/

Ray,

That sounds right to me, I just couldn't find it in writing.



Mike,

FYI, the hottest .404 Jeffery 400 grain factory RWS loads were about 2350 fps in a 26" barrel and probably about 2300 fps in a 24" barrel. Ray has spoken.

jpb,

The gang has livened up this thread nicely.



COTW listed a "factory load, modern" 400 grainer at 2300 fps.



Keith Luckhurst in _African Hunter_ magazine says the RWS factory listed their 400 grainer at 2330 fps:



http://www.african-hunter.com/reloading_the__404_jeffery.htm



He pulled some bullets and weighed the powder, finding a charge weight of 75.7 to 77.7 grains.



Chronographing the factory ammo, he got a spread of 2185 fps to 2332 fps.



Sounds like RWS was using something similar to RL-15 or Varget but doing a very sloppy job of it.



For my lots of powder, it takes one or two more grains of Varget to get the velocities of a given charge of RL-15.



The 340 grain North Fork SPP bullets arrived yesterday. They are indeed cute, and I hope it is not too long before I can get out and develop an African Sheep load.



The 380 grain Cup Point Solids also arrived and are a sight to behold! They have a pronounced conical hollow across the nose that otherwise looks like the Flat Point Solid.



These are a new breed of bullet. They will expand for sure and offer a violent straight line and deep path to most likely exit anything except a blue whale.



The North Fork Flat Point will exit anything, including blue whales on broadside shots.



The North Fork Soft Point is explosive on entry yet retains 95% weight with its solid copper grooved shank. That would make a good lion load in 380 grain weight.



The 340 grainer is for leopards at close range as well as sheep at long range. Poor Chui!



A penetration scale according to Mike Brady for the 380 grain North Forks:



SPP(soft point): 3

CPS(cup point): 7

FPS(flat point): 10



The old MacPherson thing about a cup point not making any difference applied to homemade handgun bullets at 800 to 1000 fps. The new North Fork Cup Point at +2000 fps is a new world of hurt on buffalo.



I wonder where the 340 grain Soft Point at higher velocity will fit in there?

Vapodog,

Maybe there will be some left on the shelf when you run out of the Woodleigh 350's. That Woodleigh bullet was meant for the 10.75X68mm though, wasn't it? Should turn inside-out at African Sheep Rifle velocities.



Hey, the .404 Dakota is not that bad. It is displacing the .416 Dakota from prominence however.



Seems the .416 Dakota never caught on with the .416 Rigby/Remington/Hoffman also being chambered by Dakota.



It remains to be seen if the .404 Dakota will catch on, since Dakota also chambers for the .404 Jeffery.



A .404 Dakota of the same length as the .416 Dakota would be a prettier picture IMHO. There is already a .416 Taylor, and now we have a beltless, slightly fatter variation of it in the .404 Dakota

Thank you very much, Andre', and the same to you with those .500 Jeffery Sheep Bullets. I could use some of them in my .510 JAB/.500A2 if you ever get them into mass production.

Quote:

---

340 grain North Forks: +2700 fps

---

Let it RIP

Cheers,

Andr�

RIP,
have you placed this order yet?
I would be in for a set as well.
Just let me know. Either PM me or email me direct with the details carmelo@worldshooter.com

Thanks.

RIP, alf, lawndart, and others:

What a hugely interesting thread! This deserves to be brought to the top! (so I did)

John Charlie N: what you are doing is a hulluva lot more interesting than orchids! Wish I lived in a place where I could do the same!

jpb

There are a couple of us out here who have placed firm orders for .423cal/340grain North Fork SP's. Enough for Mike Brady to do a run of them.

If anyone else is interested in getting this 0.27-ish sectional density SP for their .404 Jeffery, they should get in touch with him and place an order while they can.

Tire kickers need not apply. Please don't waste Mike's time.

I expect that 2700 fps with the 340 grainer in a .404 Jeffery will be quite easy.

That will make a fine African Sheep Rifle.

Next I will neck up the .416 Dakota to .423 caliber and call it the .404 Lakota (Long-Dakota), or maybe the .423 Crazy Horse.

Anything but the short .404 Dakota please.

Mike Brady has made the 340 grain/.423cal SP a reality.

Much to Alf's chagrin I will use Varget to load this one to 2700 fps in a 24" barrel, I guess.

Maybe I should build a second .404 Jeffery with a Lothar Walther barrel 27" long and really make it step out.

H4350 for the 380 grain North Forks: +2600 fps

Varget for 340 grain North Forks: +2700 fps

Note that we are not talking about antique rifles with odd sized barrel groove diameters made of the crappy pre-WWII steels.

No sirreee!

.4230" groove McGowen
.4226" groove Lothar Walther

Both made of the right stuff.