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Let the strucken deer go weep
The hart ungalled play
For some must watch while some must sleep
Thus runs the world away
-Hamlet

Of the cartridges you mention, only the Taylor is based on the .458 Win Mag -- the other two are based on a more-or-less full length H&H case (~2.85"). The Remington round is very close to George Hoffman's wildcat, and both hold quite a bit more powder than the Taylor. You are correct that the Rigby outperforms the lot of them, but keep in mind that the Rigby requires a true "magnum-length" action. That's an expensive proposition today, and was much more so several years ago -- I believe that's one of the primary reasons Mr. Hoffman developed his wildcat instead of using the Rigby. Loaded ammo and brass for the Rigby is considerably more expensive than any of the others as well.

Happy Shooting,

JohnTheGreek

Not sure on the dates, but Mr. Hoffman felt the 416 bullets were outstanding, if one were to use a chambering for the more common magnum actions. He simply necked up the 375 H&H, and walla, 416 Hoffman.

In the 70's some folks decided that using the 458 win mag necked down to 416 would make a swell round, and use the even more common std length action, walla, 416 Taylor, which despite what its proponents state, won't reliable achieve 400 gr @ 2400 fps, more of a 2300-2350 gun.

Then Remington decided to go commercial with a 416, but instead of adopting Mr. Hoffmans round, they necked up their 8mm mag, and walla, 416 Rem mag.

Concurrent with the Remington's work, Ruger developed a new massive M77 action, and Federal came out with factory 416 rigby ammo. So, until this happened, the 416 Rigby was nearly an obsolete round.

Weatherby, who took the 416 Rigby, then put a belt on it and funny looking shoulders made their 378 and 460 on the case, then about the same time as Rem and Ruger, they released the belted 416 Rigby, or 416 Weahterby.

I might as well add one of my pet wildcats, the 416 howell, the 416 Win that never was. Ken Howell took the 404 case, shortened it to 2.5" and necked it down. Here was a std length action round that had the same capacity as the 416 rem and Hoffman. For various reasons, Winchester never adopted it when it was discussed in the late 70's.

There is also the Dakota 416, I believe a Lazoroni, and a few other proprietaries and wildcats.

To keep the gunmakers happy.

Nope, after rethinking the above, to keep the reamer makers happy. (I have 4 each different 416 reamers, plus the 404)

quote:

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Originally posted by Big Bore:
All true enough, but there is one thing the Rigby has that the others will never have, no matter how hard you try, they will never be a Rigby. I can prove it too. Sit back and think of the names, Hoffman, Taylor, Remington, and Rigby. Which of those names immediately conjours up images of the Dark Continent and the glorious days of the Ivory Hunter. Nuff said!

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Actually, "Hoffman" does a fair job of conjuring up images of the Dark Continent. Even "Taylor" does it, if you don't know it's not the same Taylor.

Mike