I have now shot some cases more than 5 times in my 404 Jeffery, with just neck sizing. I am surprised that I am not getting the shoulder moving forward and making the bolt just a little bit stiffer to close, like I do on my 300 WinMag. Is the 404 the neck sizer's dream case? Or is the shoulder angle so shallow that I'm crush fitting each time with no resistance?

Wink,

It's a gentle shoulder, and I suspect your pressures (at your current velocities) are gentle as well.

That, and the chamber didn't have a lot of slop to it.

Garrett

When I first started loading the .404 back around 1970 (Kynoch Berdan cases, RWS #5620 primers, RCBS dies and shellholder), it quickly became obvious that full-length sizing gave early head separations.

I now size only about 3/4 of the way down the neck with the same RCBS dies I began with over three decades ago, and head separations are non-existent.

Some of my cases have been fired at least a dozen times now, but most of my Kynoch stuff is semi-retired in favor of new brass formed from .375 Ultra Mags.

With the NEI 421-390 mould now on hand, making factory-duplication .404 loads is very simple indeed (and INEXPENSIVE, too!). Mostly, I find myself running the NEI bullet around 1800 fps, which is much easier on this ol' guy and his 8.5-pound rifle....

Wink, I have been partial sizing & have also had no problems w/ the brass. Maybe they had something back then w/ low pressure/sloped shoulder carts.