404 Jeffery Hodgdon H 4350 loads feedback?

[Ontario Hunter]

Building a 404 on standard Mauser does not require opening up the action to the rear. I didn't need to. Open up the magazine box and loading ramp forward. The inside of the rear action ring does need to be trimmed a bit on the ejection side to allow the fatter cartridges to kick out. But not too much or the extractor will escape its track in the receiver and the action will jam. I just measured the clearance this morning: a cartridge with bullet seated to spec 3.53" OAL has about 0.07" clearance from locking ring at the point when ejector is contacted. Opening the action up to the rear would require modifying the ejector and bolt stop as well as removing substantially more metal from the rear ring. Not necessary. There's no point in increasing the potential for something to go wrong.

Edit: I'm  assuming I didn't open the action to the rear. I ordered 416 Rem bottom metal and fit it into the action. The end plate of the magazine box is flush to the bolt face when bolt is fully retracted. There is almost exactly 3" between rear action screw to back end of box. I presume the original 8mm bottom metal had the same spread because the ejector has not been modified. I gave that bottom metal away so can't compare. This image also shows how the middle of the rear ring has been thinned on the inside to allow thicker 404 shells to clear the action when ejected.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Profile appears to be as I suspected. Typical classic European. Fine for open sights but finding field of view for scopes can be a problem sometimes. Is that a flag safety?

Response: The 404 Jeffery is not made to shoot with rifle scope at all..

 

[Ontario Hunter]

This is the load I use with 400 gr Swift A Frames. I use the Swift COAL of 3.530". Note that 84.0 grs of H4350 is over the max load (78.9) published in Hornady 10th edition.

I use H4350 in a lot of different calibers and find it extremely easy to do a ladder and quickly find a load with low SD and ES. You might sacrifice a bit of velocity, but not much.

I've attached a powder relative burn rate chart, which also shows temperature stability (which isn't that important at hunting range distances). It does show H4350 is one of the more stable powders. I don't know the origin of this data, so take it for what it's worth.

Forgive me for reviving this thread from last year for just a couple of questions. It seems there is a LOT of latitude for loading H4350 in 400 gr projectiles. I have Accurate 4350 powder. If I read this chart correctly, A4350 and H4350 have the same burn rate but somewhat different temperature tolerances. Apparently minor temperature variations are not a big consideration for 404 shooting distances. Is that correct? Having said that, 80 gr A4350 behind Barnes X 400 gr is about all I can handle for recoil. Can't imagine loading it up to 84 gr ... and shooting it off the bench. Ugh! I found 77 gr A4350 more pleasant to shoot and it shot a good group (at 50 yards) but primers were pushing out sometimes. Would it be advisable to add filler or just step up the load? How much filler? Closed cell foam or dacron? Presumably filler would be placed under the bullet. When I return to Africa, my 30-06 03A3 will be along for plains game so no need to stretch this 404 out to 300 yards. Anyway, I am certainly not inclined to trust myself to accurately make two foot hold-over shots at 200 yards ... while soaking up recoil of 84 gr loads behind 400 gr bullets! Developing sufficent expertise at the range to do this would be 1) very expensive given the current cost and unavailability of exponents (recently aggravated further by stupid tariff war) and 2) my fragile retinas probably couldn't take the punishment even if components were available.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

I agree with you that shooting a 404J from the bench is not pleasant. I went to the range yesterday and shot 4 rounds through my 404J and called it good. I was shooting off the sticks at 50 yards. I purposedly fired the 4 rounds quickly, perhaps 15 seconds total time from first shot to last. I was quite happy. The first shot was a bit of a flyer to the left a couple inches and the next three were all touching. All rounds cycled perfectly.

I use 84.0 grs of H4350, not because of the 2305 fps, but because of the extremely low SD and ES.

 

[Nevada Mike]

I load VV N150, which is very similar to IMR 4350 in burn rate. Using 76 grains in my 23" barreled rifle I get 2280 fps with good precision and low Extreme Spreads in velocity. I am shooting 400 gr. Swift A Frames. This load does a number on buff. Usually dead within 50 yards (or less) with high shoulder shots. Nearly complete penetration but no pass throughs. Perfect for me.

I have loaded 400 gr. SAFs to over 2400 fps but more noise and lots more recoil that is NOT NEEDED FOR BUFFALO IMO.