404 Jeffrey - Oh Boy, another project!

[Rez Exelon]

It seems like I might be in the minority where I like the brake on it.... I'm curious why it seems like folks in general has a distaste for them? Aesthetics or tradition, or is there an in-the-field reason I might be too paper-punchy to think about??

 

[Riflecrank]

The brake is a great feature. Screw off and put a thread-protector cap on the muzzle, ad lib.
Iron sights ? As old as I am, I would rather have a QD scope with backup scope or red dot in my kit ready to go. To each his own, your mileage may vary, etc.

If it is a simple neck-down of the 404 Jeffery case to .416 bullet:
A .416 Dakota reamer will clean it up and handloading dies for that are available from Redding.

I glued on a .416 Dakota and a .423 Dakota to this souvenir cartridge board that I picked up on a visit to Dakota Arms in Sturgis, SD, bought my Redding .416 Dakota and .423 Dakota dies on that visit too, about 20 years ago.
That was not long before then-new CEO upstart Charlie Kokesh bankrupted the old company.
The .423 Lapua might have been the last hurrah, his pet cartridge.

Ironically the .423 Dakota was a "404" done on a shortened .416 Rigby-.338 Lapua Magnum case, close enough.

I would hope for a straight-forward .416/404 Jeffery that is easy to re-chamber to .416 Dakota, use same brass as 404 Jeffery, fire-formed, or find properly head-stamped brass made by Norma at one time.

Or enjoy the prestige of the unadulterated .416/404 Jeffery Unimproved, reloaded as 6.5 wildcatter says.

When Dakota Arms insisted on requiring me to buy a walnut stocked M76 if I wanted them to do a synthetic stock for my rifle, this po'boy took matters into his own Gunsmith's hand.
Barrel stamping is not prissy at all: 416 DAKOTA

 

[RR 314]

It seems like I might be in the minority where I like the brake on it.... I'm curious why it seems like folks in general has a distaste for them? Aesthetics or tradition, or is there an in-the-field reason I might be too paper-punchy to think about??

If you like it, have at it. Do you plan on hunting with it in Africa? Your PH will likely cringe. It has little to do with aesthetics or tradition. PHs, like most, enjoy the ability to hear. Brakes can be deafening--especially from the side. The barrel looks exceedingly long as well for a .404 based hunting rifle. A properly weighted .404 is generally tolerated recoil-wise by most. As mentioned, if going to hunt around others, you can get a thread protector made if brake is not "pinned". My 16 year old son shoots several of mine confidently, and accurately, without a brake.

 

[Rez Exelon]

Honestly --- it'll likely never leave the country. I kind of figured the noise aspect was the first thing that would come up. I have a few things ranging from big to small that have brakes on them --- but those that have them came that way rather than me putting it there. I suppose sometimes I like the aesthetic of it, since it doesn't make a difference when I take it out.

I will be curious what the exact specs on this rifle turn out to be. I talked to my FFL today and he hadn't seen it yet, so I'm hoping Monday or Tuesday I get to unravel more of the mystery.

 

[Riflecrank]

Tell anyone who does not like muzzle brakes that they can screw off.

 

[Riflecrank]

A .416/404 Jeffery has great potential.
I do not recommend a .416/450/400 NE unless it is rimmed and in a single shot or double rifle format.
I have made a few bad decisions in my wildcatting adventures and might want to re-barrel my
.410/404 Jeffery/450/400 Rimless Nitro Express,
either to 404 Jeffery or .416 Dakota.

A .416/404 Jeffery "Unadulterated-Straight-Neck-Down" would be peachy keen.
Remember Bo called his the ".416 Tatanka. "
"Tatanka" is the Lakota Sioux word for "bison bull."

404 Jeffery neck is about 0.620" long,
Neck length would shorten and be made more positive as a shoulder with simple neck-down,
and a slicker feeder than that would be hard to find.
The .416 Dakota neck is about 0.500" long, sharper shouldered.
The .416 Dakota reamer would clean up a .416 Tatanka.

 

[Rez Exelon]

Ugh....the auction house finally shipped it so that it'll be here Friday. You know, the day that my FFL is closed. So I have to wait until Monday to pick this thing up.

Also curious --- they sent like 3 different packages. I have no idea why there would be three packages. Auction was a rifle with a scope in a case. I kind of figured that'd be one box. But so far this has just been layers of mysteries, so why not add random box counts to the list??

 

[RR 314]

Ugh....the auction house finally shipped it so that it'll be here Friday. You know, the day that my FFL is closed. So I have to wait until Monday to pick this thing up.

