Well....new for me that is!!! I finally got a chance to shoot the .416 Taylor that I bought from Bill/Oregon from here on the AR boards.

I loaded up some 'get to know the rifle' loads and just plinked away about 20 rds. Then I got down to business. I was pleasantly surprised when I found that 72, 73, 74, & 75 gr of RL-15 and 400 Hornadys all grouped less than 1 3/4"....I settled on the 74 gr load because it shot consistantly into MOA and I get 2460fps out of it. I'm sure I can get it into consistant sub MOA after I get used to shooting it off the bench.....but who in the hell shoots these things from the bench all the time anyway????

This rifle sports a 25" barrel....I'm thinking about lopping off 2" and I may still get that 'Magical' 2400 fps with it.

Anyway...it's great fun but it's too bad that one of the 'Biggies' (I would have prefered Winchester) didn't pick this round up.

That's a lot of velocity for a 400gr bullet out of the 416 Taylor regardless of the barrel length. You may have a "fast" barrel but the few Taylor's I've been around never got to 2400 fps ,with reasonable case life, with any 400gr bullet.

There's a pretty good test I use when I'm not sure of the pressure and I don't see any obvious signs......using the load I'm concerned about, I reload it at least 5 times in the same case and if the primer pocket stay tight I worry less.

My Taylor reaches 2400 fps but that is about the max.I use reloader 15 also and the barrel length is 24. My barrel has been fire lapped and does take a few grains more reloader 15 to reach 2400 fps but I can reload brass 8 to 10 times with the primers remaining tight. I don't anneal case necks so after 8 to 10 reloads I end up with small cracks in the neck and discard the brass. 458 brass is cheap enough that 8 to 10 reloads is adequate for me. It's probably wise to keep your loads to 2400 or just under.

Take care and enjoy your rifle,
470 Mbogo

Ditto DB Bill and 470 Mbogo,
My .416 Taylor gets 2415 fps with a 26" Shilen, 1:14" twist, and 75 grains of RL-15 in RP .458 brass or Quality Cartridge proper stuff.

"Fast barrels" may result from tight tolerances in the bore, throat, or chamber, and that means high pressure could be the result.

The .416 Taylor is a great alternative to the .458 WinMag, and the best use for that brass.

If I were to chop my barrel to 24", I would probably be getting about 2365 fps with my load and rifle. I like it like it is.

If you chopped your barrel to 23", you would still be getting about 2410 fps, my guess. That is a fast rifle!

Glad you are liking your Taylor, TXPO! It sure is an awesome "little big-bore", ain't it?

Sounds like you have a "fast barrel" too. As I mentioned in an e-mail, mine gets over 2400 with ease, and no visible signs of pressure, despite only having 23" barrel. I still haven't excluded the chance that maybe I have a "fast chronograph" either though.

Cheers,
Canuck

Txpo,
Just a bit of trivia.I beleive one of the biggies(winchester I'm thinking) did release a rifle in this calibre one year. Not %100 sure.

Karl.

I have a 416 Rem. that I load with 82gr of RL15 shooting a 400gr Hornady bullet and I get 2480fps.
The problem I had was Remington 416 brass. I shot off the bench at 150yds took out the bullseye but the Rem. brass neck broke off in my rifle. So I had to have the broken neck of the brass taken out of my rifle. wasn't cheap. so I switched 416 brass from Rem. to Bell and that problem went away
and I told Rem about there brass.This was new brass.

jro45,
What are the specs on your Rem 416; make, barrel man., barrel length? I'm putting one together and haven't decided on a Barrel and length yet. Thanks

Lewis50
My Rem. 416 I bought used. But it is a model 700
barrel is 24" long and has never been changed so it is a Rem barrel. Who ever makes barrels for Remington. Shaw is a good barrel company.

TXPO, Congatulations on your 416! My Savage with the A&B barrel gets 2,360 fps and near MOA groups with 73 grains of RL-15, unfortunately though that is about max in my rifle since 74 grains started flatening primers. Soon as I get the chance I am going to work up some loads with IMR-4895, I'll let you know how it turnes out.

TXPO: I am just tickled that you are tickled with the .416 Taylor. My smith, Val Albert of A&B Traders in Central Point, Oregon, built a pretty nice rifle on that old VZ-24 action didn't he? What do you think of the Bell and Carlson Medalist stock? I thought it did a good job attenuating recoil -- that and that heavy 25-inch stainless PacNor barrel. Hope you get to use it on some big stuff soon!

[ 04-18-2003, 11:22: Message edited by: Bill/Oregon ]

Karl,
Just noticed your post.

I do recall that Ruger made two rifles in .416 Taylor, in the old Model 77 pushfeed, as an R&D experiment. Ken Waters got hold of one of these to do his testing in his "Pet Loads" series, IIRC. He wrote about it in July 1974.

In that article, Ken Waters recounted that previously, in 1973, Bob Chatfield-Taylor was able to get the Winchester factory to fit one of their "Model 70 African" rifles with a .416 barrel and inscribe it "Winchester Model 70 -- .416 Taylor." The originator of the cartridge then took it to Africa on safari. A pushfeed?

Anyway, this seems to have been what got John Wooters and Ken Waters interested in the .416 Taylor. Wooters used a .416 Taylor a lot on safari and promoted the cartridge in several articles about the .416 Taylor.

I don't think any Rugeremchester type offerings to the public were made in .416 Taylor.

Three factory rifles in .416 Taylor were built, according to Ken Waters, circa 1973-1974, one by Winchester, two by Ruger.