Introduced by the British firm of John Rigby & Co. In 1911, the .416 Rigby is one of the world's great old classic cartridges. Even so, Rigby's .416 did not enjoy the popularity it deserved among American hunters until affordable rifles chambered for it became available during the late 1980's. During 1988, Kimber announced its Model 89 African rifle in .416 Rigby, and Ruger followed suit with its Model 77 Magnum a year later. The author used the first Kimber rifle built in this caliber on safari in Zambia during 1988, and found it and its cartridge to be fine performers on large and potentially dangerous African Game. The .416 Rigby is an excellent choice for hunting the largest African and Alaskan big game. It delivers a mighty blow up close, shoots relatively flat, hits hard at long ranges, and the high sectional density of its 400 grain bullet enables it to penetrate deeply. For maximum penetration on elephant and Cape Buffalo, bullets of solid construction such as the Hornady, the SpeerAfrican Grand Slam, the BarnesSuper Solid, and the A-Square Monolithic Solid are powerful medicines. Excellent choices in expanding bullets of controlled expansion design for the .416 Rigby are the BarnesX-Bullet, the A-Square Dead Tough, the SpeerAfrican Grand Slam, and the Swift A-Frame. Due to the extreme large powder capacity of the .416 Rigby, it should be loaded with magnum primers and powders that fill its case to at least 90 percent charge density. 

This text is based on information from “Cartridges of the World”, Hodgdon reloading manual, the cartridge designer and/or own resources.