Eldeguello and the Boys at the "Shootin' Shop" - Thanks!

I'm one step closer!

JUST PLAIN LOOKS:
Went to the local gun shop and looked at 416 ammo and held one each in my hands: 416 Rigby, 416 Rem. Mag, and 416 Weatherby. The 416 Rem. Mag is slender and girlish compared to the other two! Comparing the Weatherby and the Rigby it was easy to see where Roy Weatherby got his inspiration: took the Rigby case, put a belt on it, gave the shoulder that famous "double curl" Weatherby shoulder and voila - 416 Weatherby mag!

TIE-BREAKER:
In my eyes, the obvious short-coming of the 416 Rem. Mag is lack of case capacity, the converted 8mm Rem. Mag case has just enough room to duplicate the OLD 416 Rigby performance.

NEW ANGLE: Barnes Bullets - "The Next Generation"
Eldeguello got me thinking about this one! I checked the stats for Barnes XLC coated bullets (versus "plain" copper XFB's). These coated XLC bullets reduce friction and pressure which in turn(unfortunately) reduces velocity. BUT then when you add more powder (to 106.5gr) to bring the pressure level back up to original, then you end up with MORE velocity than original which nearly duplicates the non-coated performance of the 416 Weatherby!

I quickly checked the performance of the Barnes XLC coated bullet for the 416 Rem. Mag at the same bullet weight - NO such hike in performance - NOT EVEN A LITTLE! Appears the 416 Rem. Mag runs out of powder capacity at about 80gr of powder - knew that big case on the Rigby ought to be good for something! (A point not lost on Roy Weatherby).

NOW:
I think I've found my "poor man's" 416 Weatherby - the 416 Rigby! Now it's just a matter of solving the "Bavarian Comb" issue on the Lux stock on the CZ 550 Magnum - maybe just buy the barrel and action from CZ and take it to McMillian or American Hunting Rifles for a synthetic or walnut stock respectively.

SIDENOTE: The Shootin' Shop had a long row of cartridges standing on somewhat dusty and narrow shelf. I spotted the three 416 cartridges and asked to see them. I looked at each carefully. When I read the 416 Rigby case head it read "John Rigby 416" - for an instant I was standing on the plains of Africa.

Looks like it will be the "Legend" for me, thank you for all your help!

EKM

Good judgment comes from bad experience! Half of elk hunting is knowing what NOT to do!

Edited by - ELKampMaster on 01/15/2003 08:45:05