The .416 Taylor is a rifle cartridge. According to Ken Waters in Pet Loads, it was created by Robert Chatfield-Taylor in the early 1970s

1970s

File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...

, with the first rifle in this caliber being a factory barreled Winchester Model 70

Winchester Model 70

The Winchester Model 70 is a bolt action sporting rifle. It has an iconic place in American sporting culture and has been held in high regard by shooters since it was introduced in 1936, earning the moniker "The Rifleman's Rifle". The action has some design similarities to Mauser designs and it is...

. The case is based on the .458 Winchester Magnum

.458 Winchester Magnum

The .458 Winchester Magnum is a belted, straight-taper cased, dangerous game rifle cartridge. It was introduced commercially in 1956 by Winchester and first chambered in the Winchester Model 70 African rifle. It was designed to compete against the .450 Nitro Express and the .470 Nitro Express...

 necked down to accept .416 caliber bullets.

Usage

The .416 Taylor uses a 0.416 in (1.1 cm) bullet diameter. With maximum loads, the cartridge is capable of propelling a 400 gr bullet at an average of 2350 ft/s (716.3 m/s) from a 24 in (61 cm) barrel yielding a muzzle energy of a 4903 ft·lbf (6,647.6 J). The work on this caliber (performed by Waters) was done with an experimental factory Ruger Model 77. He reported that an absolute maximum load of certain listed powders would push a 400 gr bullet to 2400 ft/s (731.5 m/s), thereby equaling (and perhaps exceeding) the performance of the .416 Rigby

.416 Rigby

The .416 Rigby or 10.6x74mm was designed in 1911 by John Rigby & Company of London, England as a dangerous game cartridge and is the first one to use a bullet with a diameter of .416"...

 (presuming moderate temperatures and barometric pressures). Waters also reported that 400 gr bullets could exceed 2600 ft/s (792.5 m/s) when propelled by certain listed powders. Under normal hunting conditions, the Taylor cartridge is therefore capable of taking any of the largest and most dangerous game animals in the world.

Reports from various internet gunboards indicate that shooters and gunsmiths are rebarreling Browning BAR

Browning BAR

The BAR is a gas-operated, semi-automatic rifle produced by the Browning Arms Company first in Belgium and later in Japan. The rifle loads from a box magazine detachable from a hinged floor plate. This rifle should not be confused with the M1918 military rifle, which is a completely different...

 .338 Winchester Magnum

.338 Winchester Magnum

The .338 Winchester Magnum is a .33 caliber belted rimless bottlenecked cartridge introduced in 1958 by Winchester Repeating Arms Company|Winchester. It is based on the blown out, shortened .375 H&H Magnum. The .33 is the caliber at which medium bore cartridges are considered to begin...

 rifles with .416 Taylor barrels thereby creating semi-automatic hunting rifles in a true dangerous game caliber.

Origin

The cartridge was created to replace the magnum length .416 Rigby which at that time was nearly obsolete, with a cartridge that would fit into a standard length bolt-action rifle. The shorter action rifles are not only easier to carry in heavy cover, but also make it more convenient to care more ammunition. The advantages to cartridges in .416 inch bullet diameter are that they generally present the shooter with less recoil

Recoil

Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...

 and flatter trajectory than the larger .458 caliber dangerous game rifles (like the .458 Winchester Magnum). They also have more striking power and penetration than medium bores like the .375 H&H Magnum

.375 H&H Magnum

The .375 Holland & Holland Magnum is a powerful rifle round and one of the best-known and most popular medium-bore cartridges in the world. The .375 H&H was only the second cartridge ever to feature a belt, now common among magnum rounds. A popular misconception is that the belt is for headspace,...

. The Taylor cartridge is simply a necked down .458 Winchester Magnum

.458 Winchester Magnum

The .458 Winchester Magnum is a belted, straight-taper cased, dangerous game rifle cartridge. It was introduced commercially in 1956 by Winchester and first chambered in the Winchester Model 70 African rifle. It was designed to compete against the .450 Nitro Express and the .470 Nitro Express...

 with no changes. They have the same shoulder height and angle as the .264 Winchester Magnum

.264 Winchester Magnum

The .264 Winchester Magnum is a belted, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. Apart from the .257 Weatherby Magnum, it is the smallest caliber factory cartridge which uses the standard length Holland & Holland belted magnum case...

. As of January 2011 the 416 Taylor is now a SAAMI

Saami

Saami or SAAMI can stand for:*Sami people*Sami languages*Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute...

 standardized cartridge, and is offered as a standard production item by A-Square

A-Square

A-SQUARE COMPANY, LLC is a manufacturer of rifles, ammunition and bullets based in Chamberlain, South Dakota in the United States. The company is one of 19 that are members of the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer's Institution. The company's focus is on its firearms for hunting large...

.