Test barrel length: 610 millimetres (24in) Source(s): Federal Premium Ammunition[1]
The .416 Rigby is a rifle cartridge designed in 1911 by London based gunmaker John Rigby & Company, for hunting dangerous game.[2] It is the first cartridge to use a bullet of .416 inch (10.57 mm) diameter. The rifles, as built by John Rigby & Co., were initially made up on the Magnum Mauser 98 action (a derivative of the Gewehr 98bolt-action rifle), although in later years, some were made on standard length actions, a perfect example being the rifle used by legendary professional hunterHarry Selby.[3] Other famous users of the cartridge were Commander David Enderby Blunt, John Taylor, and Jack O'Connor.
Two major developments at the turn of the 20th century set the course for the development of .416 Rigby as a successful big game hunting cartridge. The first was the development of cordite in the UK in 1889 and second the development of the Magnum Mauser 98 action based on the Gewehr 98 bolt-action magazine rifle which was designed in Germany.[4]
Prior to the invention of cordite, rifles used gunpowder (black powder) as a propellant. Due to the slow burn characteristics of black powder, it did not produce high pressures and therefore did not produce high velocities required to take large, thick-skinned game such as Cape buffalo, rhino, and elephant. The development of smokeless powder revolutionized the rifle. One version of this smokeless powder, cordite, allowed higher pressures to be developed, thereby increasing the velocity and performance of rifle cartridges. The higher velocities produced by cordite allowed the use of smaller diameter projectiles which penetrated big game much more reliably.[4]
The next improvement was the development of the Gewehr 98 rifle by Paul Mauser. Paul Mauser did not invent the bolt-action rifle but rather he refined the design, allowing controlled round feeding, a stripper clip for fast loading, and a strong action with the ability to withstand high pressures generated by the new smokeless powders. The rifle design would go on to become the most common and successful rifle design in the history of firearms. During World War II most Axis and Allied nations, with the exception of the Americans (M1 Garand), British (Lee–Enfield), and the Russians (Mosin–Nagant) used rifles based on the Mauser 98 action. Today this is still the most popular rifle design and is used by Heym, Holland & Holland, Mauser, Rigby, Westley Richards, Winchester, and several other gunmakers. The Mauser 98 action provided the consumers and gun makers an inexpensive alternative to the double- and single-shot rifles which until that time predominated the dangerous-game hunting scene.
At the turn of the 20th century, four major British rifle manufacturers, Holland & Holland, John Rigby & Co., W.J. Jeffery & Co, and Westley Richards designed cartridges which could operate in the Magnum Mauser 98 action and could offer big-bore nitro express ballistics and performance in a bolt-action rifle.[lower-alpha 1] The result was the introduction of medium-bore big-game cartridges .375 H&H Magnum, .416 Rigby, .404 Jeffery, and .425 Westley Richards.[4] The performance of these cartridges on game matched the performance of the big-bore Nitro Express cartridges. The performance of these cartridges was due to the sectional density (greater than 7.6 millimetres [0.300in]) and higher velocity (~700m/s[2,300ft/s]).
The first .416 Rigby rifles used the Magnum Mauser 98 Square Bridge No. 5 action.[5] The large bolt face and the length of the Magnum Mauser 98 No. 5 action was easily adapted for use with the .416 Rigby cartridge. As the Magnum Mauser 98 action became scarcer after World War II, .416 Rigby rifles were built on Enfield P-17 and the BRNO actions.[6] Both the Enfield P-17 and the BRNO actions are in turn based on the Magnum Mauser 98 rifle.
After World War II, with the dwindling of areas to hunt dangerous game animals, interest in the .416 Rigby cartridge and most big-bore Nitro Express cartridges began to wane. By the 1970s, with the demise of the British ammunition supplier Kynoch as an entity, the supply of .416 Rigby ammunition was dwindling, and many hunters, including Selby, set aside their .416 Rigby rifles, taking up the more popular .375 H&H Magnum, .458 Winchester Magnum, and .458 Lott.
