Hi,

Yesterday I bought a Ruger No 1 in 416 Rigby for almost no money at all. Beautiful rifle which will serve me well when moose hunting and also for the sheer joy of owning a "semi big bore" once again




I've had rifles in 416 Rem Mag and Wby Mag and my view of the Rigby is that it will be perfect for the Ruger since the falling block should work really well with a cartridge running on a low working pressure, and still obtaining Rem Mag velocities. I will for sure hunt with standard loads, i.e. 400 grains at 2400 or so.

Anyway, I've read on numerous occasions about the possibility of using the big Rigby case with "modern pressures" since its case capacity is very close to the Wby. I assume someone in here has tried this with their Rigby? If so, what are your experiences? I understand that the Ruger No 1 is a really sturdy action, so there is little or no risk of doing something "stupid"?

Let me clarify that the intent is to perhaps try for semi-Wby velocities just "for fun", e.g. to scare people when shooting off the bench I have no intentions what so ever of turning the Rigby into something it's not - i.e. a Wby...

Grateful for any and all feedback.

I am not sure what "Weatherby velocities" are ... but if you want velocity and noise without pressure, it is easy to get 2700 fps with the Barnes 350 gr TSX bullet in the .416 Rigby.

Happens to make a GREAT hunting bullet to boot. The only bullet I've ever recovered penetrated over 6 feet of Cape Buffalo while smashing the right rear femur.

quote:

Originally posted by mstarling:
I am not sure what "Weatherby velocities" are ...

In my view, basically using 416 Wby reloading data in the 416 Rigby. I use primarily Norma stuff so, according to their Reloading Manual for the 416 Wby, using 115,8 grains of MRP with a 400 grain bullet, resulting in 2780 fps.

The numbers in the Norma reloading manual are probably quite optimistic as always, but maybe you see where I'm going.

Your TSX 350 at 2700 sounds mighty adequate though

In my early days with my #1 .416 Rigby, I made an intentional campaign to find the "upper limits". Not being a hot-rodder or wild-eyed pusher of envelopes, the loads were worked-up carefully.

Using the mid-90s version of Barnes' X Bullets, I found that the 300-grain X ran easily at 2950 fps, and the 400 reached almost 2700 without difficulty.

Both of those are VERY unpleasant to shoot. Since those early experiments, the rifle has fired almost 3000 rounds with cast bullets, and they make for verey enjoyable shooting.

Rikard,
Look at the targets sent in by Chris Atkinson. He used ADI powder but the same can be done with VV or Norma, I am sure. Fun, fun, fun.

Thanks a lot guys! Sounds promising

Question is also if you just keep adding the same "Rigby powder", or if you switch to "416 Wby powder" to accomplish this. Norma uses primarily MRP for Wby but the slower MRP2 for the Rigby (to fill the case as much as possible I guess).

Just thinking about it makes me flinch.

Buy a copy of the barnes reloading manual. Its no trick to get 2750 with 350gr boolets with my CZs 25" barrel and zero pressure signs. My shoulder on the other hand, it is all I can take.

My Mulie load this year was, as the saying goes a slightly hair raising amount of Rel. 22 under the 350 TSX. Very accurate and flat.

a powder that has surprised me, for velocity and accuracy with the RCBS 350gr cast GC bullet is AA5744. Between the kids, grandkids, and nieces and nephews we burned up more than three pounds of the stuff this past year. 57gr=2154fps and sub 2moa accuracy at 100 and 200. Recoil is manageable when they figure out it kicks, but isn't going to hurt them. They see the velocity and calculate the ME, etc; and they all think they are shooting a DGR and some of the woofing that goes on at their respective schools and workplaces is professional grade!!
My one niece has now won the Big Buck Trophy at her high school the past two years with her Ruger 243 fullstock carbine.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

