I took the 416 Rigby out prairie dog shooting. 400 grain solids - 2350fps.
Good penetratio. Didn't recover any bullets to check for expansion.
Quick kills though.

Beware, if you do this it's possible to developed a head ache.

My cousin wanted to try it. He refused advice on how to hold the rifle and hold it like he was shooting a 22 rim fire target rifle...

I heard heavy recoiling rifles dislocates your jaw causing headaches. I get a headache every time I shoot my co-workers 338 Ultra mag that doesn't have a muzzle brake off the bench. I have heard to use a football mouth piece while shooting these heavy recoiling guns help keep jaw inline and cures headaches. Next time when I go out with co-worker I am going to try a football mouth piece and see it that works.

How many rounds did you should? When I did load work with my 458 lott I limited my bench shooting to 9 rounds of full patch 500 gr loads.

350's @ 2400 were a pussycat in comparison.

I was practicing with my 375 Ruger for my grizzly hunt this spring. I would only take about 10 to 15 shots at a session. Anything more than that I would start to flinch. Sometimes it didn't even take that many to start flinching. I killed my grizzly in June now the Hawkeye sits in the gun cabinet. Maybe a Aussie Buff hunt is in the future until then it will just collect dust. Bob

I've used a mouthpiece for some rifles in the past, notably a .340 Weatherby Mk V in a factory wood stock. I'd shoot it 50-100 times in an outing, and often have a pretty severe headache following the shooting session. I'm confident that the mouthpiece helped in my instance, though I think that changing to a stock properly dimensioned to me made more difference.

Great news, I need to travel to a prairie dog town and roll a few 850 grain 8 bore round balls through town like a bowling ball, bet i can knock some dogs over.

If you recover any of those 8 bore balls, please record expansion. I've had issues with 375 H&H AI on PD's and expansion too. That is not getting the measurements.

Take the aspirin before you shoot.

I'm lucky to have a Grandson that likes to sight in my bigbores.

I have been shooting my 416 Rem M70 a lot prepping for an upcoming hunt. I am good for 40 rounds per session with most being fired off sticks or off hand which certainly helps from a recoil perspective. I am heading out in a couple of hours to run another 20 though these will be relatively mild loads with the old 400 gr Barnes Original at 2200 fps.

I never had problems with 500 NE, .458 WM, .404J, 340 Wby or .375 H&H full house loads.

The only headache I ever got from firing a gun was with my SP-10, 3 1/2" 10 ga. with full house turkey loads. It's a heavy gun but that load is a monster.

I shot an empty cardboard box at 60 yds. The # 6 high power load actually moved the box, lots of shot holes. Don't think a turkey or anything else could have survived that pattern.

DF.

My gun cradle has been modified a bit to accomodate recoil. I cast some lead tubes and put that additional weight into the frame of my gun cradle. Now it is a bit like a lead sled but with the lead built right in. In addition I usually place a sand bag across the front of the cradle to add even more weight . I have a tendancy toward flinching even with light calibers so this set up helps with that. My heavy rifles are only a 300 WSM, 35 Whelen, and 375 H & H but I use the heavy cradle with even the light calibers.

Lead sled helps from the bench, but can be hard on stocks.

A standing bench is probably the best option for big boomers.

DF

LOL, 10-4, I'll cast em from pure soft lead for max splattt factor ;]

LOL, 10-4, I'll cast em from pure soft lead for max splattt factor ;]

Yes, standing shooting sticks!

Good luck on your hunt Ed, Africa?