Between 1912 and the beginning of World War II, John Rigby & Co. produced 169 .416 Rigby rifles and 180 between 1939 and 1984.[5] Between 1984, when Paul Roberts took over the John Rigby & Co., and 1997, when the company was purchased by Geoff Miller's investment group, 184 more rifles were produced. It was not until Bill Ruger of Sturm, Ruger & Co. began offering the Ruger Model 77 RSM Magnum Mk II in 1991 that the cartridge finally took off. Ruger produced approximately 1,000 rifles between 1991 and 2001, dramatically boosting the number of .416 Rigby rifles in circulation.[citation needed]
With renewed interest in dangerous-game hunting in Africa, the demand for big-game cartridges increased. Major ammunition manufacturers like Norma, Federal, and Hornady began producing .416 Rigby ammunition to meet the new demand. The Kynoch brand name was licensed by Eley to Kynamco, a British ammunition manufacturer, based in Suffolk, England, which continues to manufacture .416 Rigby ammunition under the Kynoch brand name.[5]
↑ Bolt-action rifles were often known as "magazine rifles in Britain during this period
Design and specifications
The .416 Rigby cartridge case is one of the most voluminous cases and was originally designed to utilize cordite strands as a propellant. The large case allowed the .416 Rigby to operate at moderate pressures, yet turn in a good performance with regard to velocity and energy. The .416 Rigby was intended for use in Africa and India. As cordite was susceptible to high chamber-pressure variations dependent on ambient temperature, the relatively moderate pressure loading of the .416 Rigby provided a safety margin against dangerously high pressure levels when used in tropical regions.
C.I.P.-compliant .416 Rigby cartridge schematic: All dimensions in millimeters [inches].
The .416 Rigby's dimensions and specifications are governed by C.I.P. The C.I.P. mandates a 6-groove barrel with a bore diameter of 10.36mm (0.408in) and a groove diameter of 10.57mm (0.416in) with each groove being 3.60mm (0.142in) wide and a twist rate of 420mm (16.54in). Commencement of rifling is to begin at 7.62mm (0.300in). Maximum average pressure given by C.I.P. is 325.00MPa (47,137psi) for this cartridge.
SAAMI have listed the .416 Rigby, and there are no discrepancies between SAAMI and C.I.P. regarding the case and chamber dimension specifications for the .416 Rigby cartridge. Maximum average pressure given by SAAMI is 358.53MPa (52,000psi). Most ammunition manufacturers in the US are offering the .416 Rigby for hunting Dangerous Game and the cartridge is becoming popular once again.
Performance
The original ammunition for the .416 Rigby used cordite as a propellant, firing a full metal jacket or soft-point round nose bullet weighing 27g (410gr) at 700m/s (2,300ft/s) generating 6,375J (4,702ft⋅lbf) . The current standard using smokeless powder is a 26g (400gr) bullet at 730m/s (2,400ft/s), generating 6,935J (5,115ft⋅lbf). This is the standard to which Federal, Hornady, Nosler, and Winchester load their ammunition. In its original configuration, the .416 Rigby compares favorably with its close counterparts of the era: the .404 Jeffery, and .425 Westley Richards. The .416 Rigby loaded with the 26g (400gr) bullet at 736m/s (2,415ft/s) as the Hornady's DGS and DGX ammunition are, has an MPBR of 181m (198yd). The cartridge is capable of producing over 5,400J (4,000ft⋅lbf) of energy at a range of 100m (110yd). In comparison, the typical .458 Winchester Magnum firing a 32g (500gr) bullet at 620m/s (2,050ft/s) manages to stay above the 5,400J (4,000ft⋅lbf) just past the 46m (50yd) mark.
Since the late 1980s, several .416 cartridges have come to the market. Among these, the .416 Remington Magnum, the .416 Ruger, and the .416 Weatherby Magnum have garnered the most attention of the firearms press.[citation needed] Both the Remington and Ruger cartridges were designed to fire a 26g (400gr) bullet at over 730m/s (2,400ft/s) to emulate the performance level of .416 Rigby. When loaded to their respective maximum average pressure level, both the Rigby and Remington cartridges are capable of driving the 26g (400gr) bullet at over 760m/s (2,500ft/s). However, the Rigby cartridge is loaded to the relatively low maximum allowable pressure of 325MPa (47,100psi) while the Remington cartridge has a stipulated maximum average pressure of 430MPa (62,000psi). The case capacity of the .416 Remington Magnum is about 82% to that of the .416 Rigby. The larger case of the .416 Rigby allows the cartridge to generate the same velocity and energy as that of the .416 Remington Magnum but does so at far lower pressure levels. Unlike the Remington and Rigby cartridges, the .416 Ruger, due to its case having even less capacity than the Remington, operates at near its peak allowable pressure to emulate the performance of the Rigby and Remington cartridges' factory ammunition. The .416 Weatherby Magnum, which uses a case of similar size as the Rigby, is capable of launching the same bullet at 820m/s (2,700ft/s).
