Making My Way To BARNES

[BRICKBURN]

There has been a recall on the AMMO side. Check website for details.

If you would like to see how little has changed, give Barnes a call on Fridays. The office is still closed and everyone is having a life.

I kept hearing all the retailer staff blaming Barnes for production/supply being the issue. Of course we believe them.
I go to a trip and drop by the factory and low and behold; "How many would you like sir?"

I now know the retailers here blame the manufacturers just like the supply chain BS in Africa (Taxidermy, D&P and Shipping).

 

[BRICKBURN]

I just got fifty pieces of gold in the mail....

 

[Ridgewalker]

Time to go to work! Show us what she can do!

 

[BRICKBURN]

First step: I just called Barnes and chatted with Ty. He confirmed what I think will be the most accurate load, given my powder stores.

350 Grain TTSX in the 416 Rigby.
IMR 4831 90.5 grains to MAX 98.5 grains

Next.

 

[BRICKBURN]

By the way, does anyone have some 416 Rigby recipes that have been accurate for them?
Please let me know.

 

[Newboomer]

Hey! A great Christmas present and it's still August. Congrats. They say all good things come to those who wait long enough. Load 'em up and show us some groups.

 

[James Cook]

Barnes = great bullet and performance

 

[BRICKBURN]

I finally obtained the proper shell holder. Another search across the country to find a supplier.
X Reload again provided those essential tools.

After the last escapade with open sites off the sticks and managing an abysmal performance at fifty yards I acquiesced to the reality. For accuracy the 416 would have to be scoped.
Decided on a 1 x 5.5 x 20m VXIII Leupold.
The cross Canada search for rings found me ordering from Valley Firearms in Trail BC.

On to the reloading.

As imparted by tech support at BARNES: IMR 4831- 90.5 grains up to MAX 98.5 grain
Hornady brass with CCI Magnum rifle primers.
All underneath my, I'm hoping, new pet load for the 350 grain TTSX in the 416 Rigby.


All the brass are resized, polished, primer holes all uninformed, primer pockets cleaned.
I go to prime them and the Lee hand primer won't work.
I have the proper shell holder. What?

The 416 Rigby brass it too large for the primer tool.
Out comes the Dremel tool.
Grinding for a half hour to modify the tool. Finally, success.

All primers are seated in the newly prepared brass.


I then proceeded to load four shells for each 1 grain increment from the bottom to the max.

All good, until....

Something strange happened when I got to the last few cartridges. One seemed to seat a whole lot deeper than all the rest.
No visible ring on this one.
Every other shell had a seating depth with the last ring partially showing.
What the hell?
What happened. The lock nut is still tight.
Maybe there was something on the end of the bullet I did not see. Hmmm.

I set that one aside, do another cartridge and no issue. Do another, nothing wrong.

Time to redo the one that appears to be too deeply seated.

I removed the bullet, sadly having to destroy the brass. (There is no bullet puller readily available for this caliber. Yet another adventure to find that tool.)

I reload another cartridge and its the same. Now I know something is off.
I just pull the bullet with pliers to save the brass.

This is what I discovered.

This was the odd man out. I'll be contacting BARNES and letting them know that something was up in that run of Ammunition.

Onward to the range to Bore Sight the new scope and then we will see which one of these gets to go hunting.

 

[Pheroze]

Good catch with that odd bullet! I doubt that I have ever checked bullets for factory errors prior to loading them. Makes one wonder...

 

[BRICKBURN]

I have never encountered this before. I only caught it by being observant and paranoid about making my own errors as I approached the maximum load.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

By the way, does anyone have some 416 Rigby recipes that have been accurate for them?
Please let me know.

When I had mine, it loved H4831 with 400gr bullets. Might still work with those 350's.

 

[BRICKBURN]

When I had mine, it loved H4831 with 400gr bullets. Might still work with those 350's.

I just happen to have plenty of the 4831 so I asked BARNES tech support for the recipe and that's where I find myself.

I have some Solids that are next on the agenda and appreciate that feedback Phil.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I just happen to have plenty of the 4831 so I asked BARNES tech support for the recipe and that's where I find myself.

I have some Solids that are next on the agenda and appreciate that feedback Phil.

The IMR version has a different burn rate than Hodgdon's. If not mistaken, IMR is a little quicker burning which would be appropriate for the 350's. With the cavernous brass of the Rigby, you might be surprised how fast you can push them. I would say Barnes is being conservative in that load info.

Obligatory statement however up work up slowly watching for signs of pressure, yada yada yada, I know you know this.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Middle initial is paranoia!

98.5 grains of 4831 is getting those cases pretty darned full.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Middle initial is paranoia!

98.5 grains of 4831 is getting those cases pretty darned full.

I went over 100gr of H4831 with the 400gr bullets I was using. Can't remember which version, A-Frames maybe. But you really don't want to do that me thinks, recoil was lets say snappy.

 

[Pheroze]

I have not worked with 4831, but me thinks an 8 grain variance between start and max is quite a bit. Loaddata.com has the Barnes manual #3 and has IMR 4831 for the XFB 96gr to 101gr. The change in velocity is only 2602 - 2737. I guess the old x bullet built pressure much more dramatically. So 98.5gr seems to be well in the safety zone. I don't understand why they go as low as 90 grains. Maybe you can still get good groups at the low end and the velocity variance is not much to lose sleep over.

 

[PeteG]

@BRICKBURN I bought one of the frankford bullet pullers and drilled out the inside to allow the rugby case to fit. I also made a spacer that fits between the housing and the cap to allow for the extra length.

 

[gillettehunter]

The cheapest way to pull a bullet is to take a pair of vise grips. Can't reuse the bullet, but the brass is fine. On something like the .416 both are costly tho.....
Bruce

 

[Ridgewalker]

This is what I use to pull bullets. It seems to work pretty well.

https://grip-n-pull.com/products/large-rifle-grip-n-pull-bullet-puller

 

[BRICKBURN]

The cheapest way to pull a bullet is to take a pair of vise grips. Can't reuse the bullet, but the brass is fine. On something like the .416 both are costly tho.....
Bruce

I used pliers and that was the end of the perfect bullet.