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 cartridge was conceived as a less costly alternative to the .416 Rigby cartridge and was intended to replace the latter. 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. Rather, it sparked a renewed interest in the .416 caliber (10.57 mm) cartridges which led to the revival of the .416 Rigby and the introduction of other .416 cartridges such as the .416 Weatherby Magnum and the .416 Ruger.
The .416 Remington Magnum is one of the more popular dangerous game cartridges used for the hunting of dangerous game in Africa. It also has been increasingly used in North America, Alaska in particular, for the hunting of and as a defense against large bears.
History and origins
Background As former European colonies in Africa gained independence, safari hunting on the continent began a slow decline due to resource mismanagement and political factors. This, in turn, led to a decline in interest in big bore rifles and cartridges used to hunt dangerous African game species. However, by the 1980s African nations recognizing the potential benefits, began developing areas as hunting and safari destinations. As interest in safari hunting in Africa increased, so did interest in dangerous game rifles.
Earlier cartridges Early on, .416 Rigby had been one of the most celebrated medium-bore magazine rifle cartridges during the heyday of African hunting. Today, loaded with modern smokeless powders, the .416 Rigby is considered a big-bore cartridge. The Rigby was a large, voluminous cartridge in comparison to most magazine rifle cartridges of its time, which had used cordite as a propellant and operated at medium pressures. Rifles chambered for the cartridge required not only longer actions but also oversized bolt faces, all of which increased the cost. Cartridges such as the .416 Rigby – which was considered an entry-level cartridge in countries which mandated 40 caliber (10 mm) cartridges – lost out to cartridges such as the .458 Winchester Magnum and the .375 H&H Magnum, which could be chambered in much less costly bolt-action rifles. As ammunition for the cartridge became scarce, professional hunters such as Selby put away their .416 Rigby rifles.
Later development The renewed interest in safari hunting in North America beginning in the 1980s created a market for a specialized African cartridge. African nations mandated minimum caliber legislation beginning in the 1950s which mandated minimum calibers for dangerous game hunting. The minimum cartridges for hunting of dangerous game was set at either the .375 H&H Magnum or at the 40 caliber (10 mm) with a few countries allowing the 9.3 x 62 Mauser as an exception to the rule.
Remington realizing the opportunity designed what was to become the second dangerous game cartridge to originate in the United States to be commercialized – the first being the .458 Winchester Magnum. The introduction of the .416 Remington Magnum by Remington led to renewal of interest in the .416 caliber (10.57 mm). This in turn resulted in resurrection of the .416 Rigby cartridge when Ruger released the Ruger Model 77 RSM rifle chambered for the cartridge while Hornady began manufacturing .416 Rigby ammunition. Weatherby was to follow Remington's lead soon after, releasing the .416 Weatherby Magnum which was based on its .378 Weatherby Magnum cartridge.
Origins The design of the .416 Remington Magnum can be traced to wildcat cartridges like the .416 Hoffman cartridge of the 1970s and the .416 Barnes Supreme of the 1950s. George L. Hoffman of Sonora Texas solution to having a chamber in a common rifle action was to neck up an improved .375 H&H Magnum case to . The new cartridge named the .416 Hoffman was introduced in the late 1970s. The .416 Hoffman was mainly chambered in custom rifles.
Remington realizing that a new market had opened, designed the .416 Remington Magnum cartridge to compete with the .458 Winchester Magnum, .375 H&H Magnum and the .416 Rigby. The Remington cartridge had a striking resemblance to the .416 Hoffman. The new cartridge, unlike the Rigby, could easily be chambered in pre-existing rifle models such as the Remington Model 700, Winchester's Model 70 and any rifle which could fire a belted magnum cartridge based on the .375 H&H Magnum. This avoided the need for a costly new action or redesign of pre-existing rifle models all of which would add to the cost of the rifle.
The .416 Remington like the .416 Hoffman uses an improved .375 H&H Magnum case as the starting point. The .416 Remington Magnum was based on the company's then fairly new 8 mm Remington Magnum which was necked up to accept a bullet. The 8 mm Remington Magnum in turn was based on the .375 H&H Magnum which improved by blowing out to reducing the taper and increasing case capacity and then necking it down to accept a bullet. The resulting .416 Remington Magnum emulated the performance of the .416 Rigby and the .416 Hoffman in that like the Rigby and the Hoffman it was capable of launching a bullet at .
Design and specifications
In designing the .416 Remington Magnum, Remington intended to emulate the performance of the .416 Rigby using the smaller case of the .375 H&H Magnum. To be able to reach this performance level, the smaller case would have to work at much higher pressures than the Rigby cartridge. However, the volume of the resulting case allowed for Remington to achieve the anticipated performance level rather easily without reaching its maximum pressure limit.
