I am interested in the woodleigh .416 450 gr soft nose for a bear load in my 416 rem mag.I usually use reloader 15 powder.I have shot alot of the 410 gr woodleigh bullets with awesome results.I just wondered if they would be too slow in the 416 rem mag.I would trhink they would go 2200fps.

I know its not cool to say so but I but they go faster than that.

I was able to get 2350fps using R15. Heck, I got 2250fps from my Taylor with no pressure signs. Good bullet.

I field tested them for Geoff before they came out in production. He sent me 4 boxes of softs and 4 of solids...I shot a number of buffalo with them over a few years and lots of plainsgame in both Tanzania and So. Africa..

They are accurate, and they kill buffalo like the hammer of thor, they expand to a huge caliber with those ragged tails with the lead still bonded to them..I used them in the .416 Rem at a little over 2350 FPS. Like the heavy .375s the RN is softer than the PP, but either will kill buffalo with aplomb..I shot my largest buffalo to date with that 450 gr. RN, one shot broadside and the third as he came for me, but didn't get very close as the 2nd one got both lungs and spine at about 40 yards. I posted pictures of expanded bullets recovered on AR a long time back.

I think you will more than satisfied..

Hi Ray, Those bullets are rated at 2200 fps, according to the Woodleigh Website. In a 416 Rigby you could easily drive them to 2400 fps or more. From your experience what do you think the maximum practical upper limit is for velocity, before you start to sacrifice penetration and predictablility in the performance of the bullet,

If you want more than 400 in a .416 can give you, then, pardon me, but you need a .458.

Bigger - and I do mean bigger - is way better.

Not for nuttin', but I'm just sayin'.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I shot my largest buffalo to date with that 450 gr. RN, one shot broadside and the third as he came for me, but didn't get very close as the 2nd one got both lungs and spine at about 40 yards ...

So, Ray, this sounds like the buffalo was dragging his hind legs when he charged you from 40 yards out, pulling himself along on front legs only. Surely not a very speedy charge.

You must have put the third shot into the brain to finally stop this determined beast.

The second shot "got both lungs and spine" and apparently made him angry enough to do a Monty Python style charge on two legs?

That first shot broadside: Was it a miss?

This really does not sound like a very good recommendation for the make of bullets involved here.

Just to put a little different spin on things now:

1:14" is the common twist for Ruger, Winchester, and Remington factory .416 rifles (Rigby and RemMag). CZ's .416 Rigby has a 1:16.5" twist.

I'd use a 1:12" twist to build a .416 of any sort nowadays.

There ya go again RIP being sensable and trying to apply logic and medical empiracle evidence to the sit-chee-ay-shun here! It was a miss, followed by a rubber tracer, and a kill shot from his PH's 22 Hornet to the brain via ear canal. Easy shot! I've done it on a couple thousand Buff here when they became too much a nuisance in my neighborhood........

I killed a cape buffalo with one shot from a .416 Rigby, 380-grain GSC FN at 2500 fps. Real anti-climax, too easy.

Nice work! They are just Buffalo in fact and not some alien armored monster as some would have us believe.........

Not to hijack, but would these be too heavy for the twist in my CZ??

Probably living on the ragged edge there. I have never tried them. If I wanted more than 400-grain cup&core in a .416, then I would do as MR says, go to .458.

"If I did it," as O.J. says, then it would be in something I could get a full 2400 fps with, so the RPS did not drop off from a slower velocity applied to whatever twist.

And Ray has no further comments about his description of the Monty Python routine that cape buffalo pulled?

........FWIW ,., if your rifle has enough twist it ought to work great .. Would probably need someone to shoot a bunch of animals with then to say forsure it is worth the increased recoil and steepended trajectory .....I wouldn,t pick it as a Brn bear load over a 350 gr 380 or 400 .. But if you can hit well with it it should hit like a couple ton of bricks.....I,de opt for the 350 gr...

Keep in mind this is a bear your talking about. It is still a thin skinned animal. A 450 grain 416 bullet isn't needed. Any good bullet shot out of a 416 put in the right place will impress the hell out of it. A 300 Winchester with a good 180 grain bullet will impress it. I would love to hear Ray's story as well.
Take good care,
Dave

338 User,
I drove them as fast as I could and that was 2350 FPS plus. On broadside shots the RN 450 gr. .416 sometimes exited and sometimes came to rest on the off side skin. The PP almost always exited and had more than enough penetration.

RIP,
I don't even understand your post but I will tell you exactly what happened if I must..

I shot the buffalo broadside with the first shot, they went in a coolie and came out and I shot him again at Pierres instructions, except it was his partner who hit the high grass, my first buff made a big wide simi circle and got our wind and came towards us. I shot him in the chest and he dropped on the spot. The other buff was finished off by Pierre as I was finishing mine, and thats a real funny story but I won't go into that..

I do hope this explanation satisfies you. I just type these posts and never take the time to reread them and don't intend to start, it's just not that important is it?