mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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I have a Ruger 77 in .416 Rigby that a friend of mine is working up loads for. I want to use the 410 grain Woodleigh's, but the best groups he can get are running 1 1/4" at 100 yards. This rifle will be used only for Cape Buffalo, and perhaps an incidental plains game or two. Is this size groups sufficient for a DGR?
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safari_hunter
.224 member
Reged: 26/02/04
Posts: 16
Loc: Melbourne, Australia
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That is very good accuracy for a factory rifle. Cape Buffalo shooting is done at quite close range and even if your rifle shot 4 MOA, it will still be good enough to place a shot accurately.
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allenday
.333 member
Reged: 18/04/04
Posts: 318
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That kind of accuracy is plenty good enough for any dangerous game hunting.
As long as the rest of the rifle is perfectly functional, and 100% reliable, I'd call it good!
It's time to take it hunting.......
ADay
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450Dakota
.300 member
Reged: 18/03/04
Posts: 113
Loc: California, USA
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Mikeh, That will work plenty good for you. I had a RSM in .375 that shot about the same untill I did put a adjustable trigger on it. Groups went down to under 1"
450
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NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40662
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
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Sounds plenty accurate to me too.
Remember you will never get this sort of accuracy shooting from field positions anyway.
Plus with big .416 holes in the target 1 1/4" looks very respectable anyway.
Originally I only had my .375 only doing about 1 1/2". Was happy to use it with that accuracy anyday. But with a lot of fine tuning and different projectiles (Woodleighs) actually got some groups down to about a third of an inch. Got those groups recorded as a digital photo on some digital film somewhere 
-------------------- John aka NitroX
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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
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chrispie
.275 member
Reged: 30/01/04
Posts: 67
Loc: New England, USA
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mikeh416Rigby, how do you like your ruger? I also have one in 416, it was one of the new ones ( the older ones had some issues ) and I still found problems with mine, it fed round really rough, and the insides looked like baked crap that caused it to chamber awful, I’ve presently sent it out to New England Custom Guns to have the inside jeweled, a stiffer magazine spring put in, and one of his pep sight and front bead replaced, haven’t got it back yet, but interested to see if its any better.
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475Guy
.400 member
Reged: 22/08/03
Posts: 1088
Loc: Kali, US
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Mike, let's put it like this. Would you be satisfied with the accuracy with the loads? Does it feel good when you light it off? Personally, I think it is minute-of-any-critter that you whack.
-------------------- Lo do they call to me,
They bid me take my place among
them in the Halls of Valhalla,
Where the brave may live forever.
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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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I really like my Ruger. It's one of the new ones. I replaced the front sight with a fiber optic sight from NECG, and put a Decelerator Recoil Pad on it. I must have lucked out because my trigger came from the factory set at 3 1/4 pounds with no creep or travel-very smooth. It feeds smoothly, and the action was nicely finished-again very smooth feeding and flawless extraction. The wood is nice, not great, with a little bit of dark streaking, and straight grained. It is a bit heavy, but balances nicely, and is easy to control offhand. Can't wait to try it out on Cape Buffalo.
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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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I like your philosophy. Looking at it from your point of view, the Cape Buffalo is a big critter, and 1 1/4" groups is more than sufficient to get the job done properly.I can live with that-no pun intended.
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450Dakota
.300 member
Reged: 18/03/04
Posts: 113
Loc: California, USA
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mikeh.. You can take this for what it's worth.. But trust me on this.. I love that necg fiber optic sight, but it is good only in very very close situations. Anything past 30-40 yds the dia. of the optic is just too big, it blocks too large of an area for more precise bullet placement. I looked at dozens of bulls in zim over my 458 Lott, yes you could shoot'em at 70yds but the optic just about covers from the bottom of the brisket to the top of the spine/shoulder. Not real comforting for that exact shot placement. I even put one on my new Dakota 450, justifying it with how close I like to stalk Mbogo. But removed it and went with a smaller silver bead because real world made me face that it is not allway's what we want that work's.. After much discusion with necg (Ican't recall his name) they are aware of the problem and have been after their contractor in Germany to produce a smaller dia. optic for a long time. Close in and low light nose to nose, that optic can't be beat. But for 85% of your shooting opertunities, it's just too large.. I have been calling them about every 3 months to see if they have smaller ones in yet, but so far no joy.450
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Eric
.224 member
Reged: 28/06/04
Posts: 45
Loc: Wisconsin, USA
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mikeh416Rigby; I agree with the rest of the replys. One and a quarter inch groups are good enough. Some people measure group by using center to center of the bullet holes, this is the accepted method in competition shooting. I measure my hunting rifle loads by just laying a circle template over the group and with 4 or 5 shot groups,just call as it fits. With a good shooting rifle and good ammuntions, just think about a 4x or 6x scope and a four inch black square target at 100 yards. Is every shot exactly centered when you break the trigger? If it's not, there is sighting error in you group results. The point is, if every shot you fire lands within three quarter of an inch when you broke the trigger, I think it's good enough. Load up a bunch of cartridges, shoot the hell out of your rifle, and take a really good buffalo with it. ERIC
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shrike
.224 member
Reged: 16/07/04
Posts: 29
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Mikeh, You are looking for a rifle that shoots accuracy groups out to 200 yards max.,( If your PH allows you to shoot that far)in the order of " Minute of Cape Buffalo". Most of your shots are going to be a lot closer then that. Your rifle shoots presently well within "minute of Coyote" for a 200 yard shot. From the bench that is. I think you should from here onward worry about your grouping standing offhand and standing, resting on a little tripod of sticks @ 50 and 100 yards. If you can do 6 inches with full power hunting loads @ 100 yards consistently standing with the tripod you be doing well. Remember a 6 inch group means that your rifle shoots bullets within 3 inches of your point of aim. Purty fine for big buffs. Good enough for puny whitetails too. Many big bore double rifles do 6 inches composite shots @ 100 yards from the bench. Truly good enough " minute of buffalo".
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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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We now have the loads shooting into 1", 3 shot groups at 100 yards from the bench. At 50 yards offhand I can keep all my shots within 3 inches. Of course that paper target isn't about to do me serious harm if I screw up the shot, except for the odd paper cut. At 100 yards I'm shooting 5 to 8 inch groups offhand, and 3 to 4 inch groups from my shooting sticks. I'm using the telescopeing tripod from Stoney Point-I picked it up at Cabela's a few weeks ago, and it works really well.
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atkinson6
.375 member
Reged: 26/01/04
Posts: 678
Loc: Idaho
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Sounds like to me that you have done all your homework and will pass the test in flying colors...good luck.
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