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Be careful about what you "hear". 80% + on the internet is total BS. And 15 out of the other 20 is half BS, which means it is unreliable.

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That is one of the most accurate statements I have ever read on the internet! I commend you for your honesty with that statement!

With regard to the destructive power of a 416 caliber rifle on an elk (or 405 Win). I have shot a few elk with a 416 Rigby. Load have been 300gr Barnes (really bad choice in my opinion), 350 gr Speer, and 400gr Hornady. Compared to a 300 Win mag shooting 200gr Sierra Gamekings the volume of tissue trauma is about 50% greater with the 416, unless you are using the crappy Barnes bullets then it is about 75% of the damage of the 300 Winnie. Inside of 100 yds (as far as I will shoot an open sighted rifle) the 405 Win (300gr Woodleigh @ 2450+ fps) and the 416 Rigby (350gr Speer @ 2780 fps or 400gr Hornady @ 2620 ffps) are for all practical purposes identical (I would challenge anyone to tell them apart). The longest shot I have taken at an elk with the 416 Rigby is ~ 270 yards and the 350 gr Speer went sailing on through with no apparent significant loss in velocity (based upon the trauma comparison from entrance side of the rib cage to the exit side of the rib cage). The 300 Win mag's 200 gr Sierra (going 2970 fps) are stopped at ~ 200 yds and are left under the offside hide on a broadside double lung shot. No the Sierra's didn't fail, they didn't shed their jackets, and they looked like perfect little mushrooms of copper and lead (granted the jacket was loose and you could rattle it around a bit on the core). I haven't recovered any 416 or 411 bullets, because they pass on through. By they way, the 416 doesn't really seem to drop the elk any quicker than the 300 does either.

Now, the 500 drops them thar elk real quick, indeed. A 570gr Woodleigh at 2370 fps, at a range of 180 yards is awesome with the ol' double lung shot. Blood everywhere, the elk makes it about 20 feet forward, with that forward travel consisting of a jump and a forward shoulder roll. Tissue trauma differential between the 416 Rigby (which if no one noticed is loaded to 416 Weatherby velocities and doesn't even think about keyholing) and the 500, well the 500 generates about 4 times the volume of blood shot tissue. Simply awesome.

BTW, I am not starting a fight or anything just sharing what little I know from first hand experience in the field.

Regards,
Scott

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