New, 400 grain dgx bonded factory ammo. 416 Ruger Hawkeye African cut to 22.5”(getting rid of barrel threads).

3 shots over the chronograph:
2455 fps
2425 fps
2398 fps.

As usual, recoil is gawd dmn fierce from this scoped gun weighing only 8.4 lbs.

My 416 Ruger is one of the early Alaskan rifles that I put in a skeleton stock. 7.5 bare and 8.5 scoped. With the 400 DGX bonded it is a thumper for sure…

I am going to load it with the 350 TSX when I can get my hands on some.

Haverluk,

What kind of scope are you running? At this level of recoil, I'm running the Leupold 2.5x ultralight. Kinda nice having that scope a good 5 inches away from my eye brow....

Mainer,

I have a Leupold 4x in Alaska Arms QR rings at about 4" eye relief. So far, it seems to be holding up. I have a 2.5x on deck when needed.

I’d cut those threads off as well if I had that gun. My Taylor is 8lbs with scope, and 7.25 lbs with the peep. 400s at 2400 are certainly inspiring!

I picked up a standard Hawkeye synthetic stock to compare "felt" recoil to the skeleton stock. Both have Limbsaver pads on them for the LOP increase along with the other obvious reasons. The old zytels are as tough as they come and I appreciate their ugly utilitarian nature. I disliked the factory issued Hogue very much.

I will shoot a 3 shot group with the Zytel and then swap the barreled action into the Hawkeye synthetic and fire another group of three. We'll see if one noticeably thumps me less.

IME the boat paddle will kick harder. It won’t give like the synthetic, is pretty stiff.

I had one on a Mk II SS ‘06. I put a Limbsaver pad on it as the OEM pad was hard as a brick. I didn’t like the longer LOP and how it worked with scopes.

My son does EBay sales, sold it for $385. I bought a laminated Boyd classic for $150, drilled out the butt stock, cut off enough wood to take 40 oz down to 32 oz. I like it better than the Zytel. But the Boatpaddle is really tough.

DF

$750 purchase price here on the Classifieds, minus $385 sale of the Zytel plus $150 for the Boyd = $515.

Seller threw in two Ruger 30mm rings, which were sold for $35 each, so final net in this rifle is $445. Of course, I did a good bit of work, but I work cheap...

Good walnut in this stock. It's light, and the grain is perfectly aligned for a hard kicker. You can tell Ruger hand selected the right stock for the hard recoilers. They relieved the wood back near the tang, a little less the 1/16” gap around the rear areas of the tang and two crossbolts.



I personally like the paper thin red recoil pad. Boxing matches in the Army, or a brawl on the street, I always smiled when a man actually threw a jab with something behind it. This rifle's recoil is the only one that brings me ah smile......

My son bought one of the first 30-06 Rossi's that our now closed Gander Mountain got in. It was to be his one forever rifle. It probably weighed 5 and a half pounds. I loaded some 220 grain bullets for fire forming loads. I shot it 5 times and my arm went numb. He was able to shoot it a few more that 5 when it became too painful.

I can only imagine shooting that 416. I can see my shoulder blades clapping together and the screws from my 12 vertebrae fusion unscrewing. I'm not that tough anymore. I do like to read your stories.

With a lighter gun in a boatpaddle stock, I agree.

With a std wt. M-70 .416 Rem, factory walnut stock, not too bad.

Here is an old dude, post op complete right rotator cuff repair 5 yrs ago, off a standing bench. Hit the mute button to hear the gun speak.

I was shooting my bud's gun, getting him ready for Africa. He suggested sending this clip to our ortho surgeon, who is also a hunter. Bud had his right shoulder fixed by this same guy in New Orleans. Surgeon liked it.

DF

[img]https://i.imgur.com/H0EkQ2c.mp4[/img]

DF

[img]https://i.imgur.com/H0EkQ2c.mp4[/img]

Ouch !
One should hold onto the forend too.
Shooting a kicker like a rimfire is not cool.
That is why I have resolved to change the forend screw on my Ruger No. 1 .458 WM after every 100 rounds.

