At the time of its introduction in 1988, it was described as the most outstanding factory cartridge that had been introduced in decades. The 416 Remington Magnum was a factory cartridge that duplicated the performance of the tried and trusted 416 Rigby but chambered in standard production magnum actions such as cold be used for the 300 Holland and Holland, and 375 Holland and Holland Magnums. This meant that rifles could be created for this cartridge at a reasonable price.
The 416 Remington Magnum was originally designed as a replacement and a less costly alternative to the 416 Rigby cartridge. However, as time went by the 416 Remington Magnum did not completely replace the 416 Rigby, even though today the 416 Remington Magnum is considered in the field to be the most popular 416 cartridge. The popularity of the 416 Remington Magnum sparked renewed interest in the 416 caliber and even gave rise to the introduction of other 416 cartridges such as the 416 Weatherby Magnum. The purpose of the cartridge at the time of its launch was to be a dangerous game hunting cartridge, especially for African games.
The 416 Remington Magnum is a belted bottlenecked cartridge with a caliber of.416 (10.57 mm). As a parent cartridge, it uses the casing of the 8 mm Remington Magnum. In comparison to the.375 H&H Magnum, the 8 mm Remington Magnum had a far better and stronger casing, and it had more volume. Furthermore, the 8 mm Remington Magnum's casing had a SAAMI operating pressure of 65,000 psi (4,500 bar), which was greater than the.375 H&H Magnum. The casings of the 8 mm Remington Magnum and the.416 Remington Magnum are similar in size below the neck.