Sporting use
When designed in 1911, the .416 Rigby was intended for use against dangerous game in Africa and India. The original 27g (410gr) bullet has a sectional density of .338 and at a velocity of 700m/s (2,300ft/s) generated 6,375J (4,702ft⋅lbf). The energy generated by the cartridge was on par with that of .450 Nitro Express which, until the ban on the 11.6mm (0.458in) caliber in India and the Sudan in the early 1900s, had been the standard of measure for dangerous game rifles. The .416 Rigby would go on to become one of the most successful dangerous game cartridges designed for a magazine rifle.
Jack O'Connor used a .416 Rigby on his African safari and successfully took elephant and lion with it. Professional hunters such as John "Pondoro" Taylor, David Enderly Blunt and Harry Selby used the cartridge extensively for the hunting and culling of dangerous games such as elephant, rhino and Cape buffalo. A famous Kenyan professional hunter, J. A. Hunter, provided a testimonial to John Rigby & Company stating:
You will be pleased to know that the rifle which accounted for all 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 the lions, rhino, buffalo, etc., were shot at comparatively short range, and no other rifle to back me up, speaks volumes for the accuracy and efficiency of your rifle.
Today the .416 Rigby is favored by professional hunters and safari guides in Africa.
While considered overpowered for the big cats, the .416 is regularly used for the hunting of these felines. In African nations which have enforced a ban on the use of sub 10.2mm (0.400in) rifle cartridge for dangerous game, the .416 Rigby can be considered for the hunting of lion or leopard. Prior to the ban on hunting in India, the .416 Rigby was successfully used to hunt dangerous game there which included the Bengal tiger, Indian rhino, and elephant.
As a parent cartridge
The .416 Rigby cartridge case is of a unique design in that it had no prior cartridge case acting as a parent cartridge during its development. Due to the volume of the case, the .416 Rigby case has gone on to act as a parent cartridge to several modern cartridges and provide the inspiration to many others. The .378 Weatherby Magnum family of cartridges which include the .30-378, .338-378, .378, .416 and the .460 Weatherby Magnums use a case similar to the .416 Rigby albeit with a belt added to the case design.
The .416 Rigby is the parent cartridge for the following cartridges:
.300 Lapua Magnum
The .300 Lapua Magnum cartridge was designed by Lapua of Finland using the .338 Lapua Magnum case which in turn was based on the .416 Rigby. Lapua does not manufacture ammunition for the cartridge and it should be considered a wildcat cartridge.
.338 Lapua Magnum
The .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge is a redesign by Lapua of a prior designed by Research Armament Industries (RAI) and Brass Extrusion Labs Ltd. (BELL) known as the .338/416. The Lapua uses a modified .416 case shortened and necked down to accept a 8.59-millimetre (0.338in) bullet. The cartridge is capable of firing a 15.0g (231gr) bullet at 920m/s (3,000ft/s).
.450 Dakota
The .450 Dakota was designed by Don Allen of Dakota Arms. It is virtually identical to the .450 Rigby which it predates by a few years. The cartridge is based on the .416 Rigby necked up to 11.6mm (0.458in). The .450 Dakota fires a 32g (500gr) bullet at 780m/s (2,550ft/s).
.450 Rigby
The .450 Rigby was designed by Paul Roberts of John Rigby & Company. The cartridge was designed to fire a 31g (480gr) bullet at 725m/s (2,378ft/s).
.510 Whisper
The .510 Whisper is a subsonic rifle cartridge developed by SSK Industries for use in suppressed rifles, with the noise similar to that of a .22 Short.[2] It fires a .51-caliber bullet weighing 750gr (49g) at roughly 1,050ft/s (320m/s).
The .338 Lapua Magnum is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It was developed during the 1980s as a high-powered, long-range cartridge for military snipers. Due to its use in the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, the cartridge has become widely available.