I like the 20" barreled .416 Ruger M77 Hawkeye Alaskan in a canoe paddle stock too.
Hated the Hogue stock.
Mine weighs 5.5 lbs for factory barreled action, and the Zytel stock weighs 1.5 lbs, so
7.0 lbs for an express sighted .416 Ruger is almost as good as my 7.5# .458 WinMag with 23" barrel, on an M70 with #4 McGowen sporter contour.
I do add a slip-on pad to the canoe paddle stock for comfort and longer LOP so it is 7.25# before scope and ammo for the 20" .416 Ruger

I have a 24"-barreled Ruger No.1 .416 Ruger also.
It weighs 8 lbs-2 oz as it came out of the box.

The factory ammo is excellent.

Hornady DGS 400-grainer gave 2401 fps corrected to MV (2388 fps 5-yard) at 65*F in the 24-incher.
St.dev. for 20 shots was 10 fps.

Same ammo in the 20-incher at 77*F gave 2337 fps at 5 yards, MV corrected = 2350 fps,
and that was an average of 25 shots with st. dev. = 10 fps again.

I consider ammo excellent if st.dev. in fps is numerically less than the number of shots fired for the sample.

The 400-gr DGX ammo may be different, but supposed to shoot close to same POI, should be close to same MV.

Yeah, my bud was smart. He got me to load his ammo and sight in his big boomer.

DF

The boat paddle stock soaks up some recoil.
I've had one on my 458 since 95 and before that the rifle was a 338 Win.
I've shot over 2,000 rounds thru it as a 458.
I've taken the Wm Fowler muzzle brake off many times to compare recoil and muzzle blast.
Never yet had that rifle hurt me. Most of those were with the factory ribbed pad.
I've even shot it prone some. Express sights or 1-4 Leupold VX 2 .
Granted, I've never shot 550 or 600 gr bullets in it.
Never saw the need. 500s save deer meat just fine. And the trajectory was easy to use.
An 8 lb , wood stocked 416 pushing 400s @ 2450 would wake a guy up. But shouldn't be too bad.

My 1st 416 Rem had a 22" McGowan barrel . Was built on a 17 Enfield with a fiberglass stock. And Decilerator pad. Had a peep sight on it. Shot lots of hot 400 gr loads in it. 1st Barnes manual loads. It was ok. Had that rifle built the 1st year the 416 Rem came out.
I compared all rifle recoil to my 500 A-Sq. At that time.
All smaller carts that I shot were fairly mild in comparison

And 400's at 2,350 fps will get your attention, but sustainable...

Don't think a critter will know the difference.

DF

416 Ruger aboard, launching over beaver dams, looking for them bull moose.

Thanks for sharing the information. I find that pretty impressive from a handy sized rifle and cartridge.

The 20” Alaskan 416 Ruger, with a modification or two, is my favorite above .375 Rifle. As is the 20” 375 Ruger in .375 cartridges.
My 416, with the present scope weighs 1# 4 ounces more than yours. Shooting the 350 grain TSX bullets it is pretty civilized from the bench. I still have never chronographed this load. Wild ass guessing somewhere around 2400fps. It still thumps moose at my distances, and is what I consider very accurate.
One of these days, I will chronograph it and load the tipped versions that I have. The tipped ones definitely hold the velocity better.
That is definitely a lightweight boomer you have there !

Idmay375,
With all the shelves bare of common ammo, theres gobs of the 400 dgx bonded stuff in our local Alaskan gunstores in both 416 Ruger and 416 rem mag. I doubt I'll reload for the ole 416, with easily available horsepower like that.

Too much wind blown river silt, tracking beaver pond muck into boat, rain and snow this season.

Pulled the scope right off the 416, in favor of those rugged open sights!

It was so bad, the bore brush would pull a dust cloud of glacial silt out of the barrel every two days of hunting.

I hear tell that silt up there is tough on trigger mechanisms. Ruger 77 and ye olde Model 70 for the win!

PA, it is hard on everything. I had a little windblown silt on the lenses of a scope, and tried to wipe the dust off with a q-tip. I ruined the lenses.

It is some sort of high quartz content granite silt around here. When you see dust on your lense....compressed air only.

I just say fk the scope and go to open sights.

Always moisten the lens before wiping

Dang that is definitely a dust bowl.
Understand regarding the factory loads / reloading. I think that the Bonded DGX is a good bullet.
I had started reloading for both the 375 & 416 Rugers when the factory ammo was hit or miss availability. And the shipping to Alaska from the boutique ammo companies ceased due to the obama administration’s bullshat. Anyways, I found the 270 grain and 350 grain TSX bullets grouped very well and have stuck with them. The 375 Ruger actually forced me back into reloading years ago.