Remington chose to use the 8 mm Remington Magnum as a starting point when developing the new cartridge. The 8 mm Remington Magnum used a highly improved and strengthened case in comparison to the .375 H&H Magnum and it offered an increase in volume over the latter cartridge. Furthermore, the SAAMI working pressure of the 8 mm Remington Magnum's case was which was higher than that of the .375 H&H Magnum. In the end .416 Remington Magnum was created by simply necking up the 8 mm Remington Magnum case with no other changes made to the case. Dimensionally, below the neck, the cases of both the 8 mm Remington Magnum and the .416 Remington Magnum are identical.
S.A.A.M.I. compliant .416 Remington Magnum cartridge schematic: All dimensions in inches [millimeters].
The .416 Remington Magnum was standardized in May 1989 by S.A.A.M.I. in North America. SAAMI recommends a 6 groove barrel with each groove having a width of and twist rate of one revolution in . Recommended bore diameter is while the groove diameter is given as . The case has a capacity of 107 gr. of water (6.95 cm3). Maximum pressure given by SAAMI is or 54,000 C.U.P.Miscellaneous questions. (n.d.). http://www.frfrogspad.com/miscellk.htm#+P
The C.I.P. regulates the .416 Remington Magnum cartridge. No discrepancies exist between C.I.P. and S.A.A.M.I. published values regarding case dimensions; any discrepancies that may exist are due to rounding off when converting from inches to millimeters. However, the CIP provides a pressure rating of for the cartridge. The C.U.P. pressure rating is the same as the S.A.A.M.I. pressure rating of 54,000 C.U.P.
Performance
The .416 Remington Magnum was designed to emulate the performance of the .416 Rigby and by all evidence meets this design criterion. When loaded to within the pressure specification stipulated by SAAMI and the CIP, the cartridge can easily exceed this design criterion by about . Held to within the respective pressure limits imposed on each of the cartridges by these organizations, the Rigby cartridge has little to no advantage in performance over the .416 Remington Magnum. In fact, to match the .416 Remington at its maximum pressure mandated by the CIP of the .416 Rigby cartridge will require to be loaded to exceeding the maximum pressure by . Factory manufactured ammunition for both these cartridges launch a bullet at while handloaded ammunition is able to drive the same bullet at about .
When Ruger entered the .416 caliber (10.36 mm) fray, they did so with a cartridge shorter but internally fatter than the .416 Remington Magnum which was based on their .375 Ruger necked up to . 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 S.A.A.M.I. recommended pressure level. This means that the Remington cartridge should perform better than the Ruger cartridge. The Hornady's .416 Ruger ammunition matches both the Rigby and Remington .416 cartridges it does so working close to its maximum pressure level using a specially blended powder unavailable to the public. Those who handload their ammunition will have some difficulty reaching the performance of the factory loaded ammunition while staying within the maximum average pressure rating of the cartridge. Data published by Hornady provide a velocity for the of for the .416 Ruger, for the Rigby, for the .416 Remington Magnum and for the .416 Weatherby.
The .416 Weatherby Magnum on the other hand is capable of a greater performance level than either the Remington, Rigby or Ruger cartridges. Factory ammunition is loaded to with the bullet. The .416 Weatherby Magnum uses a slighter more voluminous case than the Rigby cartridge and works at a higher C.I.P. pressure than the .416 Remington Magnum. The .416 Dakota uses a modified Rigby case and is able to attain using better quality brass than the Rigby cartridge at a higher pressure.
Factory loaded ammunition generates of energy at the muzzle. This exceeds the energy generated by most .458 Winchester Magnum factory ammunition which launch a bullet at . Many experienced African hunters consider the .416 Remington a more flexible cartridge than the .458 Winchester Magnum.
{| class="wikitable" border="1" |+ Comparison of the factory loadings of the .458 Winchester Magnum, .375 H&H Magnum and the .416 Remington Magnum |- | style="background: #eeeeee" width="180pt" | Cartridge | style="background: #eeeeee"| Criteria | style="background: #eeeeee"| Muzzle | style="background: #eeeeee"| | style="background: #eeeeee"| | style="background: #eeeeee"| | style="background: #eeeeee"| | style="background: #eeeeee"| | style="background: #eeeeee"| |- | style="background: #eeeeee" rowspan="3" | .458 Winchester Magnum Hornady DGS 85833 | Velocity || || || || || || || |- | Energy || || || || || || || |- |Bullet drop || || || || || -8.4 in (21.33 cm) || || |- | style="background: #eeeeee" rowspan="3" | .375 H&H Magnum Hornady DGS 8509 | Velocity || || || || || || || |- | Energy || || || || || || || |- |Bullet drop || || || || || -4.8 in (12.19 cm) || || |- | style="background: #eeeeee" rowspan="3" | .416 Remington Magnum Hornady DGS 82674 | Velocity || || || || || || || |- | Energy || || || || || || || |- |Bullet drop || || || || -2.0 in (5.08 cm) || || || |- |colspan="9" align="center" | Values courtesy of the Hornady Ballistic Calculator Altitude: Temperature: