Hi all,

Sorry if this post shows up twice, I was unsure if my orginal post went through or not.
I am basically new to this forum. I am very impressed with the knowledge of African Hunting the poeple here have.
Does anyone know of a major manufacturer still making big bores in .404 Jeffery?
I have been unable to find one.

Sabi rifles in RSA, makes a 404 Jeffery as well as Mauser in their Magnum action. Empire rifles may also produce a 404 Jeffery?

Best thing to do is to buy the "Makings" and have it built for you. A Montana Rifle Co. Long action, Lothar-Walthar barrel. I have two being made. Or just get Montana rifle Co. to do the whole thing lock stock and barrel.

I know of no "factory" produced 404 Jeffery.

Welcome to the board. Dakota makes their exc. Safari model in .404 & Winchester shows it avaialble from their custom shop. Rumor has it that CZ will be available soon in .404. I just bought a M70 & had one built. Not the cheapest way but I have a very accurate buffalo thumper in .404.

Butch Searcy makes 404's:



http://www.searcyent.com/boltrifle.htm





Reimer Johannsen makes 404's:



http://www.johannsen-jagd.de/kaliberuebersicht.html

Or you can use:



Karl-Heinz Ritterbursh



Or



Gottfried Prechtl / Golmatic



Erik D.

Rusty, are you using Montana PH (magnum) actions? What is the status of these, thought they were still a ways off?

Max,

As you can see only a few boutique high-end makers are building .404 Jeff rifles.

There aren't any ammo manufacturers in the US loading for it either. The current status of the cartridge in the US is it is a wildcat. The reasons for this too long for this post.

Other than that it is an excellent cartridge.

Since the OAL of the .404 is shorter than the .375, there isn't any real need for a magnum length action. Just get a good Peruvian or Chilean M98 action and have the bolt face opened up and go to town. Hundreds of .404's were made that way in the "old days" and they worked just fine, still do.

Back from Africa with scars . . .

winchester lists them in their 3000$ custom shop gun. _BAxter

I am putting together an order for AR members for the new CZ 404, 505, and 450 calibers. Availability "near the end of the year" and pricing "tbd". If we can get an order for 25 rifles, pricing will "hard to resist".

Email me if you want to get on the list. When pricing and delivery is available, I will ask you for a deposit of 10%. But again, this will be for next season in both Africa and N America. There is very little chance of getting the guns in much before year end.

Rusty ya beat me to it .

A pre turned barrel run's about 185.00 in the white
Or you can ever go a button barrel that would be kinda cool
I think Chick Donally still make's button barrel's
anyway just grab an old Mauser long mag action
for around 280.00 off the shelf a banded barrel front sight
run's about 28 and 55.00 buck a 9 1/2 in barrel rib run's about 125.00 to 160.00 and the three leaf rear site run's about 80.00 . as far as stock's go .. well you can check
EBAY for wallnut black's some time's you can find some very nice one's thay run about 75.00 for the blank
the reamer's cost about 90.00 if you need know were to get one let me know there not costly or you can share the
cost the who ever build's the rifle you pay half the cost and he keep's the reamer's

So your really looking at about 1 grand in cost
..This is.! going to be a shooter? not a wall hanger ? right ?

You can get a good smith to build you one on an M98....that is the way I jumped. I learned after reading this board just ensure you have it re-carbourized and heat treated.

Martin,
Yes it would be for hunting not display.

I would love to be on that list!

Russ just sent you an email

fla3006,

I'm using the Long Montana Action. Couldn't wait for the PH to get started.



I have a RH at John Ricks and a LH hopefully in his hands in a few weeks.



John said the RH action looked very good.

Remember guys, there are about 6 different sets of specifications for the 404 Jeffery, so be sure that your barrel reamer, your dies and your brass are all based on the same specification.

6 ?

.

In France a famous gunmaker and part time PH Jean Paul RIDON : armes.ridon.free.fr
Have a look, really appealing.

Martin,
Never got the email

Alf,



I am sure all that means quite a bit to other knowledgable folks here, but I think 500grains comment of 6 different versions makes more sense to me!



Forgetting about the previous different versions, in plain English, what does that all mean to someone who wants to build a .404 today?



What instructions do they need to give to the gunsmith? What barrel spec should they order for avoid all the problems that seem to dog some many custom .404's???

Something that will function reliable when fed modern factory ammo...



Regards,



Pete

What did you want to know ?
somthing about the reamer's / or where to have a 404 built or ?
somthing about button barrel's
Sorry guy my mind is slipping...