Idmay375,

I had one of those 375 Ruger's as well. I bought it when they first came out. I ended up keeping the 9.3x62 and sending the 375 down the road. To this day, I'd still choose the ole nine three over any 375.

But that dmn 416 Ruger, within 6 oz of Jack O'Connor's sheep hunting rifle........that is some retina detaching insanity. Thanks Ruger!

The 9.3x62 is certainly a great round. My interest was also aligned with the 375 H&H until I got my first 375 Ruger.

The 416 Rigby always intrigued and tempted me, until the 416 Remington in a M70 came into production. The 416 Remington, I still like lots. The 416 Ruger has been the most carried for a few years. I really like the cartridge and the older Ruger Alaskan rifle, with a couple of aftermarket modifications. It is probably my most favorite rifle and cartridge for the 200 yard and under terrain.

If the 400gr DGX in .416 is similar to the 480gr DGX in .458, then it's one tough bullet!

I fired the 480 from my former Ruger #1 in .45-70 LT (long throat) into very tough media of dry hard cover books and dry glossy magazines, plus two 2" planks, and it penetrated all 15.5" without expansion or deviation, hitting the granite ledge behind the setup and leaving a .458" imprint! The bullet was never found!

To put that in perspective: a SPEER 500gr African GS was fired at the approximated same MV from the same rifle, on the same occasion, and was defeated at 6" penetration having lost 190 grs weight at 310grs remaining! A 350 Hornady made 4" penetration and lost its core!

MV was only 1750 fps for the 500 SPEER GS to simulate impact at 100 yards, and 1780 fps for the 480 DGX. The media was at 5 yards from the muzzle. That rifle was capable of 2200 fps for each at MV. The 480 DGX was made for the 450 NE, but used in the Ruger #1 in .45-70 LT and now in my #1 Ruger in .458 as they don't need to be crimped into the cannelure. From my .458 I've attained 2353 fps/5900 ft-lbs from that 480gr DGX. But if I were to use it for hunting, I'd fire it at about 1800 fps as that will kill anything in Alaska this side of 200 yards, and most African DG as well. It's one of my favorites in .458.

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

Ah, yes, the Hornady DGX-Bonded, 400-gr/.416 and 480-gr/.458-caliber.
Hornady, bless their hearts, finally made an excellent soft

PM sent to IDmay375

Getting above 2300 fps with a 400 grain projectile in a 20" .416 is very impressive. Might penetrate better than a 500 grain .450 at around 2150 fps. I'm thinking 9 1/2 pounds including scope would be about perfect for me if it were 416 Ruger. A Boyd's laminated classic style with cheekpiece weighs 45 oz, extended magazine to hold 4 rounds adds maybe 2 oz and perhaps an extra 40 thou" over the factory Ruger .416 barrel, at 22" should do it.

Blows my mind that the 416 ruger didnt do better. Wondeful cartridge and package. Very handy in the 20" barrel. Mine shoots lights out with speer 350 grain mag tips. Very accurate. Does everything the 375 can do and more

It is certainly one of my favorites. I know of 3ea of the stainless 20” that group very well with 350 grain TSX. Very handy rifles.

I have been able to pick up two boxes of the 350 TSX. Not much load data out the for the 416 Ruger, let alone using the 350 TSX. Care to share your loads or starting points?

I sent you a PM.
Before the last Barnes buy-out, they were working on a new reloading manual. The 416 Ruger was to be included.
Swift Reloading Manual # 2 has the 416 Ruger, as well as the Speer, Hornady, and Nosler manuals.

Was just going to post that. A good bit of info out there now on thd 416. Top velocities will be had with alliant 2000 mr pro. Lots of good powders from their down. Cfe 223 is good as well, reloader 17

I'm averaging 2630 FPS with 94 grains of CFE223 and 350 grains in 416 Remington

That load I can work with! PV has CFE223 in stock pretty frequently as of late. jwp475, would minus 10% be a safe start point for that load? 84.5 or so? Where did you find success with you bullet seating? Factory crimp or?

Mine is a 416 Remington
I don't see why not.i worked up to 94 grains and settled on that load

Also.im using the Federal 215 primer

Fantastic results! Always loved the 416 rem