Thanks to Veral Smith of Lead Bullet Technology, here is the roughed up specimen that was made from the mold pattern. Should be perfect for the 400/.395 NE at 2150 fps, and who knows what else with a gas check to be added and Blue Lube. Shown next to the SHark 310-grain BTHP for comparison:

SHark is 1.502" long.
LBT LFN is 1.335" long.



The LBT LFN will fit nicely in the 400/.395 NE dummies, center and right below:

Eureka! I think you have it!! Will you reduce the section forward of the grease grooves a bit to give a bore-riding nose? F'r instance, you have a 416. Measurements are .408 and .416. You make the back half .417" to engrave fully. The bore riding nose is .4085-.409 to "ride" on top of the grooves and lower pressure, much like the driving bands in J-bullets do. It would be interesting to have Veral make both and test; and since you and Prof242 are the resuscitators of this fine cartridge, you really owe the rest of us more research.

Congratulations,

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

Rich,
The 400/.395 NE, .395 Ruger Max, .395 Tatanka, and .395 GSC all have the same throat: .2000" of parallel-sided freebore of .3966" diameter with 1.5-degree leade. The .398 Lapua is the same except it has .3000" length of freebore.

I slugged the .395 Tatanka throat and sent the slug to Veral Smith. He made the bullet to his LFN pattern.

If you look at the picture of the specimen bullet, you will see that the base of the nose portion has a band about .2000" wide, same as freebore length. This has .396" diameter as I measure it.

The forward portion of the nose can be seen to be of stepped-down diameter, and it measures .3865" diameter, as I measure it "between the lines." The rifling bore diameter is .387", so this forward nose is a bore-riding nose.

The bands below the nose band are .396".

The grooves between the bands bottom out at about .360" diameter.

The base of the bullet is about .365" diameter, and that is where the gas check goes, right?



This bullet will do.

That LBT LFN was a single bullet thrown in the box loose with the rest of the stuff shipped, mould and lube and my throat slug and fireformed case. It is not pretty but it is uniform enough to give some good measurements.

I have not cast any yet, but hopefully I can make them prettier.

BTW, that single bullet weighed 402.0 grains, and it has some gouges and squirrely, tiny voids here and there. I assume it will weigh 410 grains with the gas check.

RIP,
Cast bullet looks great. Should be "just what the Doctor ordered" for the .400NE.

Previous post listing tells about current trip.

Thanks Max! Carry on, and bring home the elk!

looks perfect rip

400@ 2150 here we come!