Managed to make it to the range today and was pleasantly surprised by some results on the chrony, with my .416 Taylor. The cases are Remington, formed from .338 Win Mag brass. OAL = 3.260" (short because of .338 brass, seated bullet to cannellure). The measurements are 3-shot strings.

400gr Hornady RN, 71gr RL 15, CCI 250 -- 2399, 2387, 2391 fps. (2392 avg.)

400gr Hornady RN, 72gr RL 15, CCI 250 -- 2413, 2416, 2417 fps (2415 avg. & nice spread!!)

400gr Hornady RN, 73gr RL 15, CCI 250 -- 2456, 2449, 2473 fps. (2459 avg!)

My Taylor has a 23" barrel (12" twist) so I was not expecting velocities quite this good. Might have to do with the conditions though... 15 deg C (59 deg F), 1300m elevation (approx 4000 ft), sunny, no wind (a beautiful day in the Kootenay's!). I was using my Beta Master Chrony with skyscreens (practically brand new, with new batteries), at 15' (right to end of cable).

I love this rifle! Brian W. & Bill Leeper...I will try to post a pic of it in the next couple of days. The laminate stock turned out great.

Canuck

[This message has been edited by Canuck (edited 10-01-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Canuck (edited 10-01-2001).]

As far as those Hornady 400gr bullets...

That's what I'm hunting Brown bear with right now. I plan on switching to some North Fork 325gr bullets. But I'm waiting on some Leupold QR rings and bases arrive at the local sporting goods store. I really don't want to sight in twice.

One other difference, I'm not seating them to the cannelure. I'm seating them just deep enough to feed reliably in my magazine.

Do you guys think that if I seated them deeper, the pressure increase would help my velocity figures?

Thanks Canuck!

------------------
Brian
The 416 Taylor WebPage!

Either way, I am a pretty happy camper. I hope to get a chance to try the "little beast" on an elk.

BW, I say try it and see. The nuances of pressure can be very subtle, but must have some resultant impact on measured velocities.

One other subtle difference between our rifles is that yours has a stainless barrel. Could that make any difference??

Just for kicks I calculated the ME of the 73gr load above. According to the formula in "Understanding Ballistics" it comes out to 5370 ft-lbs!!!! WOW!

470Mbogo, I had to use .338 brass because I couldn't find any .458WM brass anywhere. Even Midway was back-ordered. I plan to stick with the Hornadies for hunting. They seem like a good bullet, and they are substantially cheaper than the competition. Also, as it is the middle of hunting season I don't have much time for load development.

Canuck

[This message has been edited by Canuck (edited 10-01-2001).]

Regarding the other .416 wildcats, some other regulars here may have more accurate info than me (esp. George Hoffman), but my understanding is that the .416 Remington Mag is the 8mm Remington Mag necked up to .416.

The .416 Hoffman, I believe, is just the .375 H&H necked up to .416. For all intents and purposes the Hoffman and the Rem Mag are practically identical. These two, of course, require .375 length actions to accomodate them.

Regards, Canuck

I'm don't know about the stainless barrel being slower. I sort of doubt it though.

Perhaps I should oil the bore more often! Slick 50 might work!

If anything, my cheap chrony may be reading fast, it tells me my 200gr Partition load in 300 Win Mag travels a bit over 3100fps.

I have a buddy with a chronograph, I'll get together and we'll compare.

Take it easy...

------------------
Brian
The 416 Taylor WebPage!

quote:

---

Originally posted by BW:
I don't know about the stainless barrel being slower. I sort of doubt it though.

---

Ya, me too. The stainless doesn't seem to affect my 6.5.

I hope to get you some more data this weekend. I want to try 74 and 75 gr of RL 15 to see what happens. Depends how my hunting plans go. Between birthday parties and turkey dinners (CDN Thanksgiving is Monday), my hunting plans aren't looking good.

I shoot 200 NP's out of my .300 as well. What load do you shoot? I could check mine and we could compare notes on that too. If mine's faster on that one as well, something could be fishy.

Canuck

That 300WM load is 78.0grs of RL-25, Remington cases, Fed 215 primers. Bullets are seated long, as I use a 375H&H magazine in my Browning A-Bolt.

I won't be hitting the range this weekend. The family and I will be taking the boat up to a Forest Service cabin on the north end of Baranoff Island. Gonna spend the whole weekend there. I'll be taking the Taylor though! With those Hornady 400gr RN's. I'm sure we'll see bears, but I'm not shooting unless it's one of those "oh my goodness, that's a huge bear!" bears.

Have a great Thanksgiving! Did your pilgrims land before ours???

------------------
Brian
The 416 Taylor WebPage!

I'll try your RL 25 load and see what happens. I have been using RL 22.

Here's a pic of my .416T. Not a great photo, but the girlfriend had me under a time constraint. Might be able to post another tomorrow.

Have a good weekend!

Canuck

The rifle looks beautiful. Whose laminated stock did you use?

I am really impressed with it. It comes roughly inletted. Bill Leeper did the finishing inletting and glass bedding, and had the outside ready for me to do some fine sanding and finishing (Tru-oil). Bill also did a great job on the matte finish blueing. I think it worked out pretty awesome.

Canuck

I've been thinking about going with a laminate stock myself. Thanks for the link.

------------------
Brian
The 416 Taylor WebPage!

"How much ammo should we have on hand now?"
"Do you think there will be a problem getting components in the near future?"

