A newbie here, putting away $$$ each month for my first safari. I've pretty well settled on the CZ550 with some gunsmithing added. I'm torn between a .375 H&H and then.416 Rigby. Any chance there's someone within a hour or two of Carlisle, PA who'd let me meet him at a range to fire his .416? I'd pay for ammo and bring along a bottle of Amarula.

Cheers,
Mat

I belong to Carlisle Fish & Game Club. I own both a 375 H&H and a 416 Rigby. Let me know if you have interest.

The rigby is only marginallly harder to shoot than a 375. If you decide on the rigby or 375, call CZ and send in you rifle for feeding, bedding, etc... they do excellent work

Thanks guys.

Rigbyman - I sent you a PM.

Jeffe,

Wow ... you must be pretty immune from recoil. I find the jump from .375 H&H to .416 Rigby rather more noticeable than that from .416 Rigby to .470 NE.

I think it is a VERY good idea to shoot both the .375 and .416 before buying your first larger bore rifle.

Matt ... glad you found someone close to help.

quote:

Originally posted by mstarling:
Jeffe,

Wow ... you must be pretty immune from recoil. I find the jump from .375 H&H to .416 Rigby rather more noticeable than that from .416 Rigby to .470 NE.

I think it is a VERY good idea to shoot both the .375 and .416 before buying your first larger bore rifle.

Matt ... glad you found someone close to help.

+1

Fair enough..

here's a pic of the 550 express, 376 steyr and 458 winmag (loaded with rem 405gr) ...

to me, the 416, in proper weight, is just more recoil than the same for a 375hh.. yes, it's more, but it's not like LOTT reoil..

I find my 416 Rigby with 400 gr. loaded warm to have about the same slap as my 458 Lott with 500 gr. loaded warm. Of course you can keep putting powder in the Rigby longer than you can keep putting powder in the Lott.

Recoil is not too bad on either, though plenty enough to make you pay real close attention to what you are doing when the safety comes off. 6000 pounds energy is a bit.

oddly enough the first big bore i ever shot was a .375 which i still find kicks like a mule compared to my cz550 416 which is pretty easy to shoot. The .375 is a sako. It must be the stock design

I just picked up my CZ in 416 and shot it this morning. It bumps ya a bit more than my 375.

It does need some work on the action as it is a tad bit rough and does not feed the rounds very good, well actually it feeds very poorly, but I almost expected this and plan on sending to someone for some tweaking.

One thing I found that I think I will replace is the front bead and remove the hood. The bead seemed too small./... any suggestions?

I think for the $740 I paid, it is a damn fine rifle....

any other suggestions to make it a really reliable sweet gun?

Thanks to all for your replies. rigbyman man and I had a nice conversation this weekend and may link up in a week or so to let me try the .416.

robncolorado - I'm sure you'll get lots of replies if you start a new thread asking for CZ550 gunsmithig ideas.

My .375 H&H Ruger RSM is a pussycat to shoot with 300gr at 2500fps. The .375 is a wonderful round and gets the job done nicely if you do your part. Unless you plan on doing ALOT of heavy game shooting, the .375, properly loaded and in the hands of a trained rifleman, is hard to beat. If you plan frequent and many hunts for the really big stuff then by all means the .416 is an excellent choice.

It's cheaper to load and shoot the .375 than the bigger ones and the .416 in particular is expensive as far as brass and uses much heavier powder charges too... 416 brass = $43.99 per 20 vs .375 H&H = $10.99, for example. The more you shoot the better shot you'll be and more likely to drop your game where it stands too.

Good luck and let us know what you end up deciding, it's fun to prepare for an up coming hunt and especially choosing your rifle...