So anybody that has Mike Brady's 340 gr SP 404 bullets had time/ energy to work up loads? I have the bullets but am just now getting time to load them up. Info anyone?
By the way Ray that 404 is a tack driver. The first group I fired with North Fork 380 gr bullets was 7/8 of an inch outside to outside. If you subtract the .423 bullet size that makes for a sub half inch group. Thanks

D Hunter,
I am going to use Varget to max, whatever that may be, and see which charge shoots best with those 340 grainers. It has been a road trip for me lately and I am just now home to the coldest weather yet this year here, but maybe next weekend things will be a GO.

I do appreciate your making these sheep bullets possible if you are the other guy who got the big order. You and I? Anybody else willing to fess up to .404 Sheep Bullets?
Cheers!

Hey RIP, I asked Mike last Sept. & he was thining about it so you & someone else did the pushing. Now if he would only run off another batch, I didn't get any!

Nope, I am the coat tail guy. There were a few boxes left after you guys took the lions share. I got those. I am looking at re 15. It did great with the 380 gr NF SP. Someone else out there has em and is loading them up and knows what you and I need to know.

I just remembered my rifle is at the smith. Getting the front sight installed to complete the African Sheep Rifle. It will still be a while, but I will be loading 80 to 90 grains of Varget Extreme for starters. It is about the same as RL-15 except slightly slower and more temperature insensitve.

RL-15 is temperature stable enough and a little faster, so if Varget doesn't do it for me, I will use RL-15 next. About the same charge of RL-15 except 1 or 2 grains less RL-15 than Varget for same velocity.

Rip what is your target velocity?

D Hunter,
2700 fps with either Varget or RL-15 would be fine.
The SD of the .423/340gr North Fork SP is 0.271, so it would be like a .308/180gr/.30-06 on steroids.

That's what I expect from my "loose" 24" long barrel. If I had a rifle like Ray's I wouldn't settle for anything less than 2825 fps!

This is indeed my next reloading project.

The original Chadwick sheep load was a 300 grainer at 2600fps, IIRC.

It will be interesting to shoot the North Fork .423/340gr SP at 100, 200, and 300 yards and see what kind of drops it has, and how it correlates with the .423/380gr/FP/CP(SD = 0.303) zero at 100 yards.

Mike picked a good weight for the sheep bullet. That solid shank will support that bonded nose well. It would be a great challenge to make the North Fork fail at something.

Thanks RIP. Where does Chadwick come in? I will try the varget and Re 15 loads too. Keep me posted. It will be a week or two before I can get some cases stuffed and try some out. If I could get to 2700 that would indeed be a great sheep load. Please keep me appraised of your progress and I will reciprocate. fredj338, I just got an e-mail from Mike. He says he will make a new run of 340's and 380's as soon as the 380's run out. Thanks

D Hunter,
Mr. Chadwick bagged the N0. 1 Boone and Crockett Stone's Sheep in 1936, in The Muskwa River area, British Columbia. It has been hailed as the greatest North American trophy of all time. It scored 196-6/8 and the No.2 below it was almost 7 points away.

The Bighorn and Dessert Sheep may be bigger in points, but their is not as big a margin between them and their N0.2's.

The wild sheep are supposed to be the ultimate NA game, so the Chadwick ram is the ultimate NA trophy if you look at it that way.


Mr. Chadwick was armed for bear and sheep, using 400 grainers for bear and 300 grainers for sheep, with a .404 Jeffery Sheep Rifle. I read an account of "The Greatest North American Trophy" once upon a time. The description of Mr. Chadwick's shooting skills was not flattering, but he eventually got the job done.

An African Sheep Rifle capable of Elephant or Aoudad came to mind.

I'll pester the smith to get my .404 out of the shop and go shootin'. Thanks, and I'll stay tuned too.

Thanks for the heads up DH, I'll drop him another note. It would be a shame if he closes up shop, a fine product & good guy to do business with. He has to understand it's a bit slow right now, it will pick up. Hell, RIP could keep him in business just buying .423s!

Fred,
Hope you can get some of the next run of .423/340gr, I have to hang onto mine for sheep and such.

I am well supplied in .423 but need some CP's to finish my .458 lineup, then on to other calibers.

Whatever the BC of the .423/340gr, I think I can move it fast enough to work out to 350 yards. I don't have any business shooting past that.

Then there is the .423 Lapua ...

We need the cow at Chick Filet to carry a sign that says "Shoot more North Forks" ... no, the chicken would be carrying that sign for us, as these bullets are so deadly on cows and bulls, to counteract the cow's sign that says "Eat mor chikin".

Aparently there was a misunderstanding re my discussion with Mike. Please disregard my previous post. It has been deleted. I stand corrected.

quote:

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Originally posted by D Hunter:
Aparently there was a misunderstanding re my discussion with Mike. Please disregard my previous post. It has been deleted. I stand corrected.

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Cesli Wakan! You nearly slayed me. False alarm!

Yeah DH, Mike e-mailed me, said he just needs to go kill something, had me a bit worried as my .404 loves that bullet.

quote:

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Originally posted by fredj338:
Yeah DH, Mike e-mailed me, said he just needs to go kill something, had me a bit worried as my .404 loves that bullet.

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Fred,
Mike emailed me too. Ja, we kill the retirement misinformation. North Fork is a going concern and will be even if Mike later sells it to another perfectionist.

This did give me a prompt to order some more bullets.

DH,
I always sell the good ones...

I used my 93 and 95 grs of IMR-4831 with a 400 gr. Cup Point this year to shoot some buffalo at 2400 and 2550 respectively in that gun and it really hammered those buffalo..Those loads shot an inch...

My latest .423 aquisition is a mint Hoffman 10.75x68 and it shoots the 340 gr. Northfork and 350 Barnes X at 2375 FPS with a dose of WW-748 and recoil is mild as a maidens caress and man its a beatiful rifle, strictly iron sight gun as the bolt is typical English roll over type, and I can't bring myself to alter it on this old jewell.

I can get almost 2200 FPS with a 400 gr. Woodleigh and thats a proven killer of buffalo...

Guess I'll have to go back and shoot some more buffalo with this lovely rifle.