.

Very Nice. Were Mauser actions built anywhere but Oberndorf prior to farming out production for the Great war?

Wow!
Lively wood AND metal.
Please post more pics.
Circa 1905.

Rip ...

A great piece of history, in my favorite caliber!

Thanks for posting the pictures and the info.

Could we get a picture of the over all rifle.

The action and markings are nice but.

Barrel length and weight would be cool also.

Alf, that's quite a find, to say the least. The wood looks to be very special from what we can see of it.

The 1909 Argentine action had a curved bolt stop like that and a pear shaped bolt knob. Is there a four pointed star stamped on the forward end of the bolt stop spring and a lower case "o" on the rear of the cocking piece? Pull the firing pin and look for an anchor or umbrella shaped stamp.

Was that Phil Shoemaker who showed pics of a 404 Jeffery box that consisted mainly of the wooden sidewalls of the magazine well?
They knew magazine windowing tricks way back when.
Search: Photopucker ate the photos, here's a quote from Shoemaker:

"I recently picked up a 1905 Jeffery 404 and from the photos you can see that they used a standard M-98 and ground off the sides of the magazine box so that the wood formed the sides of the box. then they inletted a steel plate int the front of the box to protect it.
the rifle weighs under 8 /12 pounds and is a lot slimmer and livelier than the 416 Rigby built on a magnum Mauser that came out six years later.
Even with no cross bolts nor extra recoil lugs the stock remains solid after over 100 years."

Alf,

Your rifle is a 404 Rimless Nitro Express original from Jackman Jeffery himself, not a "404 Experimental" with Jeffery donor barrel installed by August Schuler, right?

Only holding two down in the box: Military Mauser make-do with no widening or windowing?
The 1912-13 Season catalog of W. J. Jeffery & Co. LTD says of
THE NEW .404 RIFLE
JEFFERY MAUSER MAGAZINE ACTION.
1905 MODEL. RIMLESS CARTRIDGE.
...
[b]"N.B. -- These Rifles can be had with a Magazine to hold 4 Cartridges, but as it projects below the Stock, the Rifle looks clumsy and is not so handy. As now made the Rifle holds 3 Cartridges in the magazine and one in the barrel, making it a 4 shot weapon."





Your rifle is very interesting to be sure. I sure hope you can post a full length photo of rifle in the wood, dry weight, barrel length, muzzle diameter,
and finally some photos of barreled action out of the wood.
Whenever possible, pretty please.

Rip ...

I think this is Phil's rifle.

Beautiful rifle. Well done.

quote:

Originally posted by ALF:
This is my second Pre 1912 Jeffery and both only hold two down.

I also have a more modern German rifle ( it looks like it comes from one of the big gun houses like Kettner or Frankonia an its built on a opened up DWM large ring mauser and it to only holds 2 down.

My Custom John Brussel out of cape Town on a Obendorf also holds only 2 down.

So, W.J.Jeffery&Co.LTD only learned how to do three down by 1912 and later?

Rip ...

I like that last one, your Johnnie come lately of the three-legged brigade, best of all.
Double set triggers do add to the Germanic look of a Mauser, even a 404 Rimless Nitro Express.

Rip ...

3 down can't make all those double gun owners feel too under gunned.

quote:

Originally posted by ALF:
RIP !

Timeline bud timeline !

...We must not forget this was at the dawn of the big game magazine rifle era ! The magnum action was not even borne yet !

Sure it was, in the form of Rigby’s step ring 350.
Nobody other than Rigby had access to them from Mauser so Jeffery designed the 404 cartridge to fit into a standard length action. Then, after 1912 they offered them on the magnum length action as well as their 333.

Thanks for finding the picture of the totally windowed/"picture windowed" 404 Jeffery/RNE magazine box.
That will hold 3 down using standard M98 parts, eh?
Parts is parts.

Rip

quote:

Originally posted by lawndart:

and i contend that this is just WRONG -- oh, not the concept, and they did take a healthy cut off the back, but that they didn't use a metal front stop, with what would amount to gussets holding the front on, which would not have interfered with feeding and given width .. not needed in the rear, due to base thickness, but it could have been functionally a 45 deg slope, or micer, a french curve version of the same ..

I think that is a metal stop dovetailed into the front of the magazine well which comes right up flush with the rear edge of the feed ramp.
It gets sort of sandwiched between the bottom metal and the underside of the action when the action screws are tightened.

quote:

Originally posted by Huvius:
I think that is a metal stop dovetailed into the front of the magazine well which comes right up flush with the rear edge of the feed ramp.
It gets sort of sandwiched between the bottom metal and the underside of the action when the action screws are tightened.

True that, visible in the photo, and matches what Phil Shoemaker said:

"I recently picked up a 1905 Jeffery 404 and from the photos you can see that they used a standard M-98 and ground off the sides of the magazine box so that the wood formed the sides of the box. then they inletted a steel plate int the front of the box to protect it.
the rifle weighs under 8 /12 pounds and is a lot slimmer and livelier than the 416 Rigby built on a magnum Mauser that came out six years later.
Even with no cross bolts nor extra recoil lugs the stock remains solid after over 100 years."

My pulse just quickened:
Had the idea of using a Bell & Carlson Medalist stock on an M98 Mauser.
The metal/aluminum alloy sidewalls in the magazine well of the bedding block ...
A lot less expensive than Wiebe bottom metal for a 404 Jeffery.

Also, when HS Precision resumes offering a stock for the Ruger M77 Hawkeye, easy 3-down in the .416 Ruger Guide Gun?

Rip ...

What you have was my first original 404 and I hunted with it a number of years..It had a 27" barrel btw...later I had a couple of 404s built on std actions, opened up in the rear, and just a tad in the front..My last two were built on true magnum actions.

I always liked the original 404 best, being somewhat nostalgic, that long tube enchanted me to no end..it handled and shot off hand like it was an extension of my upper torso..even in the thickest of bush..

I also owned a couple of original FNs in 404 over the years..Rare to find these days except the worn out ones carried by game scouts in the Selous.

I envy your good luck on that Jeffeys..want to do some trading???

I wonder, ALF, if you could show us pictures of the pistol hand on that FN sporter? Sorry to break from the OP topic.