===========
Pottsy == Lost in thought about Sophia Loren

I just got off the phone with Cory at Montana. He says they are starting pre-production of their New Professional Hunter series Big Bores, of which the .404 Jeffery is one of the chambering.

Pre-Sales pricing is $525 for the action, with barrel, $895 is you order now, however they won't be shipping until the spring.



But in checking out their site I would assume their current Long Action could be re-barreled for a .404 with little effort.

Now the action is a we bit steep in price
hell you can buy a new 340 weatherby for 550.00
on gunbroker's.!!
And a finished barrel ....

in the white and turned it's 180.00 finished is 200.00
more and reamed to 404 jeffery is another 48.00 once fitted to the action the rest is nothing more then fluff
a deal on 404 jeffery's should be about at most 400.00 per action ..350 for the barrel reamed to 404
750.00 that will give you a barreled action
unless your going nut's and are looking for .Air Gauge barrel's.. Button barrel's run about 200 in the white
But don't bother that just more classic whoopla..
You can get most of what you need from
http://www.midwayusa.com/

Someone who posts here mentioned how they came up with a 404 Jeffery with just a little bit of work, maybe they will chime in with specifics. The person started with a Winchester Model 70 Classic (CRF) in 300 RUM and had it rebarreled to 404 Jeffery. I don't remember if he said it required any feed work, but since the 300 RUM case is a 404 Jeffery case with a .532 rim, it may not have needed it. If I recall correctly, it did require opening up the bolt face slightly to the proper 404 Jeffery rim diameter. Does anyone else recall specifically who did this?

Several people have done the conversion. It can be done easily with a Rum of any persuasion with a rebarrel, opening the bolt, and slight possible feeding issues. Or the CZ 550 in 375 with similar changes. The CZ conversion gives an advantage of holding 5 down and one up the spout and to my knowledge none of the RUM's hold that many without a custom stock and magazine/floorplate. Ray has done several if I remember right. I think his latest is a CZ that Jim Brockman helped him a bit on. Maybe he will chime in when he gets over jet lag.

Alf I guess I am a bit confused. I was under the impression that the 404 had not ever been officially SAAMI accepted. Thus the variations. I am sure you have more experience in this info than I but there seems to be some discrepancy between what you said about land and groove diameter and my experience. I have one that is a Cogswell and Harrison, from the thirties I believe, that I slugged at .419 groove diameter and .411 for the lands. It is one of the oddball English barrels. C&H said go ahead and shoot any old soft .423 through it. According to the A-Square manual the english idea was that it would be a good thing to force the bullet down in size. A bit nervously, I shot a few Woodleighs through it but it spattered them all over the paper. GS Custom makes softs and solids in both a .423 and a .418 size. The .418's shoot well in my rifle. I have found that there are small bullet makers out there too that will make bullets to order. I have thought about rebarreling but have just decided so far to just buy custom bullets and just consider it a wildcat.

If you are making a 404 I would suggest getting a smith to do the conversion that has done a few of these and had his rifle digest factory ammo well. If you get one of the odd sized reamer/barrel etc combination, you will essentially have yourself a wildcat. That is OK as many people shoot wildcats, but it is important to recognize that is what you have with all the difficulties associated with that. Jim Brockman Gunsmithing, and American Hunting Rifles offer the .404 as semi custom rigs for 3000-3500 depending on bells and whistles. Both seem to get good marks from customers. Good Hunting! "D"

.

jbderunz,

Armes Ridon says that their Mauser action is from Jeff Sipe - they are using a Montana Rifleman action.

Alf, how does the problems that Ruger had with the #1 in 404 play into this ?

The Ruger no. 1 in 404 never had a problem, they all worked...It was the Ruger Mod 77 in 404 that was a problem, it had a short chamber....

CZ is now producing the CZ550 in 404, 450 Rigby and 458 Lott and Bill Stewart has been lusting over some of these according to a recent post...

Mr Atkinson,
Are the CZ's in .404 available as of yet? Or are they custom? Last time I visited their website I didn't see a .404 listed. But that was sometime ago.

Alf,

Thanks for that..as a lay person from reading these and other boards, it has always struck me that custom rifle builders used by people herein seem to have more problems chambering for the .404 than any other round.

Anyway, now CZ are chambering it again, I think it makes it a lot more viable. I have no need for a .404, but I have certainly have a long standing hankering for one!

Regards,

Pete