I am considering a rebarrel of a couple of rifles to 404Jeffery. What twist rate would you use on the barrels if you had all your 'druthers'?

They are only available in 1x16 as far as I can tell...Maybe someone makes them in another twist but 1x16 has always worked for me...I use Lothar Walther barrels with either the Mauser Mod. A profile that you can slip a barrel band rear sight over or the Holland and Holland pattern that woody copied from an old H&H barrel I had on hand..I really like the H&H pattern.

Correction on my above post....

1x14 is the correct US twist for the .404

The Europeans use a 1x16 or 16.5 and the bore is not .423 but .418 as I recall...????

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I am fortunate to have chosen the 1 in 10" twist McGowen stainless barrel for my .404 Jeffery. My gunsmith slugged this barrel and said it is ".423" for the grooves.

Mike Brady slugged a Lothar Walther barrel and got a more precise ".4226" IIRC.

They are both " 0.423 caliber " in the grooves therefore.

However, when I could not get as fast a velocity with the slower powders (H-4831 and IMR-4831) as some are getting, including Ray and Mike Brady himself ... well, Mike Brady accused me of having a "loose" gun.

My .404 Jeffery has a good chamber which gives fired cases that measure the same as they went in (after initial firing of new brass), if pressures are kept reasonable.

My throat is only the CIP leade for the .404 Jeffery = 10.75x73mm Mauser. Zero freebore.

The only "looseness" possible in my .404 Jeffery would come from the reduced bearing surfaces of the McGowen barrel, which has very broad grooves and very narrow lands.

However I do have more twist, 1 turn every 10" instead of the 14" in the LW.
So, the bullet is skidding along a greater linear length of lands in my barrel than in the LW, and it is getting spun faster by my barrel than the LW.

But my land width is reduced enough, or maybe my groove depth is on the plus side of .423, while the LW barrel is on the minus side of .423 ... so that I cannot generate enough pressure to get high velocity with the 4831 powders before running out of case capacity.

I do know that my rifle likes a case full of Varget best. Zero compression of powder, and no drop tube needed at all.

I would still like to get a 1 in 14" Lothar Walther barrel and have it chambered with the same reamer by the same gunsmith as did my .404 Jeffery on the McGowen barrel, and see first hand the differences.

10" twist is certainly going to give better results with heavy bullets that are stoutly constructed softs and solids like the North Fork 380 grainers, or Swift 400 grainers, etc.

10" twist gives good accuracy with the 340 grain North Fork at 100 yards.

"Over-stabilization," or too much spin, is a non-entity at normal hunting ranges. It might be a factor at 2000 yard target shooting, but never from zero to 300 yards ... unless one is using weak bullets that are more prone to break up at higher spins. No worries if you are using the kind of bullets you should be.

There is a 404 J barrel for a 98 mauser from LW that has a 1 in 16 twist for sale that I have a chance at. Should I try to get it at about 150 usd? OR should I just try for one of the 1 in 14 or 1 in 10? Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by D Hunter:
There is a 404 J barrel for a 98 mauser from LW that has a 1 in 16 twist for sale that I have a chance at. Should I try to get it at about 150 usd? OR should I just try for one of the 1 in 14 or 1 in 10? Thanks.

Does LW offer both a 14" and a 16" twist?

I would certainly hold out for the 14" twist if I could get it instead of the 16".

Of course I am very fond of the McGowen 10" twist, but would like to have a 14" LW.

All I can get off the web is that LW makes a 14" twist .416 barrel, but I could not find the .404/.423 twist rate specified by the maker, though Ray says it is 14" after double checking.

Alf,
Just passing on what Lothar Walther told me..as far as I know the 404 never was .411 but the 450-400 was...anyway its not a high priority with me as I use .423 barrels and 1x14 twists only...