The 7×57mm Mauser is a first-generation smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed by Paul Mauser of the Mauser company in 1892 and adopted as a military cartridge by Spain in 1893. It was subsequently adopted by several other countries as the standard military cartridge, and although now obsolete as a military cartridge, it remains in widespread international use as a sporting round. The 7×57 Mauser was a popular stalking cartridge and sporting rifles in this chambering were made by the famous British riflemakers, such as John Rigby, Holland and Holland, Westley Richards and others. British cartridge nomenclature designated caliber in inches, and the cartridge was known as the .275 bore after the measurement of a 7 mm rifle's bore across the lands.
The term express was first applied to hunting rifles and ammunition beginning in the mid-19th century, to indicate a rifle or ammunition capable of higher than typical velocities. The early express cartridges used a heavy charge of black powder to propel a lightweight, often hollow point bullet, at high velocities to maximize point blank range. Later the express cartridges were loaded with nitrocellulose-based gunpowder, leading to the Nitro Express cartridges, the first of which was the .450 Nitro Express.
The 9.3×62mm is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge designed in 1905 by German gunmaker Otto Bock. It is suitable for hunting medium to large game animals in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. At a typical velocity of 720 m/s (2362 ft/s), its 286 gr standard load balances recoil and power for effective use at 250m to 300m. The C.I.P. Maximum Average Pressure (MAP) for the 9.3×62mm is 390.00 MPa (56,565 psi).
The .375 H&H Magnum, also known as .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, is a medium-bore rifle cartridge introduced in 1912 by London based gunmaker Holland & Holland. The .375 H&H cartridge featured a belt to ensure the correct headspace, which otherwise might be unreliable, given the narrow shoulder of the cartridge case. The cartridge was designed to use cordite which was made in long strands – hence the tapered shape of the case, which, as a beneficial side effect also helped in smooth chambering and extraction from a rifle's breech.
The .338 Winchester Magnum is a .338 in (8.6 mm) caliber, belted, rimless, bottlenecked cartridge introduced in 1958 by Winchester Repeating Arms. It is based on the blown-out, shortened .375 H&H Magnum. The .338 in (8.6 mm) is the caliber at which medium-bore cartridges are considered to begin. The .338 Winchester Magnum is the first choice among professional brown bear guides in Alaska to back up clients where a powerful stopping caliber is required on charging bears. It is also the most popular medium-bore cartridge in North America and has the most widely available choice in rifles among medium bore rifles. The action length is the same as a .30-06, and most major rifle manufacturers in the United States chamber rifles for the cartridge including the semi-automatic Browning BAR Mk II Safari, making it a very powerful combination against charging dangerous game. The cartridge was intended for larger North American big-game species and has found use as for the hunting of thin-skinned African plains-game species.
The Whisper family of firearm cartridges is a group of wildcat cartridges developed in the early 1990s by J.D. Jones of SSK Industries. The Whisper Family was developed as a line of accurate, multi-purpose cartridges using relatively heavy rifle bullets for a given caliber in subsonic loads. The intention was to create an extremely accurate cartridge family for military, police, competition and specialized hunting markets that could also be easily sound suppressed.
The .416 Weatherby Magnum is a belted, bottlenecked cartridge designed by Ed Weatherby and launched commercially in 1989. It is a dangerous-game cartridge intended for the hunting of heavy dangerous game such as elephant and African Cape buffalo. It is considered the most powerful commercial .416 cartridge, besting the Remington, Rigby and Ruger .416s by a velocity of 300 ft/s (91 m/s). Unlike earlier Weatherby cartridges which were designed by Roy Weatherby, this cartridge was designed by his son Ed Weatherby.
The 8×68mm S rebated rim bottlenecked centerfire rifle cartridge was developed in the 1930s by August Schüler of the August Schüler Waffenfabrik, Suhl, Germany as a magnum hunting cartridge that would just fit and function in standard-sized Mauser 98 bolt-action rifles. The bore has the same lands and grooves diameters as the German 7.92×57mm Mauser service cartridge. This is one of the early examples where a completely new rifle cartridge was developed by a gunsmith to fit a specific popular and widespread type of rifle.
The .505 Gibbs cartridge was designed by George Gibbs in 1911. The cartridge was originally known as the .505 Rimless Nitro Express. The C.I.P. refers to the cartridge as the 505 Mag. Gibbs in their publications. It is a .50 caliber (12.8 mm) rimless bottlenecked cartridge intended for magazine-fed rifles.
