I'm awaiting delivery of my new Ruger RSM 416 Rigby - can I have some advice please from those with personal experience with the new Rugers? Apart from the usual things like adjusting trigger, checking feeding and extraction thoroughly etc,what else is required out of the box?
1)replace the foresight bead with a larger one?
2)crossbolt in front of the trigger?
3)and the big one - anything that must be done to improve ejector reliability??? I have heard that the spring needs beefing up, if so what does one install and is anything else reqired???

I haven't had to do much to mine. The trigger was superb out of the box which broke at 3 1/4#. I didn't put a larger bead on the front sight as I can use it as is. I don't think having the crossbolt in the stock is necessary for the Ruger RSM. I've shot 260 factory rounds through mine with nary a hiccup. If you feel that you really need a new spring for the ejector, you can get one from any parts house. Just be prepared to cough up big bucks for factory ammo until you can get an adequate amount of brass and good premium bullets. Also, I've been experimenting with cast boolits just to shoot it to keep from bankrupting myself trying to feed the beast.

cducat,

Quote:

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1)replace the foresight bead with a larger one?

2)crossbolt in front of the trigger?

3)and the big one - anything that must be done to improve ejector reliability???

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My Ruger 416 Rigby RSM is a tad older than years. I bought mine in 1993. Here are my thoughts/comments with regard to your questions.



#1. I replaced mine with a larger fire bead of 3/32" diameter. Here is pic of the front sight.







#2. You cannot place a cross bolt (not a conventional cross bolt anyway) in between the trigger and the magazine. There is an action screw there. I placed a second cross bolt behind the rear action screw. This cross bolt bears directly against the action screw as well. I'll post a picture in a bit. Here is the picture of the rifle. You can see both cross bolts.







#3. Never have had an issue with the ejector. Of course I have only fired of around 1000 rounds.



Scott

I haven't done anything to mine except work the trigger over. Someone came up with the idea that the ejector in the MKII Ruger was unreliable, don't know who, but I own more than one and all of them throw the empties about 6ft. I believe this to be a non issue unless of course you experience a problem. the crossbolts may be a good idea, but I haven't heard of much of a problem with cracking stock on the Ruger RSM. I don't have a problem with the frt sight on mine, but it's easy to fix if you want.

Ejector?

Doesn't Ruger use a fixed blade ejector?

Rick.

I asked the same question regarding my Ruger a few years ago and Allen Day who posts here gave me great advice. Bedding: The Ruger comes with an unconventional bedding, in that there is a flat peice of steel that sits inside the stock that sort of locks the barrel and action into place so you relly can't bed the barreld action per se. So I had the steel plate bedded in order to reduce the probability of the stock cracking.

Trigger:My trigger came smooth and crisp right out of the box, right at 3.5lb.

Action: The action was a little stiff so I had it smoothed and stoned up a bit. No extraction/feeding problems before or after. It is smoother now.

Front sight: The front sight is a bit puny, but I rely on my scope but just in case I installed a set of Warne rings so I can remove the scope. I did all this AFTER I had shot over 300 rounds through the rifle. On reflection, the rifle was fine right out of the box. Never had an ounce of trouble with feeding or extraction. I use 410gr Hornady Solids and 400gr Swift A Frames to hunt and use 400gr Hornady RNs to practice with. I built up dummy rounds to cycle the action and I've treid every which way to purposely cause a malfunction--all to no avail. I have close to 500 rounds through it now. My recommendation is to try it out right out of the box and go from there. You might not need a darned thing! jorge

Rick,

It uses a blade ejector, but it is spring loaded. Basically, the bolt pushes the blade down until the blade engages the slot at the bolt's face, at which time, the spring force pushes the blade up so it ejects the empty case. Clear (as mud probably)? If you have a rifle, pull your bolt and you should be able to push the ejector blade down with your finger.

Again, never experienced a problem with the ejector. Trigger was good as well, with only a hint of creep. The only issue the rifle had was a rough feed ramp, with caused some initial feeding gliches. This was easily remedied.

Scott

Definetly get rid of that piece of tire rubber they call a recoil pad.

Ditto on the recoil pad. I replaced it with a Pachmyer decel. What a difference! jorge

Mine (in 375 H&H) is at Ruger Product Service as we speak. I had a single misfire using factory ammo. My gunsmith said the spring in the bolt was too weak, but I chose to send the rifle and the misfire round to Ruger for examination. I'll post their offical response when I receive it.

There were some issues with the ejector or the slot in the bolt were rough, or the spring was weak, or a combo of all of them. This was written about in African Hunter magazine, these problems cropped up in the Zim PH tests. If the bolt was cycled very fast, the gun would fail to eject.

That said, I've had no ejection problems with mine. It did have some feeding problems, mainly with TB Sledgehammer Solids(flat nosed bullets). My gunsmith touched up the rails and polished the feed ramp.

I had the trigger touched up. It had some creep, now it's perfect. I replaced not only the front sight, but the whole ramp as well. I put on a NECG Masterpiece banded front ramp with the NECG front sight with flip up ivory bead. Just because I like the look of the NECG and the fact you can put a hood on it. Decelerator pad added. Bead blasted and blued the entire gun. We glued(epoxied) the recoil bar to the stock, then bedded the action.

