The .416 Rigby: Class and Power

John Rigby & Company introduced the .416 Rigby in 1911 on a lengthened version of the commercial Mauser Model 98 Magnum action. The Model No. 5, .416 Bore Big Game Rifle had a 26-inch barrel, and it weighed 10 pounds. The magazine held four rounds and the three-leaf rear sight was said to be regulated for 100, 200 and 300 yards.

Rigby also introduced ammunition loaded with 410-grain softnose, hollow-nose and steel-covered solid bullets at a velocity of 2,371 fps for 5,119 ft.-lbs. of energy. Cordite—an extremely temperature-sensitive smokeless propellant introduced by the British in 1889—was used, and because the ammunition would be subjected to the tropical climates of India and Africa, it was loaded to a rather mild chamber pressure of 38,100 psi—about the same as American loadings for the .30-30 Win. The cordite was also quite corrosive to barrels.

The .416 cartridge was proprietary to Rigby, and since other English firms did not chamber rifles for it, its fame greatly exceeded the number of rifles actually built. Despite that, the .416 became a favorite of several famous hunters. One was Scotsman J.A. (John) Hunter, a professional hunter from the early 1900s until the 1940s. He wrote several books on Africa, including one of my favorites, simply titled Hunter. Working with the Kenya Game Department for many years, Hunter spent a great deal of time culling game. A letter to John Rigby & Company read in part: “You will be pleased to know that the rifle which accounted for the rogue lions on my last hunting expedition was the .416 Bore Magazine Rifle you supplied me with. I cannot speak too highly of it.

“Its stopping power was extraordinary and the fact that all lions, rhino and buffalo were shot at comparatively short range, and no other rifle to back me up, speaks volumes for the accuracy and efficiency of your rifle.”

Field Testing

Hunter was referring to a 90-day outing during which he shot 88 lions, 10 leopards and undisclosed numbers of rhinos and buffaloes.

John Kingsley-Heath was a director of Ker & Downey Safaris Ltd and held a professional hunter’s license for more than three decades. When lions and buffaloes were on the menu, he often carried a .416 Rigby, as he did while in charge of wildlife operations during filming of the 1962 movie “Hatari!” starring John Wayne. Kingsley-Heath’s classic book Hunting the Dangerous Game of Africa (1998) holds a special place in my library.

Professional hunter Harry Selby, who became known for guiding Robert Ruark, used a .416 Rigby for about 40 years. When the Mauser magnum action eventually became scarce, Rigby built .416s on standard Model 98 actions.

The Selby rifle has that action, with modifications such as a lengthened bolt throw and magazine and a clearance notch machined into the rear of the receiver ring to allow the ejection of loaded rounds. I had the pleasure of shooting that rifle, and at the time it was on its second barrel.

Jack O'Connor

Jack O’Connor’s first .416 Rigby was a custom job on a highly modified 1917 Enfield action. Wearing a Weaver K2.5 scope, it weighed 10.5 pounds. His favorite handload—105 grains of H4831 behind 400-grain bullets made by Kynoch and Fred Barnes—clocked 2,450 fps on Vernon Speer’s chronograph.

O’Connor first used the rifle while hunting in Mozambique with Harry Manners in 1962. In Buffalo Make Me Nervous, he placed a bullet in the “sticking place,” a frontal shot into the upper chest. The bull dropped, was suddenly back on its feet, traveled about 100 yards, keeled over and stayed put.

O’Connor brought the .416 Rigby to the attention of many American hunters through his books and magazine articles, but the lack of readily available rifles and ammunition put it beyond reach by all except a few. For this reason, several wildcat cartridges sprang from the bushes.

One was developed by Robert Chatfield-Taylor, a test pilot for Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation during World War II. In addition to being an experienced big game hunter, he occasionally wrote about his adventures. His cartridge was formed by necking down the .458 Win. Mag. case for 400-grain bullets made by the British firm of Kynoch.

Brainstorming

During a luncheon at the 21 Club in New York, he mentioned his wildcat to Bill Ruger, Jack O’Connor and John Kingsley-Heath, and while O’Connor suggested using the .375 H&H case instead, Ruger thought the .458 was a great idea.

In 1970 Chatfield-Taylor used a rifle in .416 Taylor built by Winchester on a Model 70 action to hunt buffaloes in Botswana, but the company never got around to adding it to the option list for the Model 70, or loading the ammunition.

Ruger chambered a couple of Model 77s and the same number of No. 1 rifles for the .416 Taylor, with one of the single-shot versions going to Kingsley-Heath.

