The Firearm Blog

Ruger and Hornady have teamed up to produce the new .416 Ruger cartridge which will be available next year (2009).

The round is basically a necked up .375 Ruger and offers performance comparable to the classic .416 Rigby in a standard length cartridge. The Ruger M77 Hawkeye bolt action will be available chambered in this cartridge.

Hornady claim on their website that the 416 Ruger offers the same performance in the compact 20″ barreled Ruger M77 Hawkeye Alaskan as the .416 Rugby in a full length rifle.

416 Ruger cartridge delivers the same performance as the fabled 416 Rigby, but does it in a shorter 20″ barreled Ruger Hawkeye rifle that is extremely compact and easy to carry.

I am skeptical about this claim. It will be interesting to see what results firearm magazine writers get when they test the ammunition.

Ruger M77 Hawkeye Alaskan (20″ Barrel)

Ballistic infomation:

Click to expand.

Product Video (there are a couple of video snippets at the start of charging elephants being shot. Really crazy stuff!):

The .375 Ruger has proved to be popular and I think so could the .416 Ruger. The standard length action is a compelling reason to choose this cartridge over the .416 Rigby and .416 Rem. Mag.

More info at Hornady.

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has bought 14 Alexander Arms .50 Beowulf AR-15 rifles.

The article is obviously written by someone with no clue about firearms. For example “…the new semiautomatic, .45-caliber Heckler & Koch machine pistols.”. I can’t be sure that the journalist understood the real reason why the Sheriff bought the .50 Beowulf rifles.

The journalist claims that the rifles are for ridding the expressway of cows and exotic animals, who sometimes escape from the local theme parks, such as elephant and lion.

I do not think killing cows would be money well spent on these expensive rifles. Surely a .308 will dispatch a cow just as fast and at a longer range. They are sure to have tactical rifles in their arsenal.

(Disclaimer: I have never hunted exotic dangerous game … the following is just my uninformed opinion)

If they were really worried about dangerous game a few .375 H&H rifles would be more effective.

According to Alexander Arms and Cartridges of the World 11th edition this is how the .375 H&H and the .50 Beowulf compare

The .375 H&H also offers much greater penetration due to the smaller caliber.

I do not think the Sheriff is really planning on using his new AR-15 rifles on elephants or lions! It is most likely for use against people and vehicles.

From Alexander Arms:

The external ballistics of the Beowulf® cartridge are well suited to urban environments where the shorter range template allows for more flexible application and the large projectile energy delivered by the ammunition can disable both motor vehicles and assailants with body armor. Windscreen glass does not affect the trajectory of the bullet nor does automotive body panels.

The .50 Beowulf AR is defiantly a very nice rifle Here is a video of is being shot: