Preparing for the Hunt of a Lifetime What is the most important part of any hunt, the gun, your ammo, a compass, maybe a cell phone, or is it something not on the hunting list? The answer is Practice, Practice, and Practice. That is the one detail that so many Hunters overlook for so many reasons one could only wonder. The Hunter saved for many years for his or her Cape Buffalo Hunt. The Hunter just bought a CZ .416 Rigby, his first really big bore rifle. All of his big game hunting, up to now, was done with his trusty .308 Winchester model 88. This fine rifle develops about 16 ft lbs of free recoil and the .416 Rigby comes in at a whopping 58 ft lbs, that’s almost four times the recoil of his sweet Winchester. Our hunter has been using this rifle for twenty five years and never a single hitch. Then the Hunter takes his or her new Darling to the range for the first time and starts to zero in. When the Hunter pulls the trigger for the first time, he realizes there is a brand new gaping gash just over his right eye and it will not stop bleeding. What happened? Our hunter just found out the hard way that recoil kicks like the dickens and now he is wondering what he is going to do with his Darling Monster. Mind you, he is not afraid, but unsure of what to do next. The Hunter doesn’t know it yet, but the next time he or she prepares to fire that rifle, his body’s muscles and nerve endings have a little surprise in store for him. Mr. Flinch is on deck and this bad boy is very difficult to control once the door is opened, so, never give it a chance to control your shooting. The best way to accomplish this is to control the excess recoil your body doesn’t like before it controls you. There are many ways to defeat recoil. The first time I saw a .505 Gibb fired, I could not figure out what on earth the shooter was trying to do. I didn’t really notice the size of the barrel at first when I started to walk over to see what was going on. So on my way there, he fired a 525 gr. Bullet at 2300 fps. Now that doesn’t sound too bad, in fact it is lethargic for most modern rifles, but that bullet is one large projectile at that speed. In a 10 lbs rifle it would generate 104 ft lbs of free recoil, that’s 5 times the normal recoil of a 30.06. The blast from 150grs of powder lit the end of the barrel up and startled the wits out of me. When I recovered my composure, I had to find out what he was doing with this flame thrower. It turns out that he was using two 25 lb bags of # 7 ½ shot behind the stock to reduce the felt recoil and it did a splendid job of it. By using the bags of shot in that manner, he effectively reduced the 104 lbs down to a mere 17 ft lbs of free recoil. I thought it shear genius on his part. This event occurred back in the early 70’s and made a lasting impression on me to this day. Now that is one way. Another way, today, is the Caldwell lead sled. Genius if ever there was. A third way, is one that I perfected about 7 years ago with extensive testing and trial and error at the beginning. On a fateful day at the end of 2007 at my test range, I started working on reduced velocity loadings for big bore dangerous game rifles. I was in an area that was never explored before. I was traveling down a path never taken before. Everything I tried was brand new. I had no guide lines to work with. At first I was working with cast bullets that I manufactured and with them I had a reference to work by, The Lyman Loading Manual. Then, I found the most versatile powder on the market today. From that point on, I was on my own. I didn’t know what could be done with just one powder from low recoil, low pressure loads, all the way up to intermediate loading and further still. It was like heaven to an experimenter like me. There was no limit on what I could do with that wonderful powder, Accurate 5744. The sky’s the limit with the versatility of this powder, it is so unbelievable. It can be used in calibers like the 22 Hornet, all the way up to 700 Nitro Express. Well, that’s enough background for now, down to taming the monster so it can be shot without any fear of bodily damage. The .416 Rigby is a large volume case, with plenty of room for powder for High Velocity loading. It works well with H4350,IMR 4350,RL-19. Since we will be slowing it down a bit, the powder called for here is the Accurate 5744 and that is the only powder we will be loading with. The primers for this application are standard large rifle primers. I work with Remington 9 ½, they work great for me. The cases I use, most times, are the Hornady brand, it works great. The bullets that I use most of the time are Barnes, but as of late I have been unable to purchase Solids from anyone, anywhere. Caliber Bullet Wt MV ME Powder gr. Gun wt. lbs. Recoil ft. lbs. Recoil Vel. Powder Density% .416 Rigby 300 2,000 2,664 50 9 20 12 40.2 TSX 350 2,000 3,108 52 9 27 14 41.8 Solid 400 1,300 1,500 35 9 12 9 28.1 Since the powder density is so low, it is absolutely important to check case volume every round. The best way that I found to accomplish this is with a standalone digital scale. The Hornady GS-1500 works fine for me. Now that we have a bunch of loaded rounds, we should start with the 400 gr. Solids at 1,300 fps. This is the perfect combination for 50 yd. informal shooting from the bench, just to see what it will do. After you find its point of aim, then you should move on to shooting with sticks and then some offhand shooting. Most African PH’s would like to know that you have around 300 rounds through your gun months before you show up at their camp. An 8 to 10 inch black bull, at this yardage, should be perfect for shooting the 300gr bullets at 2,000 fps. The recoil will be about the same as a 30.06. You should continue shooting till you feel confident to move onto the full house loads, handling and shooting until the rifle becomes one with you. Your PH will know that they can trust your shooting ability the first time they see you shoot. You can be certain of that. Till the next time, Practice is everything. From the loading Bench Ed Hammond nyatiinc
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 15:52:22 +0000
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