Hey SURESTRIKE, I'm in the same situation! Check out the cost of dies, RCBS $223 and Reddings' are only $150 The 375 is looking better all the time but, man, I want a 404!!! Any one know of a better deal on dies?

Hey guys I got all hot and bothered about the .404 and went ahead and ordered a barreled action from Montatna rifle actions.(They'll be available in the summer) well now I'm looking around and it seems that this little digger is going to be a little pricey to feed. My .470 is already putting a hurting on the check book even with reloading.

Any good sources for bullets that won't cost me an arm and a leg? How about brass? And holly cow boys and girls I can only find three makers of .423 solids woodleigh, GS, and rhino. And the last two are not very user friendly as far as order to recipt time.

Any of you guys got any advice. I'm thinking of scraping the .404 project and just sticking to my Lott and my .470 and using the my .375H&H as a DG back up and plains game rifle as I always have. Either that or I'm going to convert the order to a .416 Rigby. Just romancing a gartridge here but any info on .423 stuff would be apreciated.

Thank you.

I've been shooting mine for a few weeks & it is pricey compared to my .338 but most big bores are. A .416RM would be a bit cheaper but it's still pricey. Hawk bullets are about $36/50 & a decent bullet. Nothing wrong w/ the Woodleigh solids, but how many solids are you going to shoot anyway? Send Hornady & Speer a note & ask them to produce a 400gr bullet. If enough of us ask, maybe it will happen (Swift is making them now). You can always go w/ a cast bullet & I am looking into sizing down 300gr/.429 for "plinking". Norma & Bell make afforadable brass if you buy 100ct.

See my prev. post under BigBores for a pic of the rifle.

The Rigby is even more pricy than the 404 brass wise....Bullets for the 404 from Northfork, Barnes, swift cost no more than 416s....Big bores are not cost effective any way you cut it...but a 375 is a great round if that suits you....

Fred,



Thanks for the response. I guess when the realization of just how cheap it is to shoot a .458Lott compared to the other heavies has finally sunk in!



Oh and by the way Fred...Nice looking rifle my friend!



Good point Ray...I can shoot a .458Lott for 80% cheaper than most of the others. But I think I'm going to tough it out with the .404..I just really want one...



I think it would be a great one rifle and one scatter gun set up for just about anywhere in africa. A real nice comprimise....



RATIONALIZATION MODE ON.....



Back to I just really want one..

...cast lead bullets...

Cheap practice. Use real bullets for hunting.

Remington's .375 Ultra Mag brass makes perfect .404 cases that fit fine in MY Cogswell and Harrison rifle. (I've had one gent on the African Hunting Board say they won't work in his rifle....beats me why they won't.)

I simply size the cases without the decapping stem in the die, until they will just barely chamber in the rifle. Then I drop in a judicious charge of 2400 or 5744 (start LOW at around 20.0 grains), and fill the case with cornmeal and NO BULLET. A small piece of tissue paper in the mouth holds the whole mess together until I can chamber the round, point the barrel vertically, and touch it off.

It may be necessary to trim cases just a tad to even up the mouths. If the barrel is vertical when the fireforming load is fired, I find that mouth irregularities are minimized.

Use muffs!

$12.00 per 20 cases whips the daylights out of $40.00, for sure. .338 UM brass is a bit too short for full length .404s, and .300s need extreme necking-up. Either will work if necessary, but the .375s are easiest and best.

I still haven't gotten around to sending a throat cast to Mountain Molds, but I will, and then we should have a custom-tailored cast-bullet design for .404s. Until then, my Lee 44-310s work surprisingly well when sized to .424".

Hey Buddy,

Try www.ch4d.com dies for the .404 are $138.00.

Buddy, I bought the Redding dies. CH also lists dies for $138. Any load data you want to share?

Add North Fork to your list of available solids. Mike says he should start making 380-grain, .423 bullets by the middle of June!

Also, don't leave out A-Square. They make a 400-grain mono. I just ordered a couple of boxes and will report on their performance as soon as I load them up and blow hell out of some paper.

458 Lott is definately the most economical big bore to shoot, considering brass, dies, bullets and even guns.

As with food and wine, you can get the same calories and spend more or less money, but there is a difference in the taste and enjoyment. If you just have to have a 404, then have one built, but realize it will cost more to opperate.

Personally, I can't see paying the extra cost unless getting something not really offered by say the Lott, and to me that means go bigger. I ended up selling a 458 Lott to have a 500 Jeffrey barreled, then ending up getting another 458 lott barreled. Now if I could just find the time to finish stocking and shooting them.

hello all,

I had Lee make 4 sets of 404 dies for me a few months ago. The did a great job, and now they have the tooling. They charged me only about $55 each.

Also................PAY ATTENTION TO THIS!!!!!!!!!!

CALL HORNADY!!!!!
I HAVE TALKED TO THEM AND ASKED THEM FOR BOTH 404 BRASS AND BULLETS!!

They said that they would seriously consider making both if there were enough people asking for them.

SO CALL AND ASK! They are close now. Give them a push.

buchsenschmeid

I was in contact with Hornady a few weeks ago. At that time they seemed to be less interested. I also suggested that Hornady would make a solid with a flatnose such as the super penetrators



Hornayds reply:

-We do not at present have any plans to add a 404 Jeff caliber bullet to our line however your point is well taken and while not a huge market it may be ok. We always look at ways to improve our bullets and we will be experimenting with our profile."



Perhaps they have been getting piles of mail and hours of phone calls



Cheers

/ JOHAN

Bren MK1,

I don't see how those RUM mag cases could fit in your Cogswell and Harrison, although they are the same basic case the RUM has made some major changes in the shape of the original 404 case especially since it has an improved shoulder...Apparantly your 404 has been tinkered with and is probably a wildcat 404 Improved of one type or another...
Whoever disagreed with you simply had to be correct....

Howdy, Ray.

I HAVE to learn how to post pictures! "A picture's worth a thousand words", etc.

I radically re-shape the RUM cases, using just the .404 Jeffery sizing die (mine is by RCBS). By doing this in a couple of increments and re-lubing between stages, I have yet to lose a single case. That is, I partially resize all the cases to an intermediate dimension, then relube and adjust the sizer to finish the job the second time around.

By removing the decapping stem before resizing, the interference that would otherwise occur with the .375 case neck and the .404 expander is eliminated.

I size the cases until they will JUST BARELY allow the bolt to close with a good bit of "feel", thus maintaining good headspace control. At this point they look really weird, still having a .375 neck, a portion of the.375 RUM shoulder, and then the gentle, sloping .404 shoulder angle from there on back.

From this point on, it's the fire-forming routine as detailed earlier. I assure you, my C&H has an un-modified standard .404 chasmber.

I always enjoy your posts here.

Regards from BruceB (aka Bren Mk1)

Bruce,
email me the pics and I'll post for you
jeffe