So I am really considering taking my Winchester Safari Express in .416 Rem Mag out for deer hunting.  I have this gun in case I ever go to Alaska or go moose or elk hunting out west somewhere.  I enjoy shooting it, and I shoot it very well and am considering taking it out deer hunting just because I really do enjoy the rifle.  My "assumption" is it really wouldn't be a bad round to hit a deer with.  It's not a very fast round so my guess is you won't get much meat damage from it.  It's a dangerous game caliber so it's made more for deep penetration and breaking muscle, bone, and tissue.  My guess is you'll get a .416 hole in and a slightly bigger hole out.

The round I would be using is the Swift A-Frame 400gr and the specifications for it are as follows:

From a 24" barrel:

4,955 ft-lb (energy)
2,362 fps  (velocity)
.330 (Sectional Density)
.367 (Ballistic Coefficient)

Lol

Food for thought...
Your average 12ga sabot slug, used in shotgun only zones for whitetail hunting, is approx .50 Cal 385gr with MV 1700fps.  Kills deer pretty good, usually passthrough, provided you put the shot in the vitals.

Go right through.

Too much penetration for the animal.

You're gonna do a whole buncha tissue damage with that caliber. If you insist on using it, take neck shots.

Will work fine with a good hit

I don't think so. I will bet it will do less damage that a 243 or the like with a ballistic tip. It will just go through, in and out with minimal expansion or energy transfer I bet.

More dependent on the bullet.  In AK I used a .375 H&H for black tailed deer, not so much for the deer, but for the big round brown furry things that think a gunshot is a dinner bell.

.375 H&H, small entry hole, slightly larger exit hole.  I saw a lot more damage to deer when a hunting partner used a 150 gr. bullet out of his .300 win. mag.

This ^.

I have killed more deer sized critters in Africa with a 375H&H than I can remember. Dozens of impala, bunch of bushbuck, female waterbuck, female kudu for bait or meat.

Using a controlled expansion bonded bullet leads to quick death without too much blood shot meat.

The 375H&H is faster than the 416 too, and faster means more potential for tissue damage.

I think it would be fun.  Why not get some more use in the field with what ever rifles you have if you can?  I'd hand load the lightest bullet they make at a starting load and enjoy.  Better to work out any bugs the rifle/optic may have now on deer.

I see no problem.  Go for it and post pix.

3:30

Go for it, I'm considering taking my .375 H&H this year instead of my 6.8.

A friend of a friend tested your exact scenario but unaware of bullet type other than expanding type. My buddy said it was under 100 yds and the meat was destroyed. And DRT.

I've shot several with my .416 Rigby.  400 gr Hornady softpoint @ 2525 FPS.  What do you want to know?

Perfect!  Since 416RM and the Rigby are almost exactly alike ballistically in terms of factory loads, this should help.  My main question is how much damage did it do to the meat and what were the exact effects of the hits?  Was there minimal damage, a decent amount, were the internals annihilated, etc.?  Basically I just want to know what it does to them.  If it destroys too much meat and blows monster holes through them then I won't use the rifle, if it does minimal damage to the internals then I'll probably use it.

All were double lung shots.  All but one were, 'not one more step DRT'.  Damage on all of them was slightly more than 270/30-06/7mm Rem Mag, certainly not a dramatic as most would expect.  The one that ran off only made it 25 yards, and the bullet did not exit the body.

That buck was 150 yards away and quartering towards me.  I shot it just in front of the left shoulder with the expectation that the bullet would exit just behind the right shoulder.  I hit right where I was aiming.  I shoot with both eyes open and I saw the muzzle flash and the impact in the scope.  The buck was staggered for just a moment, but stayed on its hooves and ran out of the sendero.  No blood or hair found where he was standing when I shot him.  I found him laying on his left side, with no blood whatsoever coming from his body.  Even though I hung him head down for cleaning, he didn't start bleeding until I had the hide off and I cut through the diaphram.   There were 3 ribs missing with 2 more ribs broken around the entry wound and a big purple streak/bruise going down the inside of the right ribcage.  The guts were completly intact, but I found the mushroomed bullet kissing the ball of the right femur where it meets the pelvis.  Lungs and heart were in chunks.  We were able to eat both shoulders.

