One Day...
AH elite
This is very sound reasoning Bruce and I wholeheartedly agree that the .416 Rigby appeal was, to me at least, mostly romantic. You are 100% correct that the big case is not needed today, unless you want to make it a flamethrower a la .416 Wby. In traditional Rigby loads it still runs at lower pressure than the .416 Rem, but, as previously noted, this is not a big deal anymore...
I also wholeheartedly agree that buying a Rigby brand rifle is super, super nice for those who can afford it (I probably would if money was no consideration, but I cannot) but this London address engraving on the barrel sure comes at a pretty penny. I am personally happy with a financially modest rifle built on the very same tuned-up CZ double square bridge magnum action that Rigby themselves used for years to build their $15,000 rifle before Mauser recently restarted producing magnum length 98 actions... A $1,000 new CZ 550 rifle is a screaming deal in term of value in the rifle world, even though it may require a bit of TLC to become the functional (not the aesthetic) equivalent of a $15,000 Rigby...
Not to belabor the CZ point, but to keep feeding into CoElkHunter's analysis, what the CZ 550 factually offers over the Winchester M70 (regardless of caliber) is still very valuable in my opinion:
1 - Maybe I have been extraordinary unlucky, or been around extraordinary unlucky folks, but I have seen with my own eyes at least half a dozen cases of loose bases/rings on high caliber rifles, including .458 Lott, .450 Watts (twin brother to the .458 Lott), .416 Hoffman, and a few other DG calibers from the 90's when about anything other than the .458 Win (or .460 Wby for those men-enough to shoot it well) was custom. I lived in Connecticut at the time, these were expensive custom rifles owned by folks financially well to do, and these included rifles put together by really reputable gunsmiths who knew what they were doing. It also happened to me on a .340 Wby Mark V that shook its bases in the course of 60 rounds in 2 weeks on my 2018 Safari, and Lord knows I had mounted them carefully: matted the contact surfaces; holes re-drilled and tapped to 8x40; degreased all the threads; Red Loctite-d all the screws; torqued appropriately with torque wrench; etc. etc. The CZ has integral bases machined in its double square bridge, they will never loosen up...
2 - Same story goes for iron sights screwed on the barrel. I lost the front sight on a delightful semi custom, made in Germany, KDF Titan .375 H&H, and I have seen a few of the aforementioned high grade rifles missing either front or rear iron sights after a few boxes of ammo. The CZ has an integral island machined in its barrel for the rear sight, it will never fall off the rifle, and it has a barrel band front sight which will also never fall...
3 - Less importantly, but still real, is that fact that the CZ has a 5+1 capacity with the H&H belted case family of cartridge, while the Win 70 is limited to 3 +1. It is likely not an issue in 99.99% of cases, but the day you need those extra 2 rounds on a charging buff, you are likely to need them bad... Based on countless videos and stories, if the first round does not do the work, one is likely to be happier with 6 than 4... I have not experienced this personally, as my buff was a one round buff (with .470 NE) but there is a rather infamous video (currently on AH home page) of a TV host running out of ammo on a buff. Blessedly, the buff did not charge...
To be 100% impartial, the BIG advantage the Win M 70 has over the CZ is that it comes factory equipped with a TRUE mechanical safety, i.e. a safety that is mounted on the bolt, and that locks the firing pin: the rightfully famous "Winchester 3 positions safety." Conversely, the CZ has an action mounted safety that blocks the sear. The rifle can still fire accidentally if the cocking piece jumps the sear for whatever reason (a hard fall being the most likely suspect). Luckily, any good gunsmith can retrofit an after market Win 70 type safety on the CZ for about $300 and correct this very real shortcoming from the factory...
In view of the above, my own .416 Rem would be a CZ rather than a Win 70, but I still own 3 Win 70 in lesser calibers and love them
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