416 Rigby:
For the sake of accuracy, let me offer a friendly correction to some of your numbers. Our 45-70 Taylor Knockout Values far exceed the 40 points you list in your comparison as representative of the 45-70. Our 415-grainer generates a TKO value of 50, and our 530-grainer generates a TKO value of 54. Those compare rather well to the TKO value of 41 for the 375 Holland & Holland as it is factory loaded with 300-grain bullets at 2550-fps, and also compare well to your musular 416 with its TKO value of 56 (assuming a 400-grain bullet at 2350-fps).
Indeed, although not firing ballistically aerodynamic bullets, our 45-70 loads produce as big a TKO value at 130-yds as does the 375 Holland & Holland with 300-grain bullets measured at the muzzle!!!
The issue of expanding bullets is an interesting one, since the smaller the diameter of the caliber the greater the need for expansion. Calibers such as the 375 Holland & Holland produce a fairly small wound channel with non-expanding roundnose bullets, and therefore require expansion for quick incapacitation unless a brain shot is taken. Also, with virtually all bolt action guns there are serious problems with using blunt flatnose bullets due to the tendency to hangup during the chambering process, thus the practice of using roundnose solids when great penetration is required. Obviously chambering difficulties are intolerably, especially when the game is dangerous. This is one of the reasons 45-70 lever-guns are desireable, as they can reliably chamber the bluntest of designs due to their cartridge transit characteristics. Roundnose solids are notorious, from all calibers, for their lack of quick incapacitation effect, due to the gentle configuration of their round noses.
Also, expanding bullets provide relatively shallow penetration compared to heavyweight flatnose castings, whether fired from a 375, 416, 458, or any other caliber. Even with the best Trophy bonded core bullets, Nosler Partitions, or Barnes X-Bullets my 416 will only produce less than half the penetration of my 45-70 Marlin with our cast-bullets. That is the great advantage of large calibers with proper non-expanding flatnose bullets with broad meplats, as they provide far more penetration than any expanding bullet, and also provide far more incapacitation effect per unit of penetration than any roundnose solid. They effectively split the difference between under-penetrative expanding bullets and slow to incapacitate roundnose solids. Also, the 45-70 has great inherent diameter (.458") and is thus less needy of expansion.
I am also a big fan of the 416, it is a very good caliber. However, whether it is a 416 or a 375, the kinetic energy figures are high not because of greater killing effect, but because kinetic energy figures are tilted towards those calibers which produce the highest velocities. As a knowledgeable shooter like you knows, the kinetic energy equation squares the velocity but does not square the bullet weight.
I like my 416 and shoot it a lot. Certainly I would not hesitate to shoot the biggest game with it as it is very well proven. And yes, it does offer advantages over the 45-70 when the shooting ranges are beyond 200-yds. However, it will not penetrate anywhere nearly as deeply as the 45-70 with proper hard-cast bullets, unless roundnose solids are used in the 416, and they by nature of their configuration are far less effective on game than proper broad meplated flatnose bullets from the 45-70.
Lastly, if kinetic energy was the only measure of effeciveness, we would all be well served with high velocity calibers. However, if that were the case we would find that the varmint calibers, such as the 223 Remington, were as effecive on big game as a heavily loaded 44 Magnum with hard-cast bullets, or the 257 Roberts to be more effective on heavy game than the 475 Linebaugh since they generate as much or more kinetic energy, but we don't. There are many determiners of effectiveness, bullet performance being primary among them, but kinetic energy is the most misleading of them all. That is why the Taylor Knockout Values are looked to as a better measure of power, by experienced hunters of heavy game.
Best regards, Randy Garrett
www.garrettcartridges.com
[This message has been edited by Randy Garrett (edited February 03, 2000).]