The Birchwood Casey fluorescent orange target dots lose their color on my scanner. Pretend that the target dot is orange:



The bullets used were the last two jacketed ones on the right, sized down by prof242, of B-Max Bullets fame:



300-grain B-Max Bullet, Norma .416 Rigby brass, GM215M Federal primer, H4350 Extreme:
91.0 grains
1. 2492 fps
2. 2518 fps
92.0 grains
3. 2521 fps
4. 2547 fps
93.0 grains
5. 2565 fps
6. 2570 fps
94.0 grains
7. 2627 fps
8. 2627 fps

349-grain B-Max Bullet, same brass and primer, H4831SC Extreme:
95.0 grains
1. 2409 fps
2. 2446 fps
96.0 grains
3. 2459 fps
4. 2444 fps
97.0 grains
5. 2455 fps
6. 2497 fps
98.0 grains
7. 2526 fps
8. 2495 fps

POI was coming down as velocity went up and I was adjusting the talley peep to the right for the second half of the session.

There was a lot of air space in all the loads, velocities a bit erratic, but not bad for starting loads, fireforming brass made with "homemade" dies. I would consider these the minimum starting loads to avoid detonation disaster. When next I resume with any bullet of 300 to 350 grains of any construction, I will start where I left off here, and hopefully with the custom reloading dies that are coming from Redding ... and some Bear Head Bullets to be tested in the "Iron Buffalo" bullet trap to see how they compare to GSC FN's for penetration and accuracy.

Here are the sights. The unpainted MPI fiberglass stock is not presentable yet, and no inlays nor "Bullwinkle and Squirrel Nuts" engraving are planned:




The .398 Lapua Mag. rifle is also complete, on a CZ action, so the gunsmith Kevin Jenkins can now start on the 500 Mbogo on a CZ action since Stuart Satterlee is ... well, never mind. Maybe a Satterlee action should be made into a NON-WILDCAT for starters, and then rebarreled.

Congrats!!!!! I am very glad the 40-07 has spoken in '07.

Cheers,
Canuck

Canuck,
Aye! Forty-Ought-Seven lives!!!
It is not often that one gets to bring an obsolete old black powder bullet caliber back to life from more than a century gone. This has the potential to do it all in the various chamberings that the .395 Family are working on.



The latest addition to the family is Bear Head Bullets (tentative name) being engineered by:

www.2-bore.com

With great joy I say as Elvis would say in Afrikaans:
"Bai'e dankie, bai'e meer dankie."
(Buy a donkey, buy a mere donkey.)
Thank you, thank you very much.

Can any Afrikaans speakers tell me if I got that translation correct?

Nice work!

Now what we all want to know is does it make a good T-Rex round?

Nice 2-bore gif, Charles.

A 2-bore might be better as a T-Rex round, but a .395 with the right bullet should be sufficient for any dinosaur whatsoever you may encounter in going about day-to-day activities on safari.

RIP,
Considering all the forming the bullets went through, that these bullets are .001 under bore diameter, the use of iron sights, and this initial testing, it seems all is well in .395 land. Now that my Great-Granddaughter's birthday is over, I'll produce some more bullets and send them on.
CHARGE!

quote:

A 2-bore might be better as a T-Rex round, but a .395 with the right bullet should be sufficient for any dinosaur whatsoever you may encounter in going about day-to-day activities on safari.

You got me there!

Glad to see the project progressing.

Until Putin's boys revive the Wooley Mammoth with the Chernobyl gene. 500 Lbs per side 18 feet at the cabeza and a 3 month gestation (did I mention carniverous?)

quote:

With great joy I say as Elvis would say in Afrikaans:
"Bai'e dankie, bai'e meer dankie."
(Buy a donkey, buy a mere donkey.)
Thank you, thank you very much.

Can any Afrikaans speakers tell me if I got that translation correct?

RIP, the word 'baie' in Afrikaans already means 'very much'.
Só, it would be 'Dankie, baie dankie.'

The 'you' part is absent in Afrikaans.
Unless one would like to say: 'Dankie, ek sê vir jou baie dankie.'
Meaning: 'Thanks, I'm saying many thanks to you.'

RIP, dankie dat jy moeite doen om my taal te verstaan en te gebruik, trots op jou!

looks like yer havin fun

hey rip...are any of the gsc's without the driving bands close to .395"???

I AM VERY JEALOUS! Yeah, I know, caps are shouting. But with my gunsmith off hunting elk, my .395 Max is not being completed and I can't experiment. RIP, you are having all the fun.

By the way, on the target, what size is the "orange" paster? It looks like the potential is there for some good groups once we get good bullets.
Max

Jagter,
Dankie, baie dankie. I knew getting the Afrikaans dictionary out was foolish of me.

Max,
The paster was 2".
I was shooting at the plain backside of a a 4'x 2.5' paper silouhette target, barndoor size, just to get on paper with a big gold patridge for the first time.

Oddly enough, some of the two-shot groups with the same bullet and powder charge were occasionally pleasing.

This was mainly to form some cases without a detonation.

Your bullets deserve a faster velocity with no airspace in the cases and a scope sight before passing judgement on accuracy.

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
looks like yer havin fun

hey rip...are any of the gsc's without the driving bands close to .395"???

Boomie,
That is classified patented-top-secret-proprietary information.
Allow me to remind you that the groove-to-groove diameter is .395". The land-to-land diameter is .387".

quote:

Originally posted by Jagter:

RIP, dankie dat jy moeite doen om my taal te verstaan en te gebruik, trots op jou!

Jagter,
Ook dankie dat jy moeite te verstaan om my .395 Tatanka wildekat, trots op jou!

