I just recently purchased a 416 Rigby for an up coming 21-day safari in Tanzania. I do handload and my question is what soft/solid combination do you prefer? The PH liked Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and didn't like monolith solids. Animals on the menu will include 4 of the big 5, plus plains game. This will also be my first trip to Africa for dangerous game (made one previous trip for plains game). Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

YOu will probably get more expert answers than mine, but here goes...I like the 380 gr. GS FN bullets as my solids. They are very accurate in both my Rigby and my 500/416. In my Rigby, they shoot to the same point of aim as the 400 gr. Hornady Soft Points. Some folks don't like the Hornady's and prefer the Woodleigh 410 gr. SP's. I have never shot these from the Rigby , but have used them in the 500/416. The Hornady Sp is not regarded as a "premium" bullet while the Woodleigh is. Woodleigh also make a 410 gr. solid, but it does not shoot as accurately in my guns as the GS Custom FN.
Peter.

MHC_TX

Trohpy bonded BC and sledgehammers would do fine.

But also consider woodleight soft and solids either 410 grain or 450 grainers.

You can also team up the partition with a good solid. The hornady solid should do just fine.

Pick what you like

/ JOHAN

MHC_TX - Welcome to AR. As I posted on HA, I like Woodleigh Weldcores and Solids.

TBBC are also excellent bullets. Now that Speer is offering them, I would not hesitate to use them.

I've had great luck with 400gr Swift A Frames and Hornady (old style) solids. The 416 seems to be a wonderfully accurate cartridge, virtually every combination I've tried, seems to shoot very accurately. jorge

The Northfork 380 gr. soft is a super bullet for buffalo as is the 450 Gr. Woodleigh which I'd bet on, but I have not used the Woodlieg in that particular weight, I will correct that problem this year...

I have 8 or 10 North forks that came out of Buffalo and I can email photos of them to you if you like. They all come to rest on the off side skin in a perfect mushroom, one bullet shattered the spine and the front of the mushroom looks like ivory as it is embedded with white bone....Few bullet will smash a Buffalo spine and maintain their integrity, although they will envaribly kill the buffalo. this one is a perfect mushroom.

As to solids, I will never use any solid again other than GS Customs flat nose, or the new solid of the same design that is being made by the fellow who posts here on this thread named Bridger...406-579-1000.....www.brdgerbullets.com I have agreed to test some of these next year and I will leave a batch with my PH to continue to do so and report the results to me, but I already know what the results will be as I have been using the GS FN for a number of years, as has Johann Calitz except he uses them on elephant. Johan has been using them for at least 5 years, maybe longer....

Round nose solids will soon be a thing of the past as people use the flat nose designs.

I was waiting for Ray to respond to this thread to see what the "test plan" was for the coming year. I expected to see North Fork in his post, and perhaps the the GS FN. The Bridger recommendation is a new one. (Also the website is www.bridgerbullets.com. Ray missed an "i". )

I have been testing bullets in .375, but I am getting ready to move up to .40. It looks like the ridged shank bullet design is here to stay.

jim dodd

Ray,
For the GS solid what weight do you recommend for using in a 416 Rigby 380 grain or the 410 grain)?

MHC_TX,

Welcome to the forum.

For my own 416 Rigby Improved, I have only tried the Bear Claws 400 grains and the Barnes Super Solids.

Here is a group of 6 shots, 3 of each type.

I stopped looking for anything else.

I like 400gr Swift A-frames for softs and Speer AGS solids. They both shoot very accurately in my Rigby and to the same point of impact within 100yds.

What loads do you like in your 416 Rigby (standard factory, i.e., not improved). I do have several reloading books, however I would like to know which powder seems to work best for you. Thanks.

MHC,
I have just used the 380 gr. because it is as long as the standard 400's, and I have yet to stop one in a Buffalo as hard as I have tried..Have shoot two lenthwise and still got a good exit hole out the buggers front end.

As far as I can tell the 380 is unstopable and drives as straight as an arrow. Leaves awsome blood trails...I shot one bull with the classic heart/break a shoulder shot and as he departed I could see blood spewing 10 feet out both the entrance and exit hole every time his front feet hit the ground, very impressive stuff to this old hunter of buffalo...ruined my pants with blood following up the bull in the very high grass, I looked like had lost the battle..

Actually, I see little need for a soft that could fail, as all softs will fail, but only rarely these days..

That said I have seen two Swifts come apart on Buff Spine and know of one on a Eland Spine, a couple of Noslers lost the front completely, and a Woodleigh was mangled, but held together, another Woodliegh split on the teeth (sliced in two perfect halves) and that under the circumstances speaks well for the Woodleigh. I have seen Barnes break in half, blow off all petals and bend, I have seen a Speer Tungston core solid break in half on one ocassion and have heard of other failures...

This is not a condemnation on any of the above good bullets, it is a fact of life, albiet it is rare that this happens and these bullets all killed the animal for the most part..

I do not buy off on Sierras representitives who blantently stated "At what point in the bullets path did it fail to kill the animal", mostly that can be answered with the next shot. It's a cutsey phrase that caught on, but a silly answer to a serious question, when hunting dangerous game.

Based on the above I came to my own conclusion some years ago that we needed a flat point solid and cut them off flat myself, but they never fed like I wanted them to, so I used them on top only. I posted of this years ago on this forum and pleaded for a good FN solid...I pushed for it with Barnes and TCCI to little avail...I got it with GS (by great minds thinking along the same line I suppose) not to long after that..Now Bridger is coming out with one simulair and I am talking to Geoff McDonald on the same, he is listening...I will be testing Bridger bullets on Buff this year along with some others.

Now, all we need a definite cutting shoulder on the rifle solids...that has been dismissed by most of the bullet makers as unnecessary, but I am basing my experience against the paper balistic experts who come up with a lot of reasons no shoulder is needed, come to think of it they are the same nay sayers who condemed the FN as folley, wouldn't feed etc Which again brings to mind: There are those who wait for things to happen and those who make things happen....

My original designed called for this. It was not my idea at all, I got the idea from reading Elmer Keith and using his simi-wadcutter and just wanted to do the same in a rifle....made since then and still does...Give them a cutting shoulder, then USE them to see if they work and skip the balistic and theroretical hoop la...

OK, I'm through. whew!

Ray,
Would you e-mail me or post pictures (on this forum) of your North Fork bullets, that you recovered from buffalo. I found their website this weekend - looks like a very good bullet (appears very similar to a Trophy Bonded Bearclaw, but at half the cost). I think I will try these in my 416 as well as my 330 Dakota. Thanks again for all your help. My e-mail is Mclarkgeol@aol.com

Loading monolithic bullets can be a problem because of their high volume to weight ratio, leaving insufficient room for powder, which is not an issue though for the large case 416 Rigby.

All bullets are subject to bending, though I have never seen it in Barnes solids or the Speer AGS's.

Flat nose bullets are a good idea for straight line penetration, as many have shown, assuming they feed properly in your magazine rifle, though it is irrelevant in side-by-sides.

Most any solid from a .416 will zip through a buffalo on a broadside shot.

Will