What is it about 404 Jeffery?

[Grumpy gumpy]

What's the overall length of your cartridges?

Off the two I measured ( soft point and solid copper) 90.2 mm , 3.56 inch. Mag well is 92.5 (3.65 inch)long.
Gumpy

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Off the two I measured ( soft point and solid copper) 90.2 mm , 3.56 inch. Mag well is 92.5 (3.65 inch)long.
Gumpy

OAL is only 0.03" longer than standard 404J at 3.53". You appear to have 375 H&H bottom metal. That seems like quite a bit of extra headroom in the box. Are you getting any movement of bullets in cases due to recoil?

Are you unable to get three down in the box? If your gun has the correct standard depth box with properly modified extractor and follower, you should be able to just push a fourth round under the extractor claw and close the bolt over three in the box. Hmm. If recoil is pushing the rounds ahead in the box, they might be too far forward to push three down enough and get fourth under the claw. It's a tight fit if cartridges are all the way to back of my box made for 416 Remington.

 

[Certus]

If Jeffery could have got a hold of magnum actions he would have built the 404 on them. Yes the 404J and 416Rigby can be built on a standard length action. However, in todays world, with monolithic bullets why would you hamstring yourself with an action length that does not allow you to get the best out of these bullets. The monolithic bullets are longer for a given weight and can do with being seated out so not to enter powder space.

Re the extra 200 to 250 fps muzzle velocity. Yes, this equals more recoil but also extends the useful distance of the cartridge. So if a miss hit on an elephant the extra muzzle velocity won't mean much if the ele was close as the extra shot should still have the ele within 100mts. But if it was nearer the 100 mts then the bullets wont be under the 1750fps when they get to it. Not to mention plains game at 200 to 300 mts. In other words a bit more of a safety margin. But this comes back to the individual and what recoil, distance etc they are comfortable and capable with.

Want a 404 or 416R and don't want a magnum action, then get a P14 or M17 Enfield or Rem30 action.

I’d argue the M17/P14 is a magnum action
It’s as big as a CZ550, at least.
Gosh all this talk is making me want a big bore OR a mil spec P14/M1917

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

OAL is only 0.03" longer than standard 404J at 3.53". You appear to have 375 H&H bottom metal. That seems like quite a bit of extra headroom in the box. Are you getting any movement of bullets in cases due to recoil?

Are you unable to get three down in the box? If your gun has the correct standard depth box with properly modified extractor and follower, you should be able to just push a fourth round under the extractor claw and close the bolt over three in the box. Hmm. If recoil is pushing the rounds ahead in the box, they might be too far forward to push three down enough and get fourth under the claw. It's a tight fit if cartridges are all the way to back of my box made for 416 Remington.

I built/modified the mag box, was a standard size before I did. I still need to remake the follower to clean up the mods on it. As it is, it is about 1/16 of an inch too shallow to fit the last case in, case of just not quite enough depth
Gumpy

 

[Jack Stevens]

I’d argue the M17/P14 is a magnum action
It’s as big as a CZ550, at least.
Gosh all this talk is making me want a big bore OR a mil spec P14/M1917

If I could find another one for a reasonable price, an old but-still-serviceable BRNO 602 in .375 H&H would make a great budget rifle for “conversion” to 404J. Have the existing .375 factory barrel re-bored/re-chambered to .404/.423 specs, along with any necessary tweaking and honing of the action for feed-reliability. BRNO 602s left the factory with 25” tubes, so you could trim it back a bit if you wanted to (24”, 23”).

Like so:

404 Jeffery Safari Working Rifle | DORLEAC & DORLEAC

www.dorleac-dorleac.com

And if it was an older model 602 with the integral factory “pop-up” peep sight in rear bridge, it would be more value added to the project.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I built/modified the mag box, was a standard size before I did. I still need to remake the follower to clean up the mods on it. As it is, it is about 1/16 of an inch too shallow to fit the last case in, case of just not quite enough depth
Gumpy

Standard box should be deep enough for three rounds? Are you using military follower?

 

[Bonk]

Yes, if I recall correctly, Ruger did a limited run of the bolt-action .404 RSMs in the 1990s, but screwed up the barrel by either going with the wrong bore diameter or the wrong twist rate. Can’t recall which exactly.

Too bad too. A proper .404 RSM, with its integral full quarter-rib, would’ve been both beautiful and affordable.

I have one. Not one of the limited run you referred to but I had my 375H&H RSM rebored to 404J. Wonderful rifle chambered in 404J.

 

[Fatback]

I have had 2 of them built. One on a Model 70 and the other on a CZ550. Just picked the CZ up yesterday. I’m looking forward to sending a few down range with the CZ, then I’ll have to decide if I want to keep both of them or not. One of them will be with me in August when I am after a buff and elephant. The caliber does a great job on all DG

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

Standard box should be deep enough for three rounds? Are you using military follower?

Misunderstanding here, it holds three rounds, just not quite four
Gumpy