Vertel Gerard: "Asseblief tuur koperprojektiel, baie dankie."

Ich glaube, es kann ein drei Metall Kugel, die in 395 Kaliber bald!

Ich haben zie vert kafeit und stut!

Que?

Donkey, buy a donkey.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
looks like yer havin fun

hey rip...are any of the gsc's without the driving bands close to .395"???

Boomie,
That is classified patented-top-secret-proprietary information.
Allow me to remind you that the groove-to-groove diameter is .395". The land-to-land diameter is .387".

what I was wondering is the say 423 gsc bullet without the bands close to .395"? Or in other words what is the dia. of the larger bullets if you took off the driving bands and are any close to .395" so you could zip them off and have a conventional solid spitzer like the original x bullet.

Refer to Dr. RIP's earlier post Boomer. That is not public info.

Start gathering some parts for your .395" candidate Boomer cause there are going to be some surprises very soon!! BIG things Boss!!

If i had to chose one right now it would be the 400 Nitro
Since Rip graciously credits me with some inspiration and dot connecting

quote:

there are going to be some surprises very soon!! BIG things Boss!!

Only ladies should be coy...

Spill the beans guys!

boomstick,
The closest GSC bullet to .395 in caliber is ... .395! Surely they will someday arrive.

Next GSC to that is the .408 for the .408 Chey-Tac. Alas, the .416 Barrett has put nails in the coffin of that one. Nevertheless, I suspect that scraping the GSC drive bands off that bullet
would result in something close to .400" diameter and still too big for the .395.

Yes, boomstick, your comments about the "400 NE" got me looking into references and the discovery of the 400 Nitro For Blackpowder 3" with .395-caliber bullets. Thank you. Before that I had only heard of Martini single-shot rifles from the 1880's with barrels that slugged .395" in the grooves, for lead bullets and black powder, in case lengths of all sorts, from 2-3/8" to 3.5" alluded to.

The obvious progression to a true "400 NE" ala 450 NE never happened with the .395 bullet as it might have. It got diverted to .405" by the Purdey 400 3" Light Express with 230-grain lead bullet at a paltry 2050 fps and 2150 fpe.

It is certainly time for the "Aboriginal" 400/.395 Nitro Express. Just over a century late.

400-grain .395 hard cast lead at 2150 fps should be very reasonable for Ruger No.1's.

Even better would be the proposed brass FN solid by Macifej and the copper FN and HV by GSC.

2300 to 2400 fps with these 325 to 340-grain monometal bullets will make the little 400/.395 NE capable of any game on the planet at reasonable range.

I shall dream of a Searcy double in 400/.395 NE with 1:12" twist barrels and weighing about 8 to 9 pounds.

Here is .395-caliber rifle rifle no. 2 (CZ .398 Lapua Mag.) and why I have not shown the .395 Tatanka in its stock so far.




The CZ has exposed cross bolts, pillars and glass bedding by adept gunsmith on factory "American" stock. It is short and chubby. So thick through the middle that the crossbolts had to be recessed slightly, could not be extended far enough to fit flush, using the Brownell's parts. A slip on pad adjusts the LOP.

MPI stock for Dakota 76 African: Availablity was its best point. I did the stock work on this one:
It got an oak block epoxied into the butt (after foam scraped out) to attach the pad. 14.5" LOP and a wee bit of pitch.
1/4" steel allthread crossbolts fore and aft of the magazine box. Then glass bedding with a pillar job ...

Now it needs a pillory job, and cosmetic job.
Your condolences also appreciated.

Pillory: "To expose to public ridicule and abuse."

.395" Solids are available now!!!

I hear the first two off the Swiss Screw Machine were exactly .3950" and weighed exactly 330.0 grains.

Bear Head Bullets: a new custom bullet maker is born, out of the kindness of Macifej.

I am much obliged.

well done

Hopefully RIP's reloading expertise will get them to the target in a very small hole!!

I'll start with the .395 Tatanka and a high power scope.

Schmidt&Bender P&M 4x-16X will require a change of scope bases to go with the 34mm Badger rings, but I can surely do that.

I haven't decided whether to turn the stock over to a Corvette Auto Body Man, Fiberglass Boat Builder, or just finish the fill-in around the bottom metal myself, then sand and paint.

No worries though, the bedding is good and the barrel is heavy.

Damn the cosmetics Admiral RIP!! Slay the iron Beefalo and on to the paper medusa!

quote:

I haven't decided whether to turn the stock over to a Corvette Auto Body Man, Fiberglass Boat Builder, or just finish the fill-in around the bottom metal myself, then sand and paint. bewildered

Maybe a good sheetrock guy can tape, bed, float, and texture it?

Damn the aesthetics -- you are making quite good progress while I and others hold down the couch.

sand it down than spray bedliner on it

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
sand it down than spray bedliner on it

Only a true Californian could come up with that idea for a gun stock!!!

Line-X the piss out of it!!!

Good thing is it will bounce a couple feet if you drop it!! That shit is tougher than elastomerized Gorilla snot after ten minutes in an Amana microwave!!!!

Cool thing is it won't make any noise either....

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
sand it down than spray bedliner on it

Only a true Californian could come up with that idea for a gun stock!!!

Line-X the piss out of it!!!

Good thing is it will bounce a couple feet if you drop it!! That shit is tougher than elastomerized Gorilla snot after ten minutes in an Amana microwave!!!!

Cool thing is it won't make any noise either....

thebear_78 has done it to his stainless marlin...he lives in Alaska where that would come in handy an he seems to like it.

No doubt BoomSticker! I've been thinking about it too! All I need is a "donor" rifle to test it out!

rip...send over that stock to "mac" for "truckbed treatment"