I was thinking if .429 bullets could be swaged down to .423 that would add another dimesnsion to the 404 Jeffrey, especially since 300 grainers are now available. I guess there would be some jacket spring back but am wondering if accuracy would effected much.

Kind of like be able to use 45/70 bullets in the 458.

Mike

I wrote to the folks at Corbin and they make a swage that would work. They, however, wouldn't tell me who had bought them and at a few billion bucks for one, I sure can't afford one for me. I'd love to shoot some swaged pistol bullets in my .404 for deer, etc. as they would be much cheaper that what I can get now... particularly for punching paper. Let me know if you can find a source for bullets. I have a place to get cast bullets for $11.00 for 50. I don't know if they have gas checks available, but, if they do, I'll bet you could load them to 1800 fps without much leading and that'd be a great close range deer killer!

judgeg,

I don't think it needs Corbin dies to do it. far simpler.

A friend of mine wants to put a 404 on an action but not if he is stuck with the current bullet situation.

As to gas checks, being Australia I don't know who does it in America but our custom mould maker (and others) make a die set up for making gas checks. Don't know how good they would be compared to the crimp on Hornadies.

Have you tried Beartooth bullets. maybe they make 404 bullets with gas checks.

Mike

I went to www.beartoothbullets.com. Their bullets come lubed with gas checks! They are cheap in .423 (actual caliber for a .404 Jeffery) too! Bear Tooth was the brand to which I refered earlier, but I didn't know that they were gas checked until I read all through their site. It's a pretty complete look into their company and prices are 1/4 the price of jacketed bullets in .423. They only cost $11.00 for 50.

Does anyone have any idea how fast you can drive a Bear Tooth in a Jeffery and not foul up your barrel? Does anyone have a suggested load. The Bear Tooth in .423 is 380 grains.

Mike375
I would suppose it would be possible to swage down .006" in a strong press.
There are two Corbins here in the U.S. Richard's new business is
rce-inc@juno.com
Also try Larry Blackmon at
leblackmon@colla.com
Their responses may give you enough to obtain tools locally.
There is a board devoted to swaged bullets.
groups.yahoo.com/group/ALTBULLET
I'll be interested in the results of your quest.
Regards,
Ross

Mike375,

For jacketed bullets you can get an interchangeable ring sizing die from Z-Hat Custom. Once you have the die body you can order other rings for a number of different diameters. It works in a standard reloading press and comes with all that is needed. I am currently waiting for a set to size .416 bullets down to .411 for my 450/400 Nitro, and I will also get a ring to go from .323 to .318 for the smaller bore 8x57's in the near future (I should have ordered it at the same time, but you get forgetful as you get old ). I think Fred Zeglin can make most diameters you might want.I believe the price complete for one caliber was about $65 to $75 plus shipping, but I am not 100% sure of that.

His email is Rifle.Builder@z-hat.com

Jim

I shoot a lot of Beartooth bullets with the GC base. I have shot them up to 2000 fps with no leading problems at all. He not only uses the GC that helps, but they are hard cast to a hardness of 21+ and the lube Marshal uses is excellent. His delivery times are slow, but what do you expect from a hand cast, hand inspected operation. You will not get a bad bullet from Marshal and the wait will be well worth it.

Big Bore,

If you could swage down .429 bullets such as the Hornady XTPs, you would have good velocity and absolutely flatten light game as well.

I used some 180XTPs ina 358 STa at just under 3000 f/s and they grouped regularly into an inch.

As to buying cast bullets from Beartooth, the freaight down to Australia would price the back up a fair bit.

Mike

You might want to try sending an email to Lee precision to see how much they might charge to make one of their bullet sizers in .423, or else purchase one of them in a smaller size and chuck it in a lathe and open it up. Cheap, simple, and about as effective as you can get.

[This message has been edited by MarkWhite (edited 05-29-2001).]

Mike,

A friend had corbin make him a die to draw down 9.3mm bullets to .358", so he could use the heavier bullets in his whelen. He said the speer hot cores size easily, but when he tried partitions, he broke the handle on his press. Since you are reducing even less then the 9.3's to .35, it should work fine. There is the possible problem of the jacket springing back after drawing, and the lead core being somewhat loose in the jacket, but my friend has had no accuracy problems.

Paul H. makes an important distinction: you draw down a bullet to reduce its diameter; you swage it up to increase its diameter. The other fellows are on the right track about ring dies and such. You might also try a Lee sizing die in .410 and have it polished out to .423 by one of the outfits that alters sizing dies for a modest fee. Check in Handloader magazine. Remember, though, as the copper jacket is drawn down, the lead core will begin to extrude out the mouth (think of squeezing a paper cup full of water). With some bullet designs, this may not be a problem but with others it could mean an uneven bullet nose, depending on whether the lead flows evenly. With a Partition, there is nowhere for the lead to flow in the back half of the bullet.

I could run the BearTooth bullets up to 2300-2400 fps in my 416 Rem with very little leading.

At 2500 fps it gets noticeable, and by 2600 fps mine were trying to "slug".

Don