Just a couple of SOBERING thoughts.

JB

Happy shooting!

JohnTheGreek

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bill Leeper:
Nice job on the stock finishing.
Hope you get that elk.

Thanks, and me too. I have been trying a bit, but no luck so far. 11 days to go in the season.

We've had a couple bugling all night long in the field. I told Sharon I don't want to kill him. I want to capture him then everytime he starts to go to sleep shriek in his ear! That's what I go through every night.

I know what you mean. There are some kids in the "sardine can" neighborhood I live in, that I would like to do the same thing to. Never thought I'd turn into the kind of grumpy neighbor I hated when I was a kid.

It's tough living here!

Can't say that I feel real sorry for you! Seriously, you have a beautiful place.

Thanks again for the great job on this rifle. I am so happy, as I am sure you can tell from my posts. Its a hit at the range too. You may be getting some calls from up the valley!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by 470 Mbogo:
What chronograph do you use?
Just a Shooting Chrony, Beta Master model. It was the right price, and the Shooting Chronies seem to be right on if the light conditions are decent.

What is the weight of you 416 Taylor?
I am not absolutely sure. I don't have a set of postal or kitchen scales. I tried it on my bathroom scale last night, and it looks like about 8 3/4lbs. Coulda been 9 too. I hope to get a friend to weigh it for me soon though.

You have a very nice looking rifle there and you must be very happy with it.
Thanks, I am.

My Taylor is on a Ruger 77 with the tang saftey and a Bell Carlson stock. It has a barrel band front sling and a Leupold 1.5 to 5 scope on it. The weight is 9.25 lbs. The top velocities with the Hornady 400 grain bullets is 2425fps on the chronograph screen. The gun will shoot 1 to 1.25 inch groups set up like this. It is pillar bedded also. I've tried the Speer 350 Mag Tips at just over 2500 fps with good results also.
Sounds like you have a dandy there yourself. I'd like to here your moose story one day.

The barrel on the gun is a 24 inch Douglas that I have fire lapped. The fire lapping seemed to pick up the velocity some but really helped with the barrel cleaning.
The Douglas barrel on mine seems pretty smooth, and is cleaning up pretty good. I have a Douglas on my 6.5 that is a real b!tch to clean. I have considered fire lapping it, but have not spent the bucks to order the stuff from NECO. Do you know a Canadian place to get fire lapping supplies?

What part of the Kootenays are you from?
The Elk Valley. God's country!

---

[This message has been edited by Canuck (edited 10-09-2001).]

quote:

---

Originally posted by JohnB:

"How much ammo should we have on hand now?"
"Do you think there will be a problem getting components in the near future?"

Just a couple of SOBERING thoughts.

JB

---

I plan on stocking up a bit. We rely on imports from the US for a lot of our supplies. I can see prices climbing and availability reducing if this is an extended campaign. Doesn't hurt to have a little extra on hand.

quote:

---

Originally posted by JohnTheGreek:
I love the stock!
It really did turn out great. The picture doesn't really do it justice as the flash washed out the darker color.
Gotta get you some back-up iron sights on that thing though!
I know, I know!! The gun fund was getting a little dry. I plan to have some installed before ever taking it to Africa though.

JohnTheGreek[/B]

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by BW:
I've been thinking about going with a laminate stock myself.

---

Brian,
Check out the Black/Grey version (charcoal/grey). It would look real b!tchin on your stainless Taylor!

Never made it to the range this weekend. Hope to get there soon though.

Canuck

[This message has been edited by Canuck (edited 10-09-2001).]

I couldn't wait and had to buy a set of cheap kitchen scales yesterday. So to more accurately answer your question, my Taylor actually weighs in at a little over 9 3/4 lbs. By the time I get a sling on it, it will probably go 10 lbs.

Canuck

Richard's is the one that offers the BRNO ZKK 602 stock also, and that fits the CZ 550 Magnum with minimum alteration.

Nick: Forget the Rimrock and Armtek stocks for me. Richard's has it covered.

------------------
Good huntin', shootin', and spear chuckin',
RAB

For a little while I was not a big fan of Richard's Microfit. They took longer than promised to deliver the stock, and it turned out to be the wrong one! But they remedied the situation, and while I was getting a little impatient, since I have had the stock in my hot little hands I have been a pretty happy camper. I was never displeased with the price.

Bill Leeper has used quite a few of their stocks and could give a much better reference than myself.

FWIW, Canuck

What model is that stock? I recently ordered an "old classic" in English walnut for my 416 Taylor. What did you think of the inletting and general fit? You have a very sharp looking gun.

Todd

I believe mine is the old classic model as well. Hopefully Bill Leeper reads this, as he would know for sure as he ordered it.

The action is kind of an oddball. The BBR is not too common, so Bill had to provide them with some dimensions. By the time I saw it, Bill had finished the inletting (to very tight tolerances!), so I can't speak for how much work it took. Bill did say it took a little elbow grease, but I am not sure if this is typical of the standard actions.

Canuck

The reason I ask all these question is (after I ordered of course), I ran into a thread about how the "old classic" as shipped looks nothing like the one on their website, but is instead the monte carlo with the hump ground off on a belt sander.

Todd

The forend is oval, but Bill worked it a bit and removed about 2.5 inches off the tip. So the end does look rounded.

I think the shadow line cheek-piece looks great, but again, I don't know if Bill did a bunch of work on it or not.

I'll let Bill answer the rest of your questions.

Canuck