Any comments on this cvartridge i was over at the hornady website and this will be available in there factory ammo line pushing a 400 grain bullet at 2050

Very good. I used to own one. Many will tell you that it is one of the greatest all-round cartridges ever. They are making a great come-back.

It just depends on what you intend to do with it. For hunting dangerous game it is kind of anemic, sort of like a soft 375 H&H.

But it should be pleasant to shoot. What velocity it gives will depend on the rifle. One can always reload it to higher velocities. I think the historical velocity is 2150 fps.

I own a 450/400 3 inch double! As far as I'm concerned, it's a great round. Looks like Hornady is going to load it between the 55-60 cordite equivalents. The round is big enough to swat whatever you come across and small enough to hunt deer and pigs with. The recoil won't beat you to death!

The 400 grain bullets will have a good length for great penetration.
There are several members of the forum who have used the 450/400 3 inch in their Searcy rifles to take several elephants and have been very impressed with the penetration.

Granted I'm extremely prejudiced, but I think that if there is such a thing as an "all around" double rifle chambering, the 400 Jeffery, aka 450/400 3 inch is the round!

The other nice thing about the Ruger No.1 is the strength of it's action. You could load the round up, I guess? I don't think you need to do that! The round has a great history loaded at double rifle velocities!

The great thing for those of us who already have the rifles, Hornady will have us a supply for new quality brass and cheaper bullets! This is going to be like Christmas all over again.

My rifle is a .408 caliber, so it won't be any trouble to size down the Hornady bullets from .410.

Chubby Checker..Oh wrong Thread
AK

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
It just depends on what you intend to do with it. For hunting dangerous game it is kind of anemic, sort of like a soft 375 H&H.

No, the "historical" velocity was never 2,150. It was 2,125 in a 30" barrel. It did 2,050 fps in the 24" barrels that Jeffery favored for his rifles, and was legendary for it's performance on dangerous game. And no, you can't increase the velocity. It won't regulate in rifles regulated with the normal load and, as Hornady discovered, it's hard to do within the CIP pressure limit of the cartridge.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

The Ruger No.1 in 450/400 NE 3" (400 Jeffery NE)
could be easily loaded to much faster with a 400 grain bullet.

Not for doubles of course.

It might even do 2400 fps with a 400 grain bullet.

Could indeed be a very versatile single shot if something like a 325 grainer at 2700 fps is possible at 60,000 psi.

Not everyone is limited by the frailties of a double rifle.

The excellent info that the .410 caliber bullet fired in a .408 barreled rifle raised pressures only 600 PSI is good to know.

Does anyone know the twist rate of the Ruger No. 1 in 450/400?

What is the "traditional" twist rate of the .450/400 doubles.

Chubby Checkers has got to know.

He wants a custom barreled Ruger No.1 and a Searcy double, with 12" twist .410 caliber barrels all around.

If I could have the double rifle of my dreams, it would be a .400 Jeffrey.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
If I could have the double rifle of my dreams, it would be a .400 Jeffrey.

Best learn to spell it then, seriously: Jeffery

A-Square manual shows a 15" twist for a .410 groove and .400 bore diameter.

26" barrel velocity and pressure from their test:

2190 fps ... 34,400 PSI

(IMR-4831 85.0 grains, CCI-250 primer, A-Square brass, 400-grain Dead Tough bullet)

Room to hot it up a lot, with a faster powder in a Ruger No.1.

Well said, Akrange

quote:

kind of anemic, sort of like a soft 375 H&H

Sorry Will, but I agree with Rusty, 400NE, et al. That quote is the voice of ignorance. Like others before me, I have killed a great many buffalo over the years with my 24"-barrel Jeffery .400, on foot, often alone, without a single mis-hap. Not one animal has escaped. Very few took more than one or two steps. With modern premium bullets like the Woodleigh Weldcore, it beats Hollands' .375 hands down!

The Hornady factory-loads will give this chambering a new lease on life, especially for those who don't reload. Lets hope they got the bullet right.

Ron:

You're correct of course. In a Number 1, the .400 Jeffery could likely be loaded to match the high intensity .404 Jeffery loads. The coordination with Ruger's No. 1 effort notwithstanding, Hornady's market for the .400 ammunition is the double rifles, hence the need to stay within CIP standard.

Hornady's goal was to match the external ballistics of the original Cordite Kynoch load (2,125 fps in a 30" barrel, roughly 2,050 fps in a 24" barrel) so that the load would regulate in doubles originally regulated with Kynoch, and do so within the CIP max average pressure of 40,610 PSI. When I spoke to my contact months ago, they were making heavy weather of it. We discussed their testing with IMR 4831, which they had abandoned, and we also discussed the A-Square Manual 4831 data. The difference was a trifle more than substantial. Ain't the first time...

I enjoy thumbing it now and then though, for a good chuckle.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

Rip: I shouldn't have guessed at the spelling in respect to a great name in sporting arms.

Bill,
You're a good sport.

400 Nitro Express,
Whatever you say about A-Squares's data on your namesake cartridge, I don't have one of those to chronograph myself. Art screwed up now and then, and some of them unforgivable, but: Most of the A-square data for loads and velocities is better than you will find in other reloading manuals, and I can verify a lot of it.

The pressure data alone makes it outstanding, IMHO.