Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Harry Selby .416

Thanks a lot. Now that you pointed it out, I can't get it out of my head!

I like to share things like that when they annex large portions of my mind for extended periods of time. I once spent about two weeks with The Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought the Law (and the Law Won)" occupying pretty much my complete mental capacity. You are welcome to that one as well.

Me too, Jon. And as a side note, since you gave me the "farmer tight" tutorial on ring screw torque, I have not had any more erratic grouping from fixed 4 and 6 power Leupolds. One more bonus is that if you find one at a gun show with reasonably unscratched glass, you can buy one for a song because EVERYBODY knows that you must have a BIG variable!!
Murf

Murf,

Thanks for your positive report!

I like those gun-show 4's and 6's myself....

Murf,
Even scratched up stuff is worth it ... we buy them here 'scruffed up' and return them to Leupold from Australia for refurbishment. Great company that supports their product like that ... and I second the sentiment ... straight 4x or 6x are fantastic hunting scopes.
Cheers...
Con

Docbill, I am in the process of purchasing a Ruger 416 Rigby. Are the old Weavers up to that application? I have a few: K3, K4, and V4.5. Would like to install the K4 on the Rigby and would like opinions on that move. Thanks.

I don't have much experience with REAL big bores and old Weavers. Finn Aggard used a 2.5 x Weaver on his .375 and as far as I can tell from his writing didn't have failures. The old Weavers weren't as well sealed as the Lupys so really soupy conditions might be problematic.

I also see low power Redfields occasionally at shows and buy them when reasonably priced. Ironsighter in Tulsa does repair on them starting at $80 and I have had a couple worked on.

The backup for both my .375 Ruger and the .416 Ruger I am building will be Weavers, 4 and 2.5 x respectively mounted in Warne tactical rings. I plan to shoot them in on the range off sticks before any trips.

The K2.5 on Finn's .375 is still doing great. I shot the rifle in Texas at a "charging" Cape buffalo target mounted on wheels, and Berit has used the rifle to take more than one buffalo of both the Cape and water varieties.

Berit and Finn must have made quite a pair. I loved his writings....

The K3 would be excellent on a 416 but I'm not sure it is long enough to fit on the big Ruger. We'll see when it arrives.

she isnt half bad with the written word either....

Big Redhead,

I used to use El Paso K3's quite a bit, and never found a rifle one wouldn't fit. They're very similar in length to the 3x Leupold.

Last summer I grenaded what appeared to be a mint, tight 1.5-4x Weaver I bought off the 'fire. IIRC it was around shot 15 from my Ruger 44 Carbine shooting 270's. Tube swallowed the objective lense. I have read that the old Ruger was known to beat scopes with that heavy bolt thumping to and fro.

Big Redhead, I do'nt have it on a 416 but I have a 2x7 Burris on my 358 win and it hold its zero with a death grip. I carried it to Alaska last year and it made it there and back(Alabama) with no change in zero--and that's including a wrecked gun case, compliments of ERA airlines. It's paralax corrected for shorter ranges but the critters you will be hunting with a 416, that should not be a problem. I have 3 Burris scopes and they all are a LOT tougher than El Paso Weavers. It is offered with 2 different reticles. As a side note, the Fullfield models fit the budget of even a cheap ass like me!!! I believe the 2x7 was designed to be a shotgun scope and they kick hard enough to drain your sinuses. Good luck.
Murf

Thanks for the tip Murf. I have one Burris scope - a Lightseeker 1-4x21 (IIRC) IER, and it might just work on the big Ruger. It has about 6-8 inches of eye relief at 4x and about infinite at 1x. I used it on my Marlin guide gun in a mount I designed that puts the ocular end just in front of the hammer spur. That way no extension is required on the hammer and it is almost impossible to crawl up the stock so far as to be hit in the forehead by even the stoutest loads. I made and sold a few on the old Marlintalk forum back in the day. I tried to find a pic to show but cannot. Maybe later.

The last Weavers were sealed better than early models. I Have an "all steel" 3X from about '73 and a 4X "Microtrac" from the late '70s that are still tight. I have two older 4X Weavers that had to be resealed. Mr. Ruiz did the work, not long before he retired and both are still holding. (Maybe he did better work than the original?)

As to the length of the 3x, it will span my pre-war Model 70, and there is not much new stuff out there that will work on it. About the same as the 3X Leupold. No shooting experience past .375 here (at least not enough to count) so no help there. Best wishes, jack

Well I just ordered some 400gr Hornadys and cases and dies. Loaded over about 90gr of H4350 for around 2400fps ought to teach me how stupid I am and test the El Paso 3x quite thoroughly.

murf205,

Not to dispute your results, but a .358 isn't anything near a .416 in recoil. And I've had a bunch of scopes take long plane trips without any problem.

That said, I've also had a 2-7x Burris FFII for quite a while on a .300 Weatherby, which is a BIG step up from a .358 Winchester, though a long ways from a .416. It worked fine.

But anything from a .375 H&H up will put a real hurting on scopes that any cartridge less won't.

I'll drink to that! I've shot both of them quite a bit and the 416 will make you wish for a 358. Bullet weight & velocity equal blured vision!
Murf

I have a 3 1/2" 10 ga. Ithica double that is very similar to the .416 in recoil when I shoot full up 2 oz. loads. There are certain locations/conditions in which I simply will not shoot the big 10 ga. This is a gun similar to Elmers that he used to kill ducks at 100 yds. I am not nearly that good.

The 10 ga. will give you a recoil headache from several boxes of full house in a day. I assume that is a brain bruise or mild concussion from the brain hitting the inside of the scull in recoil.