.416 Remington Magnum – 10.5 x72 mm

 .416 Remington Magnum – 10.5 x72 mm

Synonyms: .416 Remington Magnum / .416 Rem Magnum / 10.5x72

.416-Remington-Magnum and 30-06 Springfield

Although this story is dedicated to .416 Remington, we must look to the inevitable and legendary Rigby as it had been one of the essential medium bore magazine rifle cartridges during the heyday of African hunting. Of course, nowadays, loaded with modern smokeless powders, the .416 Rigby is considered a big bore cartridge.

In 1911 the British John Rigby and Company introduced the first .416 caliber proprietary cartridge, and a bolt action rifle or how they called it magazine rifle, to shoot it based on the magnum Mauser action. The round that Rigby designed was huge in comparison to most magazine rifle cartridges of its time, with case capable of holding well over 100 grains of today's powder. It was initially loaded with cordite, the popular propellant of the day in early twentieth century Britain, and a large ring Mauser receiver was necessary to house the voluminous case. Intended primarily for the tropic climate with only cordite available, they developed the .416 Rigby to be overly huge so that the temperature oscillation wouldn't give any trouble while extracting a cartridge. Having a cartridge stuck in the chamber while facing a charging buffalo or elephant is a great way to destroy a company's reputation!

Regarding this features, the .416 cartridges were until recently confined mainly to Africa, where they were used primarily on the dangerous thick-skinned game. Furthermore the .416 Rigby and the all of today's .416" bores owe their sustained existence to Robert Ruark’s 1953 safari gem “Horn of the Hunter”, in which he documents Professional Hunter Harry Selby’s proficiency with the left-handed .416 Rigby he was using due to the fact that his double .470 was in the repair shop. Aside from Ruark`s publishing, the North American shooters also became interested in the .416 Rigby, inspired by the famous gun writer Jack O'Connor, who pioneered modern reloads for the caliber. Consequently, the .416 Remington was part of Rebirth of the Great .40-Caliber  of the late 1980s. 

L-R: .416 Ruger, .416 Remington Magnum, .416 Rigby

After the Second World War and gaining independence by many Africa ex-colonies, the safari hunts, big bore rifles and cartridges get loosed popularity and among them, the fabled .450 Nitro-Express, the king of the doubles, began to fade quickly, as did many of the other flanged double rifle cartridges. Except for the legendary Nitros, also cartridges such as the .416 Rigby – which was considered an entry-level round in countries which mandated 40 caliber   (10 mm) cartridges – lost out to rounds such as the .458 Winchester Magnum and the .375 H&H Magnum which could be chambered in much less costly bolt action rifles. This left hunters of the 70s and even 80s with two affordable choices for a big game rifle: the .375H&H and the .458 Winchester. While both of these are irrefutable classics, the difference between them left a gap. Taking this into account there has been a persistent call, by those who hunt dangerous game, for a cartridge to fill the gap between the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum and the .458 Winchester Magnum.

This problem was then solved, to some extent, by some wildcat cartridges such as the .416 Taylor, .416 Hoffman, and the .425 Express. In the late 1980s, some Los Angeles gun writers with Cameron Hopkins got together and created the .425 Express - a .300 Winchester Magnum shortened slightly and necked up to take a .423" bullet. The legendary lawman and hunter Col. Charles Askins then used it very successfully hunting Asiatic buffalo in Australia. The cartridge will fit a standard .30-06 action and offers ballistics identical to those of the .416 Rigby. These cartridges all more or less duplicated the performance of the .416 Rigby, and the .416 Remington does pretty much the same thing.

Winchester model 70 classic super express, .416 Remington magnum

Although the .416 Rigby accomplished this rather well, both rifles and ammunition became increasingly difficult to obtain, until the .416 Remington Magnum commercially produced cartridge closed the gap by blending the trajectory of the .375 H&H with the high kinetic energy of the .458 Winchester.

In those years suitably was the renewed interest in Safari Hunting in Africa, which at the beginning of the eighties created a market for a specialized African cartridge and dangerous game rifles.

