I am finally going to get serious about working up a pair of loads for my 416 Rigby.

Goal is to have a soft/solid combination to the same POI.

Please feel to add any thoughts or comments.

Question:
Which pair would you pick?

Choices:
Barnes 350gr TSX and Banded Solid
Hornady 400gr DGX and DGS
Nosler 400gr Partition and solid

 

I know for a fact that the 350 gr Barnes bullet kills large game (Cape Buffalo and Bison) well, and delivers extraordinary penetration even when driven at "modest" 2700 fps velocities.

The Nosler partition will be softer and I don't think there is a lot of experience with the Hornady DGX yet.

The truth of the matter is that every rifle is different. You'll have to try a bunch of loads in order to find the right combination of load accuracy and POI similarities between bullets. All the polls in the world won't give you the data you'll need to make a decision.

The needed data for my own 416 Rigby came in the first 300 rounds fired. It's a fun part of the process.

The 400 grain partion on the left was recovered from wet paper. The one on the right was recovered from an Asain Buffalo and the rear jacket behind the partition ruptured and the lead in the rear core flowed forward and is .172" below the rea of the jacket....






Another bullet recovered from a Bison




Rib bones were the toughest bones encontered..

I voted for the 350 grain TSX

I couldn't vote. I've been very happy with my combo of 400 gr TBBC and Hornady solid.

quote:

The truth of the matter is that every rifle is different. You'll have to try a bunch of loads in order to find the right combination of load accuracy and POI similarities between bullets. All the polls in the world won't give you the data you'll need to make a decision.

Forrest,
As usual you hit the nail on the head. It doesn't matter much to me, as I think they will all do the job.

I sure hope it doesn't take 300 rounds to get it all dialed in, as I don't enjoy shooting my Rigby as much as my other rifles. It is the absolute upper limit of my recoil tolerance. I can normally manage about 30 rounds a range session.

I am leaning towards the Barnes though.

SDHUNTER

If you can find some, I'd try the 370 grain NorthFork. Awesome bullet. Let us know what load you end up with.

Steve

Steve,
Northfork was going to be my first choice, until I read he was closing up shop.

I was going to try the soft and cup bullets.

SDHunter,

Being something of a traditionalist, I've always opted for 400 grain stuff in mine. For softs, Swift A-frames have done well for me. Since my supply of original Jack Carter Sledgehammers is about gone, I'm going to give the GS Custom FP a whirl. We'll have to see how close together they print, but the Swift / TBSH combo would land on top of one another...

Good luck!

Mark