Q: Can you offer some suggestions regarding handloading for a rifle I’m having built? It will be chambered for the calibre I’ve always dreamed of owning after reading books by Karamojo Bell and Jim Corbett – the .275 Rigby. I’m having a CZ 550 action fitted with a 24in. barrel with 1:9″ twist. I believe the action will be strong enough to handle the higher pressures of modern reloading and heavy bullets if required. It will be stamped “.275 Rigby” and I will use Hornady brass to avoid any problems with customs that might crop up if my ammo carried a 7x57mm headstamp. Living fin Victoria I have access to several big game species and I would like to have a single load that would be effective for hunting hog deer at 30 metres over water and sambar out to 350 metres for cross-gully situations. I plan on having detachable mounts so that I can use it scoped or with iron sights.xI’d like to use the latter for general stalking which is part of the romance of having a .275 Rigby. I was wondering which bullet to use – Hornady 154gn Interbond, Nosler 140gn Partition or Barnes 150gn TTSX? For a propellant I am tossing up between AR2209 and RE-19. Which bullet would be most effective for the kind of hunting I do? Can you suggest a couple of loads?
Jack Purcell
A: The CZ 550 is a good strong action with many excellent features such as a dovetailed receiver which makes scope mounting easy. A 24in. barrel with 1:9″ twist makes sense too. That was what my own 7×57 built on an intermediate length Turkish Mauser had. Your idea of using Hornady cases carrying the .275 Rigby headstamp is nostalgic. The
loads I developed for my rifle are:
Sierra 140gn/46gn of AR2208/ 2880fps; Sierra 140gn/ 50gn W-760/ 2885fps; Sierra 140gn/53gn RE-19/2885fps; PMC 160gn SP/ 48gn AR2209/ 2660fps; Sierra1 75gn/45gn AR2209/2612fps. All of these loads were safe to use in my Mauser, but I recommend you work up from two grains below. You’ll find reams of good reloading data for the bullets you list in the various reloading manuals.
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