416 Barnes

Historical Notes:

The 416 Barnes was the last cartridge design of the late Frank Barnes. In the late 1980's, Frank began to think about various 40 caliber rifle cartridges. He realized that though there were many available, most were designed for use in Africa. Frank felt there would be a strong interest in a 416 designed for American game and hunting conditions rather than the dangerous African species. Additionally, he felt it would be advantageous if it could be adapted to several different rifle actions rather than being limited to a single type. After studying the old 40 caliber cartridges which are too long for today's actions, Frank settled on the final version which uses a 45-70 Government cartridge as its base. By using the 45-70, there are a number of current actions available, which would make easy conversions to the 416 Barnes. Readily available and very reasonably priced in particular was the Marlin 95 lever action. Unfortunately, few commercial bullets in 416 are available in the weight range intended for tubular magazine rifles.

General Comments:

The 416 Barnes would be an excellent choice for North American big game. Loading data for this cartridge is limited. Frank recommended using 37 grains of Reloader 7 to push a 400 grain bullet at 1625 fps. IMR 3031 is another good general purpose powder for the 416 Barnes in a lever action rifle. With jacketed bullets, it would most likely give the best accuracy of any of the potential propellants. Frank found an accurate load of 50 grains of IMR 3031 behind a 330 grain bullet. It gave him a velocity of 2045 fps. This cartridge really comes into its own when used with 270 to 330 grain bullets. Though it provides no real advantage for the deer hunter, it would prove to be an excellent elk, moose or brown bar cartridge.

Source: Cartridges of the World

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