Sometimes you just do things that very few people can understand. In my case, most recently, it was getting all jacked up about going to East Cape, South Africa for a 5-day hunting venture. As I already have what I thought would be my heavy gun, a custom built .375 H&H (see my review on this Genesis Arms built fabulous gun), I was pretty sure of what I would take with me. That is, until I went with a friend to the Outdoor Extravaganza at the Dallas Convention Center with the specific aim in mind of visiting my friends at Parkwest Arms who are from Sturgis, South Dakota (https://parkwestarms.com). I not only wanted to rave about my SD-10 Single Shot in 7mm Mauser which is a piece of art but also wanted to talk to them about a possible SD-76 in .416 Rigby. As preparation for my Africa trip, I had been reading every African hunting book I could lay my hands on as well as visiting every Africa hunting website I could dig up on the internet. Don't ask me to be rational about why on earth I would want a .416 Rigby. I think part of it was trying to psychically connect with the great African hunters of the late 1800's and early 1900's when the world was so dramatically different. In any case, I spent an hour chitchatting with the Rabakoff brothers about my idea which of course they loved as they are in the business of building some of the finest custom rifles in the world and, don't you know, they would just love to build me another one of their fine pieces. While my friend was certain that I had lost what little sanity I have, I committed to building an SD-76 bolt-action in the monstrous .416 Rigby. After all, who does not want an almost ten-pound rifle that spits out a 400-grain bullet at about 2400 feet per second which amounts to FIVE THOUSAND FOOT POUNDS of kinetic energy at the muzzle?
I didn't care to think about how to deal with nearly 40-foot pounds of recoil energy. The Rabakoff boys said they had figured that out. They would install a mercury recoil reducer in the composite stock (I went with that primarily since the whole deal was about $9,000 as compared to almost $15,000 for an exhibition grade wood stock—do NOT let my wife see this review!) and they would install a custom radial muzzle brake on the big barrel. All good, I said. When can I have it? Africa was eight months away so they promised it would be done, tested, zeroed, and delivered before that. Fifty percent down on the spot and away we went. Next stop was the FTW Ranch booth (https://ftwsaam.com) where another $5K was paid to cover my fees for participation in a four-day Safari Preparation Course where we would expend something like 600 rounds or more, depending on individual performance. You can read a review of that fantastic experience under the Hunting Experiences menu item on this website.
So, now being totally broke, I went home and thought about ordering a case of .416 Rigby ammo. Consider that you can buy 100 rounds of 9mm pistol ammo for somewhere around $25 and 500 rounds of 5.56 NATO for somewhere around $250.
My best source of .416 Rigby 400 grain Barnes VorTX was from Midway (https://midwayusa.com) at—wait for it—$200 per box of 20 sausage-like cartridges! For those of you who are math challenged, that's TEN DOLLARS per round. I quickly gave up my thoughts of a case as I no longer had the $2,000 that would take. I settled for one box which arrived several days later. Looking at and handling the cartridges gave me the idea that I'd be launching a freight train. I confess to having an uncomfortable sensation known as fear just thinking about shooting this stuff. However, having shot many a .50 BMG 765 grain round, I quickly asked myself, "how bad can this be?" and then put the ammo on the shelf awaiting the big day of delivery.
A couple of months later, I ordered and forwarded on to Parkwest a Steiner T6Xi 1-6x24mm KC-1 5103 scope (https://eurooptic.com) which turned out to be the perfect scope for this gun. Parkwest mounted it in Talley rings and zeroed at 50 yards. The test target using the same ammo as I had purchased showed three rounds touching in the center of the target. So, when I got the notice from Jason Rabakoff that the gun was done, I took the last of my money and paid the other half of the price and got a shipping notice same day.
The Bushveld Model (aka the SUPER BEAST) was sent to my local FFL (https://triumphguns.com) and, when notified it was delivered, quickly showed up to do the paperwork and take my prize home. It came in a very high-end hard case designed for the gun as well as having a couple of sections for boxes of ammo and whatever else you might want to carry with you. I also ordered and installed a Teton Leather Dam It beaver-tail leather sling (https://tetonleather.com) as, in my opinion, it is the best sling made, and a sling is required for transport in the field as a 10-pound rifle and a couple pounds of ammo are tiring to carry in the hands. Additionally, proper use of a sling helps greatly in stabilizing any rifle while shooting off hand.
Within a few days, I loaded up my gun case and one box of ammo and drove down to our range in Ennis, Texas where we have many steel AR 500 targets of different sizes and shapes from 50 yards out to a mile. My goal was to confirm zero at 50 and see if it shot 2 inches low at 100 which is what my Kestrel 5700 Elite WZM calculated. I also wanted to see how I handled the recoil so decided to shoot off a Primos Gen 3 Jim Shockey Trigger Stick Tripod (https://primos.com) that was equipped with an open yoke to make positioning a rifle very quick and easy. I placed the SUPER BEAST in the yoke and got it positioned as I liked. Loaded one round by hand and closed the bolt which locked up like a bank vault. Perfect sight picture at a 50-yard 10-inch round plate hanging target. Pressed the trigger with increasing pressure until—OMIGOD!
The pressure wave caused by lighting off a round was, to say the least, quite noticeable. What was also noticeable was the massive dead center bullet splash on the target that, suspended by two lengths of chain, had been spun completely backward and over the hanging bar, kind of what you tried to do on your swing set when you were a kid. What was not noticeable was recoil. We've all heard about recoil that's a sharp jab or one that is a shove. This was neither. It was a soft push! Quite frankly, the recoil was significantly less in terms of "felt recoil" than a .30-06 with a 180-grain bullet (about 20-foot pounds of free recoil energy). That was awesome!
So, pretty certain that the 50 yard zero was good, I reloaded and drew down on a pig steek silhouette that was exactly 101 yards from the muzzle of the SUPER BEAST. My aim was two inches high of where a kill shot at the back edge of the pig's ear would be perfect. When I had minimal reticle wobble, I touched off the round and BOOM! Massive pressure wave, the gentle push and the bullet placement could not have been better. We often shoot feral pigs at or around 100 yards so this would be great pig medicine except that most of our pig hunting is at night with thermal scopes and light guns as we do a good bit of stalking. And I have no intention of paying ten bucks a round to kill a pig.
Looking at the target through my binos, I notice something odd. We called the range cold, ensured the only other shooter had his rifle down and bolt open. I then walked out to the target which is 3/8" AR 500 steel and saw that the target was bent out of being flat by a very noticeable amount. I guess that can happen when more than two tons of kinetic energy is focused on a single spot less than a half inch in diameter. I'll get the target fixed but lesson learned—no shooting steel that can't deflect that kind of energy by moving out of the way (as in suspended or hanging rather than on a fixed post or posts).
So, two shots downrange, both went not near but EXACTLY where aimed so I decided to save paper target work for another day. $20 worth of ammo for two shots that made me super confident about shooting this gun. I'll add to this review when things cool down in a month or two. Even shooting under a covered roof is uncomfortable when it's 108 degrees here in North Texas. Check back for updates and so photos of paper target groups. I seriously wonder how many rounds I will ever put down the barrel of the SUPER BEAST. As for the Africa trip, we've put off our visit to Huntershill Safaris in East Cape, South Africa (http://www.huntershillsafaris.co.za) until September of 2027. As I had a five-day trip to Argentina for ducks, perdiz, and doves AND am going to Saskatchewan for ducks and geese mid-September 2026, it turns out that I have too much travel on my schedule (I know, it's a hard situation to deal with but I'll try!) to fit everything in. So, the SUPER BEAST will be a paper puncher for now. Again, check back for some updates—I do love this rifle.