Looking for an inexpensive,relatively low recoiling 416.I have neck and shoulder issues, and have had problems, not in shooting, but after effects of a 458. I have no issues with my 375, and have shot a 450/400 with no trouble. Would go for a 404 Jeff, but too much $$$. I reload, so that is not an issue. Hope someday to make it to Africa, and would like a CRF bolt of somekind. I can get either of above for less than a grand. Any opinions? (I know the 375 would do the trick, but I've got the idea of a 416 in my head).
thanks
Rick

I haven't shot the 416 Ruger and don't really know anything about the Taylor, but I've heard on a few occassions that the recoil is heavier in the Ruger than in the Rigby.

recoil is about the same .. OPUS< you data is incorrect .. in teh same weight rifle, with the same bullet, the least powder for the same velocity is less recoil .. every time

if you reload, get the 416 ruger, and load 400gr pills at 2100 and go hunting

Understood... My 416 Rigby is well over 9 pounds and topped off with a scope, the Ruger Alaskan is between 7 and 8 with the synthetic stock, the Ruger #1 is 9 1/2. I guess you need to be comparing apples to apples.

I just download my Taylor to 2100 fps when I don't want the abuse. Are those my light days? But you can do that with most any cartridge.

I have both a 416 Taylor and a 458 Win mag and both seem to kick about the same to me. Both rifles weigh about 9 lbs +/-. If the 458 is too much you probably need to either down load, which can be done with the 458, or go to a 375.

FoxHound,
I have not shot a Taylor for a little more than a year. But as I recall, it was in the same class as my 375 with 300 grain loads. I shot them both on the same range trips. A little less sharp than the Chapuis. If you put one together, get the 'smith to fit the stock to you(that is very well spent money), put on a wide butt and a nice squishy cushion. A little weight isn't an enemy either. Then for routine practice shoot 350's with lighter loads. All that really takes the jar out of a 416. At least it did on mine. Cast bullets are another practice option. You don't want to muck up those joints or your neck. They will play hell with you when you get older.
Bfly

All things being equal, the taylor would have less recoil as its a smaller powder charge at the same pressures as the Ruger. Ruger holds more powder, and on top of that its chambered in light rifles.

Now again all things being equal, the Ruger should be closer to the 416 Rem Mag as far as powder, recoil and velocity if we were talking same length barrel, same weight rifle.

What's in a name??? Compare apples to apples...a 400 grain bullet in a 9.5 lb rifle at 2100 ft...no matter WHAT the caliber or cartridge brand name...will produce the same recoil using the same amount of powder....PERIOD....it's simple physics...F=MA...force equal mass times accelleration give us both the recoil velocity and energy of thr rifle AND the velocity and energy of the bullet...Newton's first law.

There are plenty of recoil calculation programs available on the internet...check one out and see for yourself...NONE of them ask for the rifle brand OR cartridge type.

The specific parameters that are required are Rifle weight - Bullet weight - Velocity - and Powder charge weight...most don't even ask for caliber although some might ask for the caliber type for data storage.

Each of the cartridges starting with the 416 Taylor and going to the 416 Weatherby have different case capacities...ergo...you have a stepwise increase in power AND a stepwise increase in recoil, rifle weight being constant...but you never HAVE to load ANY of them to max levels...you can always reduce the load to Taylor levels or lower...

But because the Rigby/Weatherby cases are larger you (most likely, but not always) need a heavier charge weight to achieve the same velocity in the larger case so you "might" get a slightly heavier recoil...it all depends on what you know as a reloader and how to go about achieving equal velocity.

It IS rocket science in a limited scense of the word...every action has an equal and opposite reaction...Newton's third law gives us that fact...when the bullet heads out the muzzle, the rifle heads in the opposite direction...each carrying a bit of energy and neither care who made the rifle or cartridge.

416 Case capacities plus/minus a cc or two.

Taylor 93cc
Ruger 98cc
Rem 102cc
Rigby 130cc
Weatherby 135cc


As you can see their isn't much difference between the first 3...in powder capacity OR in actual recoil.

Crunch some numbers to convince yourself...

I like my Taylor but I built it before the advent of the Ruger case...in todays world I would pick the Ruger for a slew of reasons, but that doesn't mean I would pass up a good deal on any one of the others.

This busy-ness of splitting hairs gets more ridiculous every day.

You can modify the recoil energy just by adding/subtracting a few extra ounces of weight to the rifle, playing with charge weights and powder burn rates, trading caliber size and/or bullet weight or even futzing with the recoil pad configuration.

And...the old standby quote..."if you can't handle the recoil, get a smaller caliber rifle, shoot lighter bullets and stay out of the big dogs way." This quote might be trite and a bit cold but it's true.