Thanks!  That was extremely helpful.  I do have a bunch of the Hornady 400gr DGS rounds.  Those are what I regularly shoot out of the rifle.  Have you used any Swift A-Frames?  I got the A-Frames specifically for hunting, but based on what you said I may just stick to using the Hornady ammo.  And it's good to know the meat damage wasn't overkill.  I am a bit surprised that the one round didn't make it all the way through as the .416s are beasts when it comes to penetration.

I've only used the 400 gr round nose Hornady softpoints on whitetails, pigs, and a single turkey.  No experience with the Swift A-Frame, but I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to use one.  Don't talk yourself out of it.  Go do it!

I'm doing more than considering

What will it do to the deer? Probably kill it.

Have fun, post pics.

I’ve killed a couple with .416 Rigby using 400gr fusion sp.  Both ran about 20 yards. Less damage than faster lighter constructed bullets. It works fine.

It would go right through. I mean unless you shoot them in the chest and comes out there back end, either way it will go right through. Hunting with slugs most of my life they always punch through both sides even if they hit bone. I have used 450 Bushmaster two years in a row, even with a modern expanding bullet they bullets still go straight through. .45 hole in one side, and a couple of inches on the opposite side.

458 win mag here

@Zeebz

Any updates?  Don't make this a safe thread!  LOL

Haha, sorry I forgot to post an update.  Unfortunately my deer hunt this year was unsuccessful.  I saw one doe and I wanted to take a shot but it was about 100 yards away and I was losing my sights in the treeline because it was getting dark out.  It was fun to take out for sure, though.  I almost left it home and took my Winchester 94 in 30-30, but the irons on that are even harder to pick up in any kind of low light.

Next year I'll probably just take my 6.5 Grendel AR or my Browning BPS with a rifled barrel.  I do want to take the 416 elk hunting at some point, though.

In all seriousness, I strong suspect that the .416 would be massively disappointing..... Very effective (with a expanding bullet) but likely often not the hammer of Thor kills one would expect.  Most 416 bullets aren't going to be dialed in for great expansion on little itty bitty deer....  Just my educated guess on that....

Yes, its a really big magnum cartridge, with really impressive numbers.  However, most of that energy and mayhem are going to take place in the hillside beyond the deer, not "in" it.  The velocities are actually pretty moderate.  2300-2400 is slow by modern standards. And the bullet is fairly tough.  I'd expect a decent sized entry hole, and a fairly narrow through-and-through wound channel, with a similar exit.  Basically, think of a 1" hole, drilled cleanly through said deer.  You could probably shoot the deer facing dead on.  Still going to be a 1" hole, front to rear, through the whole damned deer.  This will be dependent entirely on the BULLET used...

A buddy routinely uses .375 H&H on deer.  His experience?  It's really just a glorified 30-06.  Very similar wounding.  All the extra penetration doesn't matter on a target that is still generally 16-20" deep.

I popped a decent buck with a 225 grain Nosler Partition at 30 yards out of a .350 Rem Mag, with muzzle velocities of 2675 fps.  Actually a disappointing kill.  As with 375, there was very little difference between this shot and a similar shot with my normal 308 Win....  In actuality, my 308 Win load with Nosler Ballistic Tips drops them far faster than that 350 does.  Its because of the different bullet construction.  Velocities are very  very similar....

If you expect massive tissue damage and "OMG!" carnage, what you need is speed.  Flat out velocity.  And softer bullets....  My last coyote kill was a 160 Nosler Partition out of a 280 Ackley Improved at an honest average muzzle velocity of 3003 fps.  You could have dropped a tennis ball through him, side to side, and barely touched the hole....

Any cartridge that runs 2300-2400 and uses a "normal" isn't going to be dramatic.  Think in terms of a 45-70.  Lots of power, but plodding along.  And penetrate measured in feet, not inches.  Step it up to anything over 3000 fps and wounding generally becomes very dramatic, but with much shallower wounds.  Big,  explosive penetration that doesn't go overly deep.  Different projectiles can modify this....

With GameKings in both rifles (both 140gr) I'd say I have had deer go down quicker with my 20" Model 7 in 260 than my 270WSM. That's 2515fps vs 3125fps according to my chronograph. (Yes both were expandable). Now we're only talking about a half dozen deer for each but there definitely was a pattern. Why, I don't know maybe the GameKing is better performing at a slower speed?

I'd have to say the 165 GameKings in my 30-06 bring them down faster as well. They are running 2872fps

OTOH the 270WSM is the most accurate load of the bunch. For hunting purposes it's not that big a deal but if I had to make a 500 yard shot I know which rifle I grabbing