New .416 Barrett?

There is an ad in this month's American Rifleman for a new, California legal (Ronnie Barrett rocks) rifle in 416 Barrett caliber. "Shoots flatter, faster and is inherently more accurate than even our own .50BMG rifles."

I went to Barretts' site www.barrettrifles.com and they don't have any info on the cartridge yet. Anyone know any specifics?

 

I totally love it, screw you anti's in california!!!!!!!!

 

As I recall, it's a .50 BMG necked down to .416. I forgot the ballistics.

 

Hearing that brings tears of joy to my eyes. It has been a good few weeks for California gun owners.

Edit: I did a quick internet search and found this. It's an online store, so take it with a grain of salt.

http://www.thegunsource.com/shopping_viewproduct.aspx?idproduct=56184

 

Very cool. He did what we were joking about when the .50 ban happened. As I recall someone suggested a slightly modified .50BMG case firing a round we would dub the ".498 Feinstein." I assume he had a legitimate reason to take it down to .416.

 

Better ballistics? I always thought someone would neck the 50 mg down to a .45 caliber.

If true, look for future military use.

 

Necking it down to .416 makes sense. You can get bullets with a pretty good sectional density for .416. It should make the guns better for hunting too since there are plenty of good hunting bullets. Of course it probably has MORE recoil than .50 bmg. And unless they shortened the case it will be even more overbore and need even slower powders.

 

I think Barrett did this more to be a pointy stick in the California legislature's neck.

I mean....there can't be a huge market left in Cali for .50BMG or similar rifles.....not enough for Barrett to bank on unless he charges huge sums of money for these things.



But then again, if made affordable enough, I'm sure there's enough buyers in the other 49 states

 

They have: it's called the .460 Steyr, and is currently in an advanced stage of development, to be offered as an alternative round in the .50 Steyr sniping rifle. A lot of effort is going into making the bullets as aerodynamic as possible.

The gun is shown here: http://world.guns.ru/sniper/sn64-e.htm

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

 

Well if they are using a necked down 50bmg case then all they would need to change on a given platform is the barrel, so the cost of developing the rifle would not be terribly great. California is one of the largest and richest states in the union, so the market potential here is pretty good. Serbu and E.D.M. Arms have also marketed a new .50 cal for California as well.

 

The only thing I lament here is California's ability to affect the gun market. Any idea who makes the bullets for this thing? I don't recall any long-range bullets being manufactured in .41 cal.

 

Frankly it is probably about time someone did this... about all the .50 BMG has going for it for long-range shooting is availability. It seems if you designed a cartridge from scratch for the same purpose, you could probably get better accuracy whilte retaining the same features that make the .50 BMG useful.

 

Good idea. And the fact that the .416 Rigby is a well-established big-game round means that there are probably a lot of good hunting bullets for it out there.

Looks like we have another data point for the weekly "what gun for dinosaurs/bears/mutant ninja zombies" thread...

 

Stupid gun laws result in the development of new guns or the resurgence of old ones. The "assault weapons ban" is what made the 1911 popular again. This stupid law has given us a few new cartridges. Who knows what we'll get out of the next stupid gun law.

 

Doesn't the Cali gov have to individually approve each new type of gun for sale in their police state? Wouldn't they just refuse to approve this new gun?

I don't know why anyone would live in California, there are lots of places that are much nicer over here in the Free United States.

 

I think Ronnie should name the new round .416 FUCA. I'd buy one.

 

I believe that pertains only to handguns (at the moment).

 

AND "assault weapons". Funny thing, prohibition is: ban X, and you suddenly increase interest & sales in both X and alternative Y.

 

This is great! Even though it should have a higher velocity, the muzzle energy and recoil should be the same as or less than the .50BMG, since both ME and recoil are functions of mass and velocity of bullet, powder and firearm. There has been a resurge in the popularity of .416 cartridges in the last few years (.416 Remington, e.g.) so bullet availability is excellent.

Tooling up for this rifle should be simple if it's based on a .50 BMG case, with only a barrel change required. The Model 99 action is already strong enough for anything you can stuff into it.

Since I live in a gun friendly state (coincidently the home state of Barrett), I plan to support Ronnie by buying a .50 this year.

 

The muzzle energy will probably be less, unless it's loaded to higher pressures. That's because the energy which can be developed from a given propellant load goes up with the calibre (think of the bullet+barrel as a single-piston engine). So you will, for example, find that a .30-06 will develop more muzzle energy than a .25-06, other things being equal.

I would expect a .416 based on the .50 BMG case to develop 80-85% of the muzzle energy (other things being equal).

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

 

Does anyone have a picture of the shell --er -- bullet? Just curious.

- NF

 

I willing to bet the .416 Barret is more likely a result of competing with the .408 CheyTac and similar proprietary systems rather than giving CA the finger.

Being able to sell Barret rifles to consumers in CA once again is just icing on the cake.

 

I love how everyone says it will be more useful for hunting. What exactly are you hunting that you need a 50 BMG necked down to .416? I love the idea and any new innovation in the private arms industry but some how I don't think Barrett designed it for hunting game. Unless you count humans.

 

I love it. The gun owner's way of sticking it to the man. But honestly, why should they have to jump through hoops to practice an American freedom? I don't know either. Anyway, put me down for a .416. I need a big game rifle.

 

Check the April SOF. They did a 4 page write up on it........400-grain....3,300 fps from a 29-inch barrel.........1/2 inch MOA.......Stays supersonic past 1.3 MILES

Kevin