Then there was George Hoffman, who in 1974 became one of the few Americans ever to be licensed as a professional hunter in Africa. During the following decades he guided hunters in eight African countries for elephants, buffaloes, hippos, lions, leopards and the various antelopes.

Daydreaming

The rifle in .416 Rigby he so desired was beyond his financial reach, so he necked up the .375 H&H case and fire-formed it to have less body taper. Bill Atkinson of Atkinson & Marquardt—who later went to work for Bill Ruger—built the first rifle in .416 Hoffman on a Remington Model 700 action, and Hoffman used it for many years.

Dumoulin of Belgium became the first company to offer factory-built rifles chambered for the cartridge. In America, A-Square built .416 Hoffman rifles on 1917 Enfield actions, loaded the ammunition and made unprimed cases with the proper headstamps.

When engineers at Remington began developing a new .416 caliber cartridge on the 8mm Rem. Mag. case, Hoffman was retained as a consultant. The .416 Rem. Mag., introduced in 1988, differed mainly by a longer case neck that exceeded bullet diameter. This was accomplished by moving the shoulder back a bit. While doing so decreased case capacity, it wasn’t enough to make a big difference in velocity. In a pinch, .416 Rem. Mag. ammo can be fired in a rifle chambered for the Hoffman cartridge, but not conversely.

Several months before officially introducing the cartridge, Remington chambered four Model 700 rifles for it and hauled four writers to Alaska for a moose hunt. Like the others, I bagged a good bull and later used my rifle while hunting Asiatic buffaloes in Australia. I still have that Model 700.

More Spawns

Weatherby quickly followed with its .416 Wby. Mag., which is basically the Rigby case given a double radius shoulder and a belt. Ruger joined the chase by necking up the .375 Ruger case for .416-inch bullets.

The .416 Rigby officially made its way to America when Federal began offering the ammunition. Swift and Hornady eventually followed. I first used the cartridge in 1988 while hunting buffaloes in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley with Greg Warne who, along with his father Jack, had founded Kimber of Oregon in 1979.

The Kimber Model 89 African held four cartridges, and while carrying the rifle for most of 14 days, I found it to be quite effective on buffaloes. My handloads consisted of Federal 215 primers, A-Square cases and 106.0 grains of H4831 pushing the 400-grain Swift A-Frame and A-Square monolithic solid to 2,375 fps.

That rifle was a loaner, so I acquired a Ruger Model 77 Magnum in .416 Rigby shortly after it was introduced in 1989. Its weight of 10 pounds, two ounces is close enough to what John Rigby prescribed for his cartridge back in 1911. A Circassian walnut stock, fairly heavy 24-inch barrel and Bond Street–style quarter rib holding a three-leaf express sight—along with a banded, ramped bead up front—make it one of the most elegant standard-production rifles ever built by Ruger.

Subtle Differences

Unlike the Rigby and Kimber rifles, the Ruger’s magazine holds only three rounds, although that has yet to be not enough. For those who insist on things being original, a .416 caliber Big Game Rifle on the single or double square bridge magnum Mauser action can be purchased from Rigby, with prices starting at $19,000.

Both Hornady and Quality Cartridge produce excellent .416 Rigby cases for handloading. The Extreme version of H4831 delivers low velocity spread during wide swings in temperature, making it an even better choice today than when O’Connor chose the original version back in the 1960s. A charge weighing 106.0 grains fills the case to its shoulder/neck juncture, and seating a 400-grain bullet for crimping in its cannelure compresses the powder just enough for uniform ignition.

Other temperature-insensitive propellants with the correct burn rate are Vihtavuori N560, Reloder 23 and IMR 7977. Regardless of the chosen propellant, the Federal 215 or other magnum primer should be used. Hornady, Nosler and Swift make great bullets of expanding and solid designs.

Most .416 Rigby ammunition manufactured today seldom exceeds 45,000 psi, and load data published by various sources are held to about the same pressure level. Bullets weighing from 400 to 410 grains exiting the barrels of rifles at 2,300 to 2,400 fps have handled extremely challenging tasks quite well for more than a century, and there’s no point in messing with a good thing.

I love John Rigby’s old cartridge and will always have a rifle chambered for it, but I have to admit that the Ruger and Remington versions are more practical choices today.

Warning: The loads shown here are safe only in the guns for which they were developed. Neither the author nor Outdoor Sportsman Group assumes any liability for accidents or injury resulting from the use or misuse of this data. Shooting reloads may void any warranty on your firearm.

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