannah (the old Dakota Safari model), and a 338-06 Custom Deluxe. I was Gobsmacked when they arrived. Gorgeous rifles, and super accurate, shooting less than an inch at 100 m. I think they are as good or better than the old Dakotas!

The only downside is, the prices have gone up from the old days of Dakota (name something in America that has NOT gone up recently).

My thinking............which is usually frightening........on the Capstick was thus:

If....... IF......... I ever made it to Africa, the 500-600 grain aspect with the frontal area of a greyhound bus was enchanting. Yet, if I never got across the sea, I could "plink" with .480 Ruger/.475 Linebaugh bullets and still hunt our local black bears (they can go over 700 lbs) with some 500's. Not that my .375 Wby can't and hasn't crushed some big bears with supreme authority. But something newer and meaner is never a bad choice.

The .458 Win Mag has always been my favorite 40+ rifle.

The 3 loads that l currently load are:
550gn Woodleigh at 2080fps
450gn Woodleigh Hydro at 2300fps
480gn Woodleigh at 2150fps

All these loads work well in my rifle and I've never had a problem loading for it.

Recently however I had a rifle built in caliber 425 Express and the longer l own it the more and more impressed l am with it.
For those who don't know the 425 Express is the .300 Win Mag necked up to .423" to give ballistics comparable to that of the 404 Jeffery but in a standard length action.

The 2 loads that I use in my 425 Express are:
400gn Hornady DGX at 2300fps
360gn Atomic 29 monometal HP at 2450fps

Both of these loads shoot to the same POI and with the 360gn Atomic 29 it has a useable trajectory out to 300m.
As l said earlier, the more and more l own and shoot the 425 Express the more l am impressed with it.

Russ

BadboyMelvin, I remember reading your post in this forum when you got that rifle a couple of months ago. I was unfamiliar with the 425 Express so I did some research on it after I read about your new rifle. It seemed like the cartridge designers did a pretty good job of achieving their intended goal with that one. For international travel, having properly headstamped ammo would be a consideration to factor in. A quick Google search shows that it is possible for me to go this route right now if over thinking & endless planning wasn't my preferred modus operandi. The consideration of a new acquisition is never settled until every option has been pondered & I'm filled with regret by all of the great deals I let slip through my fingers while I was waiting to make the decision.

No Africa experience but I have killed moose and caribou when we lived in Alaska with my 400 Whelen. I’m especially fond of the Woodleigh 400 grain round nose, though I can find no fault with the 400 grain Hawk RN or the 300 grain Barnes TSX.

👍 When I built my .375 AI, an African hunt (or two) was the driving force behind the build. I never made it over there either…..but, I still fantasize about it! So, it get’s used here…..the money wasn’t completely wasted! memtb

If I'm choosing a rifle larger than a .375 H&H, I'm choosing a .458 Lott currently. Worked splendidly for me on an elephant bull this spring. May give it a whirl in 2025 for another cape buffalo. If I did not have a .375 H&H (for some, unknown, reason) I'd choose a .416 of one flavor or another (Remington vs Rigby depending on rifle size).

I've had numerous instances where I've been temped by a .404 Jeffery, but I keep talking myself into using those funds for another hunt. Every .404 I've looked at will cover at least two cape buffalo trophy fees.

Yes, it's all good.
Having done too many myself, much to the chagrin of my ungrateful heirs,
I would say the no-holds-barred way to go is to get a .416 Ruger Hawkeye for training wheels,
and a .458 WinMag as your ultimate expert rifle.

Phil Shoemaker notes near identical performance of the .416 Ruger to his 404 Jeffery,
in both terminal effect and overall handling.
But he probably still prefers the .458 WinMag he has been using since the early 1980s, a MkX Mauser with 21" barrel,
as best prescription for the pucker.

Get a .458 Winchester Magnum for the ultimate rifle savoir faire.
Handload it correctly and it will out-do the .416 Ruger (and .416 RemMag) in both reach and smash.
Re-barreling a Ruger M77 Hawkeye of any H&H belted case head from 7mmRemMag on up is perfect.
Single loading to COL as long as the .458 Lott will out-do the .458 Lott: Higher velocity or lower pressure or both.
It can have the sheet metal box and the bolt-stop-ejector re-worked to 3.6" COL length if ever desired.
That is all it takes.

Meantime you will have two rifles that can be made twins for overall handling.

BTW, mentioning the .450 Rigby (a me-too late-comer) without the forerunner .450 Dakota (460 Weatherby with belt turned off): Tisk, tisk.