Good evening gents

I need some help with 'cartridge overall length' for my 416 Rigby please?

The rifle is a CZ 550 in 416 Rigby

Brass is Norma

Projectile is 410 grain RN SN Woodleigh

If any of you out there can help with the COAL for this rifle / cartridge your help would be most welcome.

Thank you in advance

Stu

Max COL would be 3.750", standard.
The CZ box is about 3.83" last time I measured.
Variations in throat tightness (zero parallel-sided freebore with leade only is the CIP standard chamber) may be encountered, and various bullet ogives may be encountered, as the limiting factor on seating, sometimes.

Hi RIP

Thank you for your time in replying.

If the COAL is 3.750" then do I load them all to 3.750", or do I load them to 3.60" or so?

Also the woodleigh projectile comes with a groove for crimping. Does this have any bearing on the seating of the projectile?

Regards

Stu

If they have a cannelure, crimp there and try them out. I don't have that particular bullet. 3.600" might be what it is. A lot of the time a shorter than max COL will feed better with some bullets than a max COL, like with the FN solids. Accuracy may be affected either way, but whatever the COL you use depends on the rifle throat, bullet ogive and cannelure (crimped or not), box length, etc.

You really ought to crimp a Rigby with a bullet like that. That will be the main thing.

Go load some and you will find out. Most .416 Rigby loads will indeed be quite a bit less than 3.750" COL.

For instance, with the .416/380-grain GSC FN solid, when I crimp between the second and third driving bands for a COL of 3.670" I get a load that is accurate and reliable in feeding. I can seat it out to a COL of 3.724" and not crimp and get a 0.147" 3-shot group at 100 yards, but I would choose to hunt elephant with the 3.670" COL, and crimped.

My Ruger RSM has such a tight throat that I had to seat the 400-grain Swift down to 3.585" COL with no crimp (the cannelure ended up hidden inside the case neck) just to be able to chamber the round. Swift may have improved the nose profile and/or cannelure location of that bullet since the old batch I tried.

Stuey,
Federal factory loads with the 410 grain Woodleighs are 3.690" crimped in the groove.Y might as well start there.
Dogleg

RIP and Dogleg

Thank you very much for the input it is much appreciated, I am looking forward to getting stuck in.

Cheers guys

Stu

Stuey- With the idea that I should load the longest OAL that would still feed well in my rifle, I seated bullets for my Ruger .416 using a trial and error method. I started at a longer length (3.75") and continued to seat the bullet in small increments until it functioned perfectly in my rifle. I did find that different geometry bullets required different max OAL for optimal function, with the Swift A-frame requiring the shortest OAL (3.605") of the bullets I tried. I did not try to seat Woodleighs. You need to find an OAL that works best for your particular rifle. As far as the cannelure goes, I followed the advice of many on this forum and ordered a Lee Precision crimp die for my 416. It crimps without crushing the case neck and does not require a cannelure on the bullet. I highly recommend it. Good luck and good shooting!