I had initially posted this in the Big Bore Forum earlier tonight, but I see now that this forum would be a more appropriate place to ask the question. I pulled the original post and moved it over here so as not to cross post.

I am down to my last box of jacketed .416 bullets to reload. With even the cheapest jacketed bullets I can find (Speer 350 grain) at $35 or so per 50 I will be starting to load commercial cast bullets to feed my .416 Remington.

I am rather ignorant of cast bullet experience outside of my .41 and .44 Magnum revolver loads that push 1400fps at their fastest. From searching the back threads I see that plenty of cast bullets are getting shot in people's various .416 rifles.

What has worked well for cast bullets in in your various .416s? Do you use fast, medium, or slow powders? What about bullet sizing? Do you size for .416" or .417"? Does lower chamber pressure help with leading problems like controlling velocity, lube composition, and gas checks do?

I was thinking that a gas checked 400 grain Linotype alloy at around 2150 fps from a case full of something slow like Reloader 19 would be a good place to start without having to resort to a reduced load approach. I would like to find a load for a 400 grain bullet around 2300 fps or so if anybody has one.

Thanks in advance,

Quoted from MontanaBulletworks:

"Air cooled and HT are better alloys for hunting because high antimony alloys like linotype tend to be brittle and shatter when they hit hard bone. Air cooled and HT both act the same in game but velocities they can be shot without leading vary; air cooled up to 1300 fps; HT over 1500 fps and HT-GC up to 1600-1800 fps. Linotype rifle bullets can be shot faster than HT. Plain based linotype bullets should handle up to 1400 fps. Gas-checked based linotype bullets can be shot up to 2300 fps, perhaps a little more. These are all estimates, however, as many factors influence performance of top velocity loads.



The critical dimension in a rifle is the groove diameter. You get a better gas seal and better accuracy with a rifle bullet sized to .001" over the groove/bore diameter.



Loading data - We don't provide loading data but the sources we recommend are the Lyman, Lee and Accurate Arms manuals. Another book we use and recommend on learning more about shooting cast bullets is Veral Smiths "Jacketed Performance With Cast Bullets"."

Thanks for the suggestions and I understand about issue with giving loading data out. I have several powder manuals but I will order myself copies of Smith's "Jacketed Performance With Cast Bullets" and Lyman's "Cast Bullet Handbook". My questions about pressure and leading are probably answered in them somewhere.

I don't see myself casting my own bullets just yet. Are there any particular commercial cast bullet companies have people been used they would recommend? I used Cast Performance for my revolver loads and am happy with them. They don't have anything for a .416 rifle though.

I cast my own wheelweight, water-quenched, gas-checked, cast lead bullets. I don't try to push them to jacketed bullet speeds, either.

Thanks for your answers...I will start my casting summer reading this weekend. I will also continue to lurk on the forum and pick up information that way. My casting questions would be pretty basic, and I am sure they have been asked and answered here many times in the past.

Web feet I started to cast for my 404 Jeffery when I was quoted $198 NZ ($117 US) for a 50 count box of 400 gn Woodleigh's. I run a lino GC 350gn bullet to 2365 and a 90/10 WW/Lino mix HT 370gn GC to 2420fps. That will put an apropriately sized hole through most things and I have them loaded down to 1900fps for plinking.
I use H4350 and Varget with over powder wads with any load that is not at 60% of case volume.
Great fun and brings another whole new dimension to our big bores.


Von Gruff.

Von Gruff,

what bullet mould are you using for the 404J?

Rich
Buff Killer

I am using the 350gr GC RCBS for the 416 Rigby sized .417 out of air cooled WW. Over 2200fps.

Thanks Von Gruff. That was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. If you are doing that kind of stuff with a 404 I can do the same thing with a 416 Rem. I certainly don't need full boogie loads all the time. If I can get 2100 fps and 4000 lbs energy loads that is good enough for me. It lets me know the gun went off, and I can leave the range with a smile on my face.

I have a sneaking suspicion that casting one's own bullets might even be fun too and not just economical. I remember how neat it was when I first starting loading rounds that were way more accurate than what I could buy. I have to assume there is something similar with casting your own bullets.

Webfeet,
I'm doing about what you want to do but with a 425 WR. I'm using a 420 gr hardened gaschecked bullet cast from wheel weights over 60 gr of Varget with some dacron to hold it down. This gets me 2170 fps and about the same energy as a factory 450/400 NE. The full load for the 425 is a 410 gr bullet over 74 gr Varget so you can see I'm shooting at about 80% of the full load. Most any good mould maker should be able to make you a GC mould if you can't find one to suit off the shelf and it will pay for itself quickly. Have fun.
Best.

I have been shooting a 350gr. gaschecked bullet from a R.C.B.S. mould in my .416 rem. mag. I use 41.0grs. of IMR.SR4759 and get 1950fps. from my 22"bbl. It will shoot a 2" group at 100m. Recoil is enough to make it a useful training round.

if the base of your 400 gn proj hangs below your case neck, and extends into your case capacity, accuracey will really suffer, thats why your probably better to stick to the 350 gn cast proj, and just slug your bore and get those dimensions correct
Daniel