I have over 400rds through the gun and it's one of my favorite guns.

Thanks guys - I really appreciate the feedback. The trick as usual is not to get confused by conflicting advice - but the more accumulated experience to work with the better. Can't wait to start playing - my CZ 416 Rigby has certainly provided me with hours of both pleasurable and frustrating experience. Next month I'm off to SA for plainsgame and will be taking my Win classic stainless .375 (despite being spoilt for choice) becos it's the rifle I have best sorted.

Can the Ruger 416 be easily modified to accept a fourth round? Or any ruger 77 bolt action for the matter...

I was thinking of getting one in 338 win but the rifle supposedly only holds 3... If I get a CZ 550 in 300 win mag. I can get 5 rounds in the mag! but I'd have to rebarrel and the stock...

Thanks!

Cool guy,

My comments only apply to the 416 Rigby RSM. It has a wide, but relatively shallow magazine box. In order to get it to accept a fourth round, one would have to increase the depth of the box. This can be done, believe it or not, without too much agony. You must fabricate a deeper box (buy a second box cut off what you want to add to the original box and weld then together), and then fabricate an extention of the floor plate latch (this is a bit more tricky so buy a second steel floor plate as you will probably need it), which is the one benefit of two peice bottom metal (if this can truly be dubbed a benefit is up to you).

After that you just need a new stock, unless you don't mind a steel box hangin' out of the bottom of your gun.

If you widen the existing box, you will run into feeding issues since the feed ramp will be too narrow and the angle of approach far too obtuse.

Scott

As of this minute, there is no bolt-on add-on stuff that will give an extra round. It would take a special rounded bottom, or hollowed out, floor plate to do that. I had been searching for plus 1 or 2's for a while. Most who can do this will tell you that you have to restock with new wood in order to get the extra round(s). I've been told that there is somebody trying to work out something like this that is a do-it-yourself add-on kit. There is no word so far as to feasibility as yet. There is hope for Ruger users down the line. Have Patience.

I really like mine. Fired about 200 rds thru it since snagging it last Sep. Here's what I've done to mine so far:
1. Pachmyr declerator plus an extra 3/8" of spacers. I'm 5'11" & wear a 34" sleve but that rifle was way to short for me.
2. Bedded the recoil thingy and the action. Put about 1/8" camber into it to keep it from banging my teeth and really line up my nat point of aim.

What I still plan to do, in priority:
1. Bend the bolt. Needs to be moved fwd or up about 1/4" to miss my trigger finger in recoil.
2. Work on the feed rails or the ejector. Having an intermittent problem ejecting the spent case with 2 rds in the mag. With only 1 or none, it works great, chunks them about 6'. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the rails and a misalignment of that 2d rd in the well.
3. Stone the trigger. Just to smooth it up. Okay as is but I'm a perfectionist.

Anybody have any comments about how to fix the ejection problem - I'm all ears as I'm still wondering if I've diagnosed the problem correctly.

Does the Ruger have more kick because of the shorter barrel?

In a previous post, I replied about a spring replacement on an ejector. What I meant was the extractor. I believe CDucat probably meant the extractor also.

More kick than what? It weighs about 10.75lbs. with the scope, that helps to dampen recoil.

475Guy - refer to ScottS' post above - it is the ejector we are referring to - a blade type that folds out of the way of the bolt when it it is withdrawn. The extractor is a pretty standard mauser type I believe. As posted above the problems with the ejector have been highlighted in the Zim PH proficiency tests, and a PH in Zim that I met had his Ruger out of action while the ejector was being fixed. As with many things I'm sure that the vast majority of these rifles work fine otherwise I wouldn't be buying one.

Just received a call from Ruger. They said my "firing pin wasn't dropping enough to fire the round, so we changed the spring". If it passes the range test, it will be on it's way home.

More kick than another rifle with that weight for instance.

What I meant was: Will a shorter barrel contribute to recoil?

Niels - no difference in OBJECTIVE recoil but muzzle blast will be greater which in my opinion is a major component of PERCEIVED recoil. Whether a couple of inches of barrel length is perceptible in the field is another question.

CDucat- thanks. I am about to buy a 416Rigby and the Ruger is one of my choises.

Many thanks for helpful thread. Not much choice in UK for this calibre - Ruger, CZ or a custom built, from my research Or Heym Express at UKPounds 5500! I reckon it's the Ruger for me and use change for trophy fees.
Regards
Robert

My cz 550 .416 holds three down and one in the tube do the Rugers hold the same or less ??. My cz .416 is only a fraction off being able to have 4 down and 1 up the spout but I do not really need it so I have not bothered.

PC, the Ruger is 3 down & 1 up.

475,

my cz will hold five in the mag but I can't get the top one to feedwhich essentially then makes it three down and one up. But with a little work it would be a 5 shot .416 Rigby. My cz .375 & .458 are both six shooters with only a tad of being able to handle the 7th round.