The 9.3×64mm Brenneke is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire rifle cartridge designed in 1927 by German gunmaker Wilhelm Brenneke. It is suitable for hunting medium to large game animals in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
The .404 Jeffery is a rifle cartridge designed for hunting large, dangerous game animals, such as the "Big Five" of Africa. The cartridge is standardized by the C.I.P. and is also known as .404 Rimless Nitro Express. It was designed in 1905 by London based gunmaker W.J. Jeffery & Co to duplicate the performance of the .450/400 Nitro Express 3-inch in bolt-action rifles. The .404 Jeffery fired a bullet of .422 in (10.72 mm) diameter of either 300 gr (19 g) with a muzzle velocity of 2,600 ft/s (790 m/s) and muzzle energy of 4,500 foot-pounds force (6,100 N⋅m) or 400 gr (26 g) with a muzzle velocity of 2,150 ft/s (660 m/s) and 4,100 foot-pounds force (5,600 N⋅m) of energy. It is very effective on large game and is favored by many hunters of dangerous game. The .404 Jeffery was popular with hunters and game wardens in Africa because of its good performance with manageable recoil. By way of comparison, the .416 Rigby and .416 Remington Magnum cartridges fire .416 in (10.57 mm) bullets of 400 gr at 2,400 feet per second (730 m/s) with a muzzle energy of approximately 5,000 foot-pounds force (6,800 N⋅m). These cartridges exceed the ballistic performance of the .404 Jeffery but at the price of greater recoil and, in the case of the .416 Rigby, rifles that are more expensive.
The .416 Remington Magnum is a .416 caliber (10.57 mm) cartridge of belted bottlenecked design. The cartridge was intended as a dangerous game hunting cartridge and released to the public in 1989. The cartridge uses the case of the 8 mm Remington Magnum as a parent cartridge. When the cartridge was released in 1988, author Frank C. Barnes considered the .416 Remington Magnum to be the "most outstanding factory cartridge introduced in decades".
The .375 Ruger (9.5×65.5mm) is a rimless, standard-length rifle cartridge designed for the hunting of large, dangerous game. It is designed to provide an increase in performance over the .375 H&H cartridge, yet to be chambered in a standard-length action rifle. The cartridge was designed in partnership, by Hornady and Ruger. In 2007, it was released commercially and chambered in the Ruger Hawkeye African and the Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan rifles.
The .284 Winchester is a firearm cartridge, introduced by Winchester in 1963.
The .458 Lott is a .458 caliber rifle cartridge designed for the purpose of hunting large, thick-skinned dangerous game animals in Africa. It is based on the full length .375 H&H Magnum case blown out and shortened to 2.800 inches (71.1 mm).
The .500 Jeffery is a big-game rifle cartridge that first appeared around 1920, and was originally introduced by the August Schuler Company, a German firm, under the European designation "12.7×70mm Schuler" or ".500 Schuler". When offered by the famed British outfitter W.J. Jeffery & Co, it was renamed the .500 Jeffery so as to be more palatable to British hunters and sportsmen following World War One.
The .450 Rigby is a rifle cartridge designed in 1994 by John Rigby & Co. for the hunting of large, thick-skinned dangerous game animals in Africa. The cartridge is based on the .416 Rigby necked up to accept a .458 in (11.6 mm) bullet and is intended for use in magazine rifles. The cartridge should not be confused with .450 Nitro Express which was introduced by Rigby in 1898, and is a rimmed cartridge intended for use in double rifles.
The .416 Ruger is a .41 caliber, rimless, bottlenecked cartridge designed as a joint venture by Hornady and Ruger in 2008. Designed to equal the .416 Rigby and .416 Remington Magnum but in a standard length .30-06 length action. The standard length actions are less expensive to manufacture thus making a dangerous game caliber available to a greater amount of customers. Gun manufacturers have not followed Ruger's lead. This also applies to the .375 Ruger. The .416 Ruger is suitable for the biggest land animals and dangerous game.
The .276 Enfield (7×60mm) was an experimental rebated rim bottlenecked centerfire military rifle cartridge developed in conjunction with the Pattern 1913 Enfield (P'13) rifle. Development was discontinued by the onset of World War I.
↑ Helsley, Steve. "Rigby Marks 275th Anniversary", in Safari: The Journal of Big Game Hunters, Safari Club International, November–December 2009, p. 27.
↑ Coogan, Joe (October 2002). "The .416 Rigby: Just Enough", American Rifleman, p. 80
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