The .416 Taylor

By Chuck Hawks


The .416 Taylor is simply the .458 Winchester Magnum case necked-down to accept .416" bullets. This is a very sensible way to create a .416 caliber big game cartridge that will work in standard (.30-06) length rifle actions and pretty much duplicate the ballistics of the long .416 Rigby elephant rifle cartridge. A-Square realized the value of the .416 Taylor and adopted the cartridge, producing both rifles and factory loaded ammunition in the caliber.

The A-Square factory loads drive a 400 grain bullet at a muzzle velocity (MV) of 2350 fps with muzzle energy (ME) of 4905 ft. lbs. The figures at 100 yards are 2093 fps and 3892 ft. lbs., and at 200 yards the velocity is 1853 fps and the remaining energy is 3049 ft. lbs. These figures are only very slightly less than those produced by the much larger and more expensive .416 Rigby, which would seem to confirm the wisdom of Chatfield-Taylor's design.

Any Shot You Want, the A-Square reloading manual, shows that 70.5 grains of Reloader 15 powder will drive the 400 grain A-Square bullets to a MV of 2254 fps. 75.0 grains of the same powder is good for a MV of 2394 fps, at a reasonable MAP of 48,800 cup. Load to a MV of 2350 fps and the trajectory will be identical to the factory load. These loads were developed using A-Square brass and CCI 250 Magnum primers.

Note: A complete article about the .416 Taylor can be found on the Rifle Cartridge Page.




Back to the Reloading Page

Copyright 2004, 2013 by Chuck Hawks. All rights reserved.


HOME / GUNS & SHOOTING / NAVAL, AVIATION & MILITARY / TRAVEL & FISHING / MOTORCYCLES & RIDING / ASTRONOMY & PHOTOGRAPHY / AUDIO