Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa 416 Rigby enough for elephant?

I recently bought a Ruger M77 magnum chambered in 416 Rigby. Is this caliber enough for elephant hunting? I would love to go on an elephant hunt one day and just thought I would ask everyones opinion. Thanks.

Enough and then some.

Plenty. I knocked a tuskless on its butt with a 375 H&H (and missed the brain in the process!). She got up, but went less than 200 yards. Buzz Charlton backed me up with a M77 in 416 Rigby, so I guess it will suffice for you too.

If you go for a heart/lung shot, will the Rigby penetrate deep enough?

It's a penetrating mother...with the right bullets.

Heart/lung on elephants is for used car salesmen on their first trip.

The .416 Rigby will give you all the penetration you need on elephant ... if you use the proper bullets.

The various .416�s will comfortably take care of anything that walks this earth, from a tiny steenbok right up to elephant ... if you can manage the recoil and put the bullet where it needs to go.

Only if you hit them.

Harry Shelby used a 416 Rigby for many years. Harry wrote that the 416 worked so well that he never felt the need to go back to a 470 Nitro. Harry even stopped shooting soft points nd stated that solids rolled Lions pretty well.

the answer is yes. i would like to go in to some discussions with reference to well known hunters and ballistics and so on but that would be redundant.

the answer is yes.

the 416 rig has a cult following amongst the white hunters of africa.

lets put your question in american terms:" is a 300wm enough for white tail"

So did Tony Sanchez-Arino, with more elephant kills than any PH alive probably. The 416's (like the 375) penetration qualities, combined with relatively high velocity make it one hell of an all around rifle for African big game in my opinion. jorge

I like the 40 calibers, 416 Ruger, 416 Rem., 404 Jefferys, or the 416 Rigby, and they have been the caliber of my choice for a number of years and they have served well indeed. I prestently have a 416 Rigby Ruger No.1 and a a 416 Rem Custom rifle along with my old 375 H&H...

I remember seeing my very first elephant shot with a big bore rifle. It was a .416 Rigby using Woodleigh bullets. The PH at the time did not think to highly of the .416 Rigby for elephant as I sort of remember.

Hey Tonk,

Was the hunt a success using the Rigby? Did the PH change his mind about the Rigby?

The Elephant in my avatar immediately to the left of this post was put down right quickly with my 416 Rigby. It is unanimously well thought of as a terrific round for all big game around the world and it is on Elephant that it gained its fame, well deserved.

Few rounds are better, if any.

Above suggestions to put the proper bullet in the proper place are right on the money. Practice, and a LOT with low recoil loads in that rifle and as soon as possible get a gunsmith who understands what is important in a dangerous game rifle to modify that wing safety so it is not so completely hidden when in its full rearward position. That little engineering screw up could get someone killed. WAAAAAYYY to hard to find with a sweaty thumb in a crisis. This is the only really bad screw up on an otherwise very nice rifle though and even my beloved CZ in 416 Rigby has had some proper gunsmithing upgrades done to it. Damn few rifles come adequate for DGR work right from momma.

I like the Barnes banded solid 400 gr bullet in my 416 Rigby. Thier TSX in that caliber is a terrific counterpart for use on plains game and dangerous game of less size than elephant.

PS for practice get some Barnes 300gr TSX or other 300gr bullets and some AA5744 powder. And shoot this rifle, from field positions, a LOT before you pick a fight with an Ele.

I saw a spitting match on AR forums about different calibers. There was a two photos that impressesd me about the .416 Rigby, (and made me confident in mine). The first photo was the rear-end of a dead elephant with a bullet hole right next to the tail. The next was a photo of the solid bullet being cut out of the tusk. The guy said it had penetrated 16' of elephant.

Right off hand, I'd say that's enough penetration....

When someone quotes Harry Selby and Tony Sanches as using the 416s it reminds me of the movie "Quigley Down Under" when Quigley told the bad guy.."This ain't tombstone and you ain't Wyatt Earp!"

Selby and Sanchez shot literally thousands of elephants, they could duplicate the same with a 9.3x62 I suspect. They knew where the brain was from any angle..

Not questioning the wisdom of the posts, they are correct in what they state, just was the first thought to come into my mind..:)

I am a 416 fan. If I was looking at a charging elephant I would trade my beloved 416 for a 577 any day..but I will continue to use the 40 caliber as I always have, and it has never failed me..

The 416/400gr combo at 2400 fps or higher will out penetrate just about all the NE calibers, at least from what I have read and folks whom I've spoken to including Tony Sanchez himself. If I had to choose an elephant caliber/rifle combo it would be either a 460 Weatherby (oh no, a pushfeed!!!) or 450 Rigby/Dakota and in a double a 450#2 or a 450 3 1/4". The 416s penetrate as well if not better, but I'd like the extra diameter/weighto of the 55/458. Maybe someday, but hey! I'll be in Dallas next week and who knows, I might just do that! jorge

It appears that you are saying that power makes up for poor shooting, a theory that I do not subcribe to. In a charge the only sure stop is a Central Nervous System hit, so I don't see much difference in the ability of either to do that.

Jorge,
I think you are right here. Elmer Keith some 70-80 years ago, wrote that the best penetration came from cartridges that developed 2400-2800 muzzle velocity. I agree with this. If you look at all the older cartridges that still achieve favor among experienced riflemen, they loosely fall into those velocity ranges.

I have owned several .416's and they are very good, sort of a heavy handed .375, but none of them thumps, like the .45's. I eventually cleaned house of all my mediums and light .40's in favor of a couple of .45's, with the .460 being my choice for any potentially dangerous or larger game.

It shoots flat like a .30/06 and loads bullets from 300 grains to 600 grains. There is something for any game or recoil tollerance in .458 caliber.

JW