O.K. I'm going a little crazy lately. Today I just ordered a new Ruger 77 in .416. I needed it like I needed a hole in the head. Once I started to think about it, then found this web site, my mind was made up. My biggest bore to date is a .338 Win Mag. I can't wait to get it!!

I'm going to handload for it and wanted to buy some brass. I went to Midway's site and saw two kinds of Bell brass. Formed and Basic. What is the difference? What is better Norma or Bell? Any help is appreciated

Bell or MAST, as it is currently named is very good brass, as is the Norma. I use both and have no problems with either one. You want the formed brass, not the 416 basic. The basic brass are just cylinders, used by us real cranks to form various wildcats based on the Rigby case.

Thanks. This is a whole new world for me. The biggest thing that I've taken to date are whitetail deer. This is certainly overkill (not that I'm going to use it on them). I'm planning on going to Africa a few years down the road and needed an excuse to buy one of these big bores.

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Originally posted by John S:
Bell or MAST, as it is currently named is very good brass, as is the Norma. I use both and have no problems with either one. You want the formed brass, not the 416 basic. The basic brass are just cylinders, used by us real cranks to form various wildcats based on the Rigby case.

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I have been shooting the Norma .416 Rigby brass in my No. 1 and will be shooting it in the M77 when it arrives (I just ordered one also). The only problem I have had with the Norma brass is the necks are a touch thick for my chamber and they require inside neck reaming (reamers available from Forster). You know the old trick that you should be able to insert a bullet easily into a fired case, well, with the Norma it was if the cases had been sized, so before I got into trouble pressure wise, I reamed. I had to do this after the first firing but so far, not again and they have been loaded 8 times with full power loads pushing a 325 gr. Barnes X bullet at 2924 fps with a 110 gr. charge of IMR 4831. Sub MOA groups out to 300 yards also. You're going to love this grand old round.

1 Shot: Try www.huntingtons.com for .416 Rigby brass. They stock Norma brand and prices are good, as is delivery. Also they have everything that you need in stock. I have found that Norma brass holds up well in all my Weatherby Magnums, so it was only logical to continue it's use in the Rigby.

I think Midway has the cheapest price on Norma brass. I think it was 157 as compared to 183 for Huntington's. Huntington's has a great selection of hard to find reloading stuff. Good luck. "D"