Personally I have used this caliber on 3 hunts in Africa and find it to be an excellent round. I have used it on game from cape buffalo to eland to duiker and baboon--awesome round.

In my experience--if loaded to 2400 fps--pressure should not be a problem--it you try to load hotter, well, you could have that problem with any round depending on how fast you try to push it. I have shot well over 80 rounds while being in Africa with this rifle and have never experienced a single problem. My rifle is a Remington custom shop rifle that weighs about 10 lbs.. I installed a limb saver recoil pad--made a huge difference and quite frankly I don't feel a whole lot more recoil than I do from my Sako in .375 H&H---there is however,in my experience, a noticable difference on game when shot with the .416 vs .375 H&H...

As to factory loads and hand loads--On my last trip I hand loaded some 400 gr. Barnes solids--at about 2400 fps--amazingly they shot to same poi as the factory Remington 400 gr. A-Frames..so that is the combo I used.. When I go back I am taking this again and will use the same combination--it ws highly effective on cape buffalo--I have used the A-frame on various calibers and find it to be one of the best bullets I have ever used..as far as weight retention and penetration--on the last cape buffalo I shot--at 75 yards broad side--I had a complete pass through--on the bullets I have recovered, all of them have retained 90% or more of their weight-and yet have excellent expansion...can't ask for more than that..so I highly recommend the Remington Factory loads in Swift A-Frames--400 gr--

Thanks,

Ripp