416 Rem Mag... anyone shooting cast in one ?

[Missionary]

Good morning
Beautiful day here in Arequipa.. I hope your's is as well.
I have always liked the caliber 41's.. Just do. Been buying revolvers and rifles in "some caliber 41" a long time. Have been interested in the 416 Rem Mag since they first arrived. But have little use for new guns and good used ones are showing up. I am watching a Ruger #1 right now.
So my question is how do these monsters shoot cast ? I understand lead limitations some. Plus I am not afraid to PP slugs to get into higher velocities. But would like to hear from someone before splashing into the water.
If you have any experience I am ready to read your key manipulations... Me I just barely jab at them.
I do shoot a 375 H&H with 300 -345 grainers. I think the 416 should get to 450 without any effort.
Thank you ! Mike in Peru till June

 

[Josh]

Good morning
Beautiful day here in Arequipa.. I hope your's is as well.
I have always liked the caliber 41's.. Just do. Been buying revolvers and rifles in "some caliber 41" a long time. Have been interested in the 416 Rem Mag since they first arrived. But have little use for new guns and good used ones are showing up. I am watching a Ruger #1 right now.
So my question is how do these monsters shoot cast ? I understand lead limitations some. Plus I am not afraid to PP slugs to get into higher velocities. But would like to hear from someone before splashing into the water.
If you have any experience I am ready to read your key manipulations... Me I just barely jab at them.
I do shoot a 375 H&H with 300 -345 grainers. I think the 416 should get to 450 without any effort.
Thank you ! Mike in Peru till June

Mike,

I actually need to get back to this project, i have been shooting a 416 Rigby for a while and will say it shoots cast admirably. Here are a few pics of my Mountain Moulds 450 gr bullet and some results with this projectile. I do admit that it is not the best design when it comes to lube grooves and such, it was my first design ever and it needs improvement, but at normal cast bullet velocities it does quite well.

I will say it shoots "dime size" groups well:


Here it is loaded and beside a 311-165 Ranch Dog:


Just fitting inside a Lyman 450:


How it does at 100 yds from a CZ 550:

1500 FPS:


2000 FPS:


Expansion after 18-20 inches of berm:

 

[KHornet]

Admire your interest in the 416 Mike. Years ago I would have been interested in something like that, but now in my advanced age have become recoil sensitive. When I shot my cape buffalo about 5 yrs ago, I sort of figured I didn't need to shoot any thing that big at full power any more. If you get one, I will surely be interested in your testing and results. Good Luck!
Paul

 

[Missionary]

Greetings Josh
Thank you for the photos and information. The 416 Rigby or Remington will take care of my fascination. Either will flatten which ever chunk of wood I place before it. That 450 bullet you have looks a lot like the NOE 412 340 that shoots very nicely in a 405 JES and a 414 Supermag both on the 336 Marlin frames. I can imagine another 100 grains being quit the thumper on anything it touches. Those CZ's are very nice rifles !

Howdy Paul You cannot imagine how I trust one day to be privileged to stand before large bodied beasty and pop a cap. That recoil does get to be more intense as the years roll along. When calibers are more than 35 something in long brass the cross sticks come out and find me sitting in the grass behind them. I serious doubt a 400 grainer needs to be moving much past 2200 fps to gets any critters attention.

 

[fiver]

400 grs at 2200 fps sounds like elephant type stuff.
it would be what? right close to the 405 Winchester.

 

[Missionary]

The 405 with 300 grains will get to 2400. But a 400 grainer takes up far to much case. I am not sure if the receiver would hold together.
But yes a 400 grainer at 2200 would equal several of the old British flanged cartridges that were popular in Africa 120 years ago. Would make a dandy to uproot unwanted dandelions.

 

[fiver]

that's as bad as me running the tractor around the pasture removing thistle with the shotgun.

 

[Tony]

IIRC, Federal factory loads for the .416 Rigby with 400 grain jacketed bullets deliver 2,400 fps mv at about 44k psi.

 

[Missionary]

Howdy fiver That sounds rather recreational ! Then big thistle bushes can cause a bad hurt.
I did use a 43 Spanish once to uproot some dandelions that were growing along the gravel road out front our home in Indiana. Was fire forming brass with a 385 grain RN with a case full of 2F. Did a dandy job. It had rained for several hours and huge tufts of rooted dirt with flower attached flew away.

Howdy Tony Had looked at some basic 416 info and saw that factory load. Probably with the same bullet in a paper diaper it will clock the same speed.

 

[Tony]

FWIW, my CZ 550 in .416 Rigby has a 1:17 twist. That should be cast bullet friendly. I have a NOE 4 cavity aluminum, 2 GC/2 PB copy of the RCBS 350 grain bullet. I need to find the time to work up some loads and shoot them. I'm interested in less recoil so I will not be pushing the velocity envelope. The Federal factory loads kick like a mule when shot from the bench. Also, the last time I checked, they were around $160 to $180 per box of 20.

 

[Missionary]

OUCH !!! That is way out of the ballpark. I can understand why there are not many none loader shooters of the big beasty rifles.
I would think 1:17 would do well. Have a Roller with a 1:18 twist and it shoots long bullets just fine. Well I only have shot it to 500 yards but that 33 inch barrel chunks them just fine that far. Velocity is pretty mundane also. Your 416 would easily get to another 50% faster.