Yes you can hot rod a .416 Rigby and use .416 wby loads directly in it. However, the WBY brass is designed for higher pressure than the Rigby stuff. This was many years ago, so I suggest you section a new Norma case and compare it to a similary sectioned .416 wby case. At the time, just to be safe, I took some .416 WBY brass and turned off the belt on a Lathe , then I simply used .416 WBY loading data. Worked just fine. Finally I was not that impressed with the .416 WBY level loads and went back to my favorite 410gr woodleigh over 103 gr of H4831 for all my .416 Rigby shooting.-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
a powder that has surprised me, for velocity and accuracy with the RCBS 350gr cast GC bullet is AA5744. Between the kids, grandkids, and nieces and nephews we burned up more than three pounds of the stuff this past year. 57gr=2154fps and sub 2moa accuracy at 100 and 200. Recoil is manageable when they figure out it kicks, but isn't going to hurt them. They see the velocity and calculate the ME, etc; and they all think they are shooting a DGR and some of the woofing that goes on at their respective schools and workplaces is professional grade!!
My one niece has now won the Big Buck Trophy at her high school the past two years with her Ruger 243 fullstock carbine.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

I have used the RCBS 350GC Grain cast bullet too
My load was 60grain Norma 201 + a Fed 215.
It run clean 600 M/Sec, and is accurate aswell

Pushing .416 Rigby to .460 Weatherby velocities! Why?

If you go to the Kynoch web site you will see that they load a 410 grain bullet in their ammo to a modest velocity of 2300 fps out of a 26 inch barrel. My handload of 96 grains of RL-22 pushes a 400 grain bullet to just a shade under 2300 fps. out of a 25 inch barrel at very modest pressure. That load has been good for nearly 100 years. Why in heaven's name would you want to hot rod such a fine, low pressure cartridge?

Dave

Rob has the right load for big game. I use a different bullet but 103-105 gr H4831 will give you most all you want with that light #1. If you want to go up have at it. I built myself a pretty good flinch with the 105 gr load. I personally went down and used the now extinct 325 gr North Fork. Barnes TSX should work too. Good hunting

Thanks guys - this has indeed been really interesting reading.

As for the reason, I think I clearly stated that in my original entry. "Because it's possible".

quote:

I am not sure what "Weatherby velocities" are ...

350gr TSX 2880fs
400gr Rn-Ex 2700fs
400gr 1Mono 2700fs

i want to buy a cz 550 and get it rechambered to .416wby, because i want + i think it's a much prettier cartridge.

Oh its possible alright but you and the gun are not going to like those loads in a Ruger #1. Seriously, The load I gave you is all you'll ever need. While it sounds like fun, the Ruger number 1 is not the ideal gun for hotrodding. You may well give yourself a flinch that could ruin your shooting for life. Just keep that in mind and work up slowly.-rob

You can get Weatherby velocity out of a Rigby, i've done it uning Norma and some Federal brass also. The larger Weatherby cases are a Rigby with a belt and double radius shoulder, I've done it and now that I know I can and most bullets won't stand up to that velocity I'm happy with about 2550 with a premium bullet. I loaded Woodleigh's and North Forks for my last Safari and they did very well. A couple of years ago I loaded the Barnes triple shocks to that velocity for Bison and it tore the pedals off the bullets just as the higher velocities destroyed other bullets. The Swift bonded partition was mushroomed back to the partition and 2/3's of the front jacket and lead were gone with 60 to 70% weight retention at the 2675 velocity. I slowed them down and they like it much better. I shoot the 2550 velocity cuz that's where my Dakota likes it and it will shoot Woodleigh's literally in one hole @ 100 yards and everything else, I've tried, within an inch. I don't like to hook a race horse to a plow but now that I know I can let him run and what the consequence is I'm happy to shoot where the gun tells me it will shoot best and still get great bullet performance with the bullets I choose to use.

I will stick to Rigby velocities, but it will be nice to hand a beginner a hotrod loaded cartridge and watch as they curiously squeeze the trigger

I used to have a Mark V in 416 Wby and tried it with Weatherby factory ammo without the muzzle brake. It simply wasn't for me...

There certainly is a noticeable difference in recoil with the .416 when loaded to 2700 fps with the 400 grain bullets. I load 370 NF at 2530 fps as a standard hunting load in mine.

I have taken two Rigbys to the limit and always come back. My load now is 350gr tsx at 2635 because that is the load the gun shot the best. 2810 was the best speed for that powder and a lot of fun to hang onto. My no 1 had a break and it liked 325x's at 2850 or 350 speer at 2550 for an easy load. Ive never tried the 400's but I will this year. I could never get full 'Weatherby' speed out of my guns, but that was OK by me.