Remington realizing the opportunity designed the .416 Magnum, officially announced in November 1988, what was to represent the first dangerous game cartridge commercially introduced since the advent of the .458 Winchester Magnum in 1956. The American firm of Winchester answered the call (at least in theory) by developing the .458 Winchester Magnum. It was designed to propel a .458" diameter 500-grain projectile at 2,100 fps, in a case based on the .375 Holland and Holland Belted Magnum. The introduction of the belted bottle-necked .416 Remington Magnum by Remington led to a renewal of interest in the .416 caliber (10.36 mm). The .416 cartridges are appreciated by big-game hunters today because they are more effective on game than smaller calibers and more comfortable to shoot than those of larger calibers.

The emergence of the .416 Remington Magnum happened just after the Wildcatters started to experiment with the .416" diameter bullets in different cases. It was the time when the two most popular .416-caliber     cartridges among American hunters were wildcats. One called the .416 Taylor was designed by writer Robert Chatfield-Taylor and is the .458 Winchester Magnum case necked down. Another called the .416 Hoffman was formed by its creator, one of the few American Professional Hunters in Africa, George Hoffman, by necking up the .375 H&H Magnum case and blowing it out to less body taper and a sharper shoulder angle.

These cartridges all more or less duplicated the performance of the .416 Rigby, and the .416 Remington does pretty much the same thing. However, the Remington version has one significant advantage in that it is available as a commercial loading in a proven commercial rifle.  The .416 Remington has a trajectory very similar to the .375 H&H and is a better long-range cartridge than the .458 Winchester for use against the thin-skinned game, and it was conceived as a less costly alternative to the .416 Rigby cartridge.

It's the 8mm Remington Magnum necked up to .41 and fires 400-grain bullets at 2,400 fps (730 m/s). It fits through a standard-length action, and is, for all intents and purposes, a more practical version of the .416 Rigby.

While today the .416 Remington Magnum is considered in the field the most popular of the .416 cartridges, the .416 Remington did not replace the .416 Rigby as had been anticipated. Instead, it sparked a renewed interest in the .416 caliber cartridges which led to the introduction of other .416 cartridges such as the .416 Weatherby Magnum and the .416 Ruger. Oddly enough, however, the .416 Rigby made a strong comeback and is, today, more popular than it has ever been. Given

Remington became interested in a .416 cartridge with a standard magnum rim diameter that could equal the performance of the outsized .416 Rigby for use in their Model 700 rifle. The .416 Remington Magnum was the result. Using an improved .375 H&H Magnum case as the starting point, the .416 Remington Magnum was based on wildcat .416 Hoffman and the company's then reasonably new 8 mm Remington Magnum (itself was a derivation of the .375H&H) which was necked up to accept a .416 inches (10.6 mm) bullet. It could be described as the 8mm Remington Magnum necked up to .41, and fires 400-grain bullets at 2,400 fps. It fits through a standard-length action, and is, for all intents and purposes, a more practical version of the .416 Rigby.

Remington, a company who has made a reputation out of legitimizing the bastard children of the shooting world, picked up on the Hoffman concept. In fact, they are so close in a dimension that .416 Remington ammunition can be safely fired from the slightly larger .416 Hoffman chamber, but the reverse is not true. The Hoffman cartridge is somewhat more significant than the .416 Remington Magnum in the neck and shoulder area and has a less taper. Ballistics are virtually identical between the Hoffman and the Remington; both are driving the 400-grain bullets at a speed of 2,400fps. What Remington does differently is to use roughly 80% of the powder charge required for the Rigby. The new Remington design uses a 25-degree shoulder and headspaces off the belt; the Rigby case is beltless and headspaces off the steep, almost 45-degree shoulder.

Because it is based on a smaller case than the .416 Rigby, the .416 Remington has to operate at a higher pressure to deliver the same performance. The .416 Remington Magnum has often been criticized for operating at higher pressures than the .416 Rigby because this high pressure has caused trouble in the severe heat frequently encountered in tropical environments of Africa.

The case capacity of the Remington case is about 82% of that of the Rigby round. The larger case of the Rigby allows the cartridge to generate the same velocity and energy as that of the .416 Remington but does so at far lower pressure levels. However, the Rigby cartridge is loaded to the relatively low maximum allowable pressure of 47,100 psi (325 MPa) while the Remington cartridge has a stipulated maximum average pressure of 62,000 psi (430 MPa). When loaded to their respective maximum average pressure level, both the Remington and Rigby cartridges are capable of driving the 400 gr (26 g) bullet at over 2,500 fps (760 m/s).