Also curious --- they sent like 3 different packages. I have no idea why there would be three packages. Auction was a rifle with a scope in a case. I kind of figured that'd be one box. But so far this has just been layers of mysteries, so why not add random box counts to the list??

May be good news. May have a load of loaded ammo, brass and dies coming as well.

 

[Rez Exelon]

May be good news. May have a load of loaded ammo, brass and dies coming as well.

That would be the mother load for sure!! The packages show weight of 17/10/5 pounds so it is certainly feasible. I mean figure rifle at 17, case at 10 and 5 for ammo dies or brass? The waiting is making me itchy.

 

[hoytcanon]

Ugh....the auction house finally shipped it so that it'll be here Friday. You know, the day that my FFL is closed. So I have to wait until Monday to pick this thing up.

Also curious --- they sent like 3 different packages. I have no idea why there would be three packages. Auction was a rifle with a scope in a case. I kind of figured that'd be one box. But so far this has just been layers of mysteries, so why not add random box counts to the list??

Maybe the rifle is in three pieces...

 

[AZDAVE]

Check with CH4D for dies.

 

[Certus]

Can’t wait for this to arrive to find out the 3 boxes!

 

[Rez Exelon]

It's driving me a little nuts. Like, am I going to get surprised with super valuable things like "dies" and "brass" or am I going to meet a harsh reality of some silly reason that there are three boxes instead.

 

[wvfred]

Jack Haugh also had his own version of the 416/404 that was called the 416 Haugh.Champlins has one on their website and a friend of mine owns one but those are the only two I'm aware of.

 

[Rez Exelon]

IT! WAS! THE! MOTHERLOAD!!!!!

So, the first bit of mystery answered in that it was worth the wait for the 3 boxes. The contents were shipped as follows:

Box 17# - The very well packaged rifle buried in packing peanuts and such.
Box 10# - Plano Airglide Rifle case. Also well wrapped. Little overkill for a, well, case, but it is what it is.
Box 5# - 20 pieces of brass and a box of Barnes .416 Hotcor 350gr.

OH I"M SORRY! DID I FORGET TO MENTION THE CH4D DIES THAT CAME IN THE FIRST BOX???

Oh man, that was a relief!!!! I have NO idea why the auction house would not have included the information that they were included in the listing, but in this case I suppose I took a chance on the rifle and got lucky. If it was noted as having dies and brass I'm fairly sure other people would have bid on it.

So after investigating, I know a lot more about the rifle itself.
* Caliber really is 416/404JEF. So it's a 404 piece of brass, necked down to a 416 projectile. Dies and barrel are marked as a matching set. I'll get pictures up later, but the set of dies actually included 2 different types of expanders. I haven't measured them yet, but maybe someone knows why there'd be the two different shapes.
* Stock is very nice. Some marks on it, but they are honest marks where it's been used.
* Tasco scope is the older Japanese one. Not world class, but a solid unit. Sits in a Conetrol mount.
* Recoil pad is in fairly good shape, so that's a nice bonus. Probably could still use a freshening.
* The box of ammo included the previous owners last load data of 86gr IMR 4064. I'll obviously need to vet that, but it's golden to have a starting point like that.
* This is a CRF design.
* Rifle has been bedded nicely.
* Timney trigger works exactly like a you'd expect a nice Timney to work!

Overall the condition was better than expected --- some very light work with some 0000 and Rem oil took some of the gunk off, but no rust spots or major problem areas that I've seen. Will need to bore scope it, and then go through safety checks (I already tested the actual safety first and it's good though).

I have no complaints on this... it looks like it's going to be a super fun addition to the line up. I'll have to find 404 Jeffery brass, but it also means that I'll only have to stock .416 cal projectiles to match up with my other recently acquisitions. Pictures coming in next post!

 

[Riflecrank]

Excellent.
Great rifle.
Sounds like a .416 Tatanka aka .416/404 Jeffery Unadulterated.
I wonder if the .416 Haugh was the same ?

 

[Rez Exelon]

 

[Riflecrank]

Where's the fired brass photo ?

Two neck expander buttons: One looks like a usual belling button, other more gradual slope for straight neck sizing ?

Seems the .416 Tatanka looks plumb modern compared to the 404 Jeffery, had it's shoulder moved forward and shoulder sharpened by 1 degree or less depending on reference, compared to the .404 Jeffery from AmmoGuide shown here:

 

[Rez Exelon]

 

[Rez Exelon]

I should probably note to ignore the board. Thats my daughter's contribution to the work bench where she's draw and come up with math problems to practice while she's being daddy's helper out here.

I'm kind of curious if this "Scot Powder Company" place is around that seemed to have done the last loading on the cases back in April of 2000. Need to add that to my list of stuff to investigate.