First Results - 416 Ruger

[us920669]

Finally got down to my land for some shooting, had logistical and technical problems of too many trees down to deal with in one day and broken battery lead on chrono, but took a few reading shooting into big ditch with field-repaired chrono. Just a few first-pass:
350 gr cast lead goes 1369fps w/22.5gr Trailboss; 2173 over 57gr IMR 3031
400gr SP gave 1998fps with same 57gr IMR 3031; 1839 over 58gr Vv N140 (big surprise here, N140 usually tracks I3031 closely); 2035 over Vv N150 (plenty of room to grow and I have high hopes for N150)
In ball powders I loaded less than recommended starting on H335 and was still surprised: 63gr H335 showed 2259 (published 63.5gr is 2108); also tried 66gr W748 @ 2120. No signs of excess pressure, I will carefully work up ball powders, N150 and am looking forward to trying a powder that always surprises me with its versatility - H4350.
Gun was a custom Mauser, 231/2" barrel, 23" visible, I think published data is with Ruger Guide Gun, only 20". Only powder I had published data on was H335, and it proved not too reliable. Otherwise excellent results, no problems.

 

[us920669]

I was so excited with my little bit of data that I didn't really prepare my post very well. Turns out Nosler data is with a 24" barrel. The only other data I can find is from forums, just some guy with a cronograph, like me, and they use Guide Guns with a 20" barrel. How interesting it is that in some cases, their results are higher than those from Nosler.
I should mention too that I didn't make these loads without any guidance. The Ruger case is quite similar to 404 Jeffery, which I have loaded previously. The Jeffery case is a wee bit larger, but the Ruger cartridge operates at considerably higher pressure, and it looks like data will be virtually interchangeable. Of course, that's not a generalization that can be made about the upper-end loads.