404 Jeffery

[classicsafari]

Do you like ?

YES...

 

[nztimb]

Pickup next week.
These are photos from the gunsmith, P-O.
Can´t wait to get my hands on it.

Now that is an understatement if ever I saw one. Simply magnificent Calle and sure to shoot as good as it looks.

Von Gruff.

 

[enysse]

That is truly, one magnificent gun, Congradulations!

 

[seattlesetters]

I am salivating! Perfect!

 

[Calle]

Thanks everybody for your support.
You are a big part of the reason I finally decided to start the project.
The rifle will be with me this fall during the moosehunt that starts in september.
Big smile :-D

 

[Calle]

I wish you could see me now. Big smile.
Just back from the shooting range before the sun set.
I just did a quick load to feel the power.
80 grs of Vithavouri N550 behind a 400 grs Hornady DGX.
A light touch on my forehead by the scope gave me recoilrespect.
Fortunately no blood down the nose.
I can tell you it is NOT a plinking rifle.
10 rounds left a nice feeling in my shoulder.
My sons 30-06 felt like a plinking rifle.
More recoil practise tomorrow. :-D

 

[sestoppelman]

No it aint no plinker! My most accurate loading for the CZ 550 has been, so far mind you, 72 grs of IMR 4064 behind the 400 gr. Barnes TripleShok lit with a 215 Fed mag primer. I get MOA and around 2230 fps with that load. Not too hard on the shoulder, better than original specs by a little bit and more than adequate for the largest game. The Cor-Bon loads of Triple Shok and Banded solid go a little faster and shoot about the same accuracy wise, near MOA. Your load must be scootin along around 2300 fps. What fun!!

 

[monish]

Calle,

Belated Congratulations !!!!!( Bumped in the post late) for owning a masterpiece of a beautiful rifle(case hardening finish is exquisite) & in the classic caliber.. Envy you ,my friend... may you bag some record class trophies with it.........

Monish

 

[converse320]

Such a beautiful rifle, shame the bolts on the wrong side!

 

[Nyati]

Fantastic rifle, congratulations !

 

[nsok]

Very good rifle, which is the most important, and very very beautiful. Enjoy it

 

[shooter50]

I have a lovely old 404 made by Schuler of Germany and retailed by Rodda in India. The date of manufacture should be in the 1920s. The rifle has a half octagonal/circular Krupp steel barrel, the underside of which is stamped 10,3 x 73. 10.3 is i understand the go, no go diameter of the largest gauge that would enter the barrel the gauge diameter being in 1/10 of a mm. With accepted groove depth this does not translate into .423 inch of the modern 404 ammo. When i put this problem to the German Gun Collectors Association, the experts there said that the Krupp manufacturers believed in making their barrels tight and there would be no problem shooting the modern 404 ammo provided the rifle is in good shape. However i read in the book "Any Shot You Want" that such rifles are unsuitable for modern ammunition. I have shot old Kynoch 404 ammo and the rifle which is in excellent condition handles it without any problem (Impossible to get new 404 ammo in India), am planning to bring home a box of new 404 ammo from the US so need an answer to the problem, has anybody had a similar experience?

 

[sestoppelman]

10.75x73 is merely the metric name for the .404. Not sure about the 10.3 you mention. Never heard it described as some sort of guage. There has always been some variance in bore dimensions in this and some other older rounds so it would pay to slug the bore and get the actual numbers. Chances are it will do fine with modern .422-.423 bullets.

 

[Calle]

Calle,

Belated Congratulations !!!!!( Bumped in the post late) for owning a masterpiece of a beautiful rifle(case hardening finish is exquisite) & in the classic caliber.. Envy you ,my friend... may you bag some record class trophies with it.........

Monish

I havent been around lately but thank you all for the nice and encouraging words.
I have now released about 75 rounds and must say that recoil is a bit heavier than the .375.
But there is a kick of adrenalin everytime I go to the range with it.
Now what about bullets ? So far I have used the 400 grs Hornady DGX. They are the cheapest.
In my .375 I use Barnes TSX and like the performance of them.
I know Norma use Woodleigh.
Suggestions ?

 

[buckcurtin]

I bought a Montana Rifle Company 404 Jeffrey 3 or 4 years ago. Being left handed makes it hard to find big game rifles that don't cost a fortune. Planned to hunt tuskless elephant with it in the future. Went on a hunt last August with the rifle. Practiced with Hornady Dangerous game ammo while breaking in and practicing for my hunt. Planned to use Norma African PH ammo for the hunt. Shot 1 round of the Norma prior to the hunt and point of impact was almost same as the Hornady. The Hornady shoots a 400 grain bullet and the Norma 450 grains. Also going after my second Cape Buffalo having previously shot one with my Winchester 375 H&H.
Booked the hunt with CharltonMcCallum Safaris an outstanding company in Zimbabwe. Arrived in camp and sighted in rifle, needed minor adjustment and then went hunting. Second day after day long stalk on a Buff herd put the gun on the sticks, pulled the trigger and click! Will not repeat what I said as only fit for XXX rated website. Buff alerted but couldn't figure what was happening, wind was in our favor and we were in the shadows, slowly opened bolt, round in chamber, Ricard Schultz my PH[and a great one by the way] slowly closed the bolt all the while I am starring through the scope and whispering "he is still there" Aimed pulled trigger and finally it fires. Quartering shot through heart and one lung, Richie says good hit, reload, which I had already done. Bull goes 10 to 15 yards from our left to right, stops with head down and I hit him again through shoulder. He was maybe 45 yards away on first shot and 30 yards on second and both those estimates might be too far. Staggers short distance, stops behind a small bush and slowly collapses and gives death bellow. Lots of congratulations, lovely old bull, short on spread but maassive hard bosses, I am thrilled. We approach, Richie says put in one more to be sure, I aim and click again. I eject the unfired round and saved it. The primer had been well struck.
Few days later stalked a tuskless bull elephant which are unusual and from about 15 to 20 yards away put it in the salt with a heart/lung shot and it didn't go 10 yards, we did though because the rest of the herd went ballistic. We were above the herd and ran up to the top of the hill and circled back th the truck and the herd was still there so we left to return to camp, eat lunch and get the second truck and crew and went and recovered the hide and meat that afternoon. By the way it is tough running uphill, backwards through tall grass, rocks and trees and bushes when you are a flat lander from Florida and a month short of 68 years young. The tracker was great, Clever was ahead of me holding me up by my collar and keeping me on my feet. My Ph and the apprentice ph were all of 25 years older and a little more agile. I also shot a Sable later after 5 days of chasing a much bigger one shot a smaller one. Should have brought a gun for plains game but the Sable only became availble at the last minute. We hunted the Makuti Camp which is in a very hilly area in Northwesterm Zim. They were mountains to me! Everything was either up or down but it is a beautiful area with loads of Buff and Elephant. Lots of lovely springs and creeks even in the dry season. I would highly recommend CharltonMcCallum. They have a great website with updates and pictures on all their clients hunts.
Upon returning home the gun and ammo were sent to the Montana Rifle Company to find out what had happened. By the way the night after my problem we took apart the bolt and cleaned all the parts carefully to make sure it wasn't the problem. I did shoot the rifle 5 or 6 more times without a misfire. The owner did measure the rounds from Norma[think I sent 3 of each] and found that at least one was a bit longer than standard. He did examine the misfired round and said that the indentation in the primer was sufficient that it should have fired. Never was able to get a satisfactory explanation. I do know that the next time I will only use the Hornandy ammo for peace of mind. Don't want to hunt dangerous game when a misfire might cost me or someone else in the group their life! 404 Jeffrey is a great round, recoil is reasonable and I highly recommend the cartridge.

 

[Calle]

Nice story !
I hope I can present a similar one sometime in the future.
Not about misfiring but about buffs.
Not so good for Norma African PH though.
I wonder if anyone else have axperienced the same thing.
I make my own rounds and so far no one has misfired.
I use Norma brass and they are excellent.

 

[classicsafari]

I would (and do) use Woodleighs and Swift A Frames.
The Woodleigh Round None bullets are great for everything under Buffalo, body shot Hippo and Elephant. The Swift A Frames are the ideal Buffalo Soft Bullet and the Woodleigh Full Metal Jacket bullets are great for Buffalo, Body shot Hippo and Elephant

 

[PaulT]

In the last two seasons alone I have had three different clients (one using .375 ammo and the other two .416 ammo), using two different brands of factory ammunition have miss-fires- and on all ocassions they were at critical moments.
(please dont ask me to name the brands of ammo).

Miss-fires are more common than the factories would like to let on, at least from my exposure to factory ammo.

To balance out the argument, I have also seen some terrible c***ups when some were using "carefully" constructed hand-loads.

 

[gatlingman]

404 Jeffery .423 A-Square Dead Tough and Lion Point bullets for sale on Gunbroker

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

I built mine on a 1952 FN Colombian 98 that I had bought in 1982 as an origional 30-06.

This is how it finished up. I was able to do some of the minor metal work and did the stock from a nice blank and kept the costs in the "reasonable" area.

Von Gruff.

I like it.
Witold