The 416 Taylor with Varget

[Nobade]

I shot a bit with the 416 Taylor today, using the RCBS 416 boolit. Sized to .416 to fit the throat on my rifle (Kiff reamer) and gaschecked. Started at 50gr. Varget, and saw about 3 inches at 200M. Next up was 52.5gr. Holy cow! 8 out of 10 touching and the other two right next door. Wow! A 1/2 MOA group! Next was 55 gr - about 6 inches and light leading in the bore. Oops, too much. The 52.5 gr. load left a nice black bore, no sign of leading, could shoot that one all day. It's running the 350gr. boolit at just shy of 1700 fps, so it's a pussycat to shoot but would put down any game I might use it on. Gotta love those big bore rifles!

[Hardcast416taylor]

Nobade. Always glad to hear about someone shooting a rifle chambered in my favorite cartridge. Could you go a bit deeper in detail of what was the bullet alloy used, primer make and type used and of course what make of brass. I have settled on a modified 50/50 alloy that is med. hard. My primer of choice is a CCI STD. type and Winchester is the case. Of late, several years, I have been using Hornady Mag. basic brass. I trim it down before necking down and then final trimming to correct length. My Taylor is on a Winch. controlled feed "New Old" model 70. I have a 30mm Leupold European 1.5x X 4.5x scope with #4 post reticle. I`ve had that RCBS mold H.P.ed by "Buckshot" with an changable plug so I can cast solids or remove the plug and make H.P. boolets.Robert

[Nobade]

Hi Robert,
Details... lessee...Alloy is range scrap, water quenched. Sized and gaschecked in a .416" push through die I made. Lubed with 50/50 NRA formula in a .417 die so it doesn't touch. Primers are the CCI #34 military large rifle. Just because I have a bunch of them, not because they work any better than anything else. (Though they may, I have not tested them against any others) Brass is various 7mm rem mag cases necked up. They are way too short for the chamber, but seem to work fine with these low pressure cast boolit loads. For my full pressure paper patch ammo I use 300 win mag cases necked up and trimmed to just barely allow the bolt to close. Oh, a tip - I made a cartridge gauge out of the end of the barrel blank I cut off. Chambered up to the shoulder and cut a window in the side you can see how the cases fit the chamber and how the boolits lay in the throat. Very useful!

The rifle started out as a push feed 7mm rem mag XTR model. I changed the barrel, remounted the sights on the new one (straight this time, not like the factory) pillar bedded it in to the factory stock, and painted the metal with black Cerakote. Weaver rings and bases, and a Vortex 4.5-14 Viper HS scope. And Kick-eez pad. The barrel is an Adams & Bennett blank, cheap and shoots well.

Hey, maybe if we keep telling folks what fun and how useful these big bore rifles are they'll want to try them for themselves. Since I built the 416 I haven't payed much attention to my other hunting rifles. There's really no need for them now. For everything from casual plinking to elephants the 416 has it covered!

[nanuk]

:mrgreen: