My biggest,
no, let me start the other way. Not my biggest, but the biggest I was involved with at least to a very detail, had been a .700 based on the .50BMG case with belt and was thought to be used in a double-barrel bolt-action. That was to be build by one guy in Canada, I forgot his exact name, Slesy or something and he had developed those double-bolt-action rifles and used them in smaller calibers too, starting with 9.3x64.
I never saw this .700 in action.
The biggest I loaded and shot had been the .600NE and I did also some loads for lesser NE, such as .500NE and my favorite case, the .505Gibs in a cheap bolt action on a MarkX(?) action. All those big bores are big and show you what it means: the shooter gets the same punch as what he sends towards the game.
Therefore and given by practical reasons, I opted myself for .416 and based it on a German case, the 8x68. I build a line of wildcats in that case, startin with .25x68, the very good and powerfull .27x68, a .30, .34 and 9.3 and finally the .416. It was thought to use bullets of the lighter side. I used an old DWM action (yes, this case fits a standard K98 action!) and gave it an Heym barrel, pretty short and had this bedded in synthetic stock. The first design was almost done with nothing else in mind as the .34x68 and no real look at the .416. So it was a bit hard to form the brass and I thought right from the beginning about a second design that should be better suited to the .416. My friend Chuck Richardson had the gun and shot it and reported he easy could reach into .416Rem fields. He liked design one, but when I had it changed to design two and it became easier to form shells, he did only a few more shots with it. This rifle is lost, Chuck died and I lost some of my loading stuff and some rifles due to that.
So, the .416x68#2 is my biggest wildcat and considering my wallet, enough for the game I may be able to afford.
The 8x68 case, as the .300WinMag or the .338WinMag delivers the power needed to travel a .416 Bullet fast enough to kill bufallo clean with it.
I ever wanted the .404Jefrey as base for such a .416 case and tried to talk Walter Gehman into one, based on his 9.5x66SE, what, as the Dakota-Line of cases, origins on the .404.
There is enough room in those cases to get the velocity out at moderate (to modern rifles) pressures and still get the chance to build them in short actions, short enough to take those famous pre 64 Winchesters or even K98, original Mauser or (I mean better) DWM (1907 and 1908) Systems.
Can you imagine something big-bore cheaper as my .416x68?
I paid less than $100 for the action, at that time, about $200 for the barrel and than for stock, chambering and gunsmithing, scope mount and such, again about $500. Makes you a real big-bore for less than $1000 and something very special and unique. Well, that is ten years away or so, that means today it would perhaps cost about $2500 or what?
Maybe I go an start a project again at one time. Now I have enough others to work with.
One question about, where do you think, big bore should start?
Is it common to take .375 as starting line?
The well ballanced German 9.3x64 in my eyes does anything better as the English belted magnum, except it is only .366. Are that big-bores? Where do you start?