Factory loaded ammunition has initially been available with either a 400-grain pointed soft-point or a 400-grain solid bullet loaded to a muzzle velocity of 2,400 fps (730 m/s) and muzzle energy of 5,115 ft-lbs (6,935 Joules). That exceeds the energy generated by most .458 Winchester Magnum factory ammunition which launch a 500 gr (32 g) bullet at 2,050 fps (620 m/s). Many experienced African hunters consider the .416 Remington a more flexible cartridge than the .458 Winchester Magnum. To date, only Remington loads ammunition in this caliber.

Although the .416 bullet is 100 grains lighter than that of the .458 Winchester, it starts out with an almost 300 fps higher velocity. That, combined with better sectional density and a superior aerodynamic shape, gives it certain ballistic advantages. According to the factory figures, it has an 11- percent advantage in muzzle energy, and this increases to 18-percent at 100 yards and 30-percent at 200 yards.

Weatherby was to follow Remington's lead soon after, releasing the .416 Weatherby Magnum which was based on its .378 Weatherby Magnum cartridge. The .416 Weatherby Magnum, on the other hand, is capable of a higher performance level than either the Remington, Rigby or Ruger cartridges. The .416 Weatherby Magnum uses a slighter more voluminous case than the Rigby cartridge and works at a higher pressure than the .416 Remington Magnum. 

When Ruger entered the .416 caliber     (10.36 mm) fray, they did so with a round shorter but internally fatter than the .416 Remington Magnum which was based on their .375 Ruger necked up to .416 in (10.6 mm). The cartridge was a co-development between Ruger and Hornady where Ruger developed the rifles and Hornady the ammunition. Compared to the .416 Ruger, the Remington cartridge has a greater case capacity and a higher pressure level.

The .416 Remington should be ideal for dangerous game, including Cape buffalo, elephant, lion, and brown bear. The cartridge has been successfully used against these game species in Africa and is a favorite cartridge among professional hunters and has been slowly replacing the .458 Winchester Magnum.

Although dangerous game hunting is conducted at reasonably close ranges rarely exceeding 60 yds (55 m) the .416 Remington Magnum has the required energy and penetration to kill dangerous heavy game at ranges over 100 yds (91 m). The cartridge has an effective range against lion and leopard out to over 250 yds (230 m).

The cartridge has found use in North America among guides in Alaska as insurance against large brown bears found in the state. Apart from the big bears such as the Alaskan brown bear, polar bear and perhaps large bovines such as plains and wood bison, no North American game species requires the power and the energy of the .416 Remington Magnum in North America.

For the man who has to travel light, the .416 would be an excellent one-gun cartridge choice for use in Africa. Unlike the many of the .458 caliber     (11.43 mm) cartridges, the .416 Remington is more flexible, multipurpose round. Since the cartridge can shoot almost as flat as the .375 H&H Magnum, it can be used effectively for heavier plains game with lighter bullets.

The intent and purpose behind the .416 Remington Magnum cartridge were to provide a dangerous game rifle cartridge which could emulate the performance of the vaunted .416 Rigby cartridge. While the .375 H&H Magnum is considered marginal on heavy, ugly game, the .416 Rigby was recognized as a big bore with the ultimate stopping power to put down an elephant, African Cape buffalo and rhinoceros.

The .416 factory cartridges we have today got spooked from the bushes when Kimber of Oregon introduced its Model 88 African in .416 Rigby in 1987. During the very next year, the .416 Remington Magnum was available in the Remington Model 700 Safari bolt-action rifle, and it was followed closely by the introduction of the .416 Weatherby Magnum. In 2010 Winchester introduced the Model 70 Safari Express and chambered for three popular Safari cartridges including the .416 Remington Magnum. This, in turn, resulted in the resurrection of the .416 Rigby cartridge when Ruger released the Ruger Model 77 RSM rifle.

Outside sports hunting the .416 Remington Magnum has found little to no use. Furthermore, the heavy recoil of the cartridge can have an adverse effect as one would have to shoot long string shots depending on the discipline.