The .410/404 Jeffery Rimless Nitro Express:
Classic .400 S. Jeffery two-shooter performance in a slick feeding,
six-or-seven-shooter (at least 5 + 1, maybe 6 + 1), bolt action magazine repeater!
And not being limited to DR pressures, it will throw the .410/400-grainers at 2400 fps or way better, if desired.
Or 300-340 grainers at +2700 fps easily.
Or it will vaporize .410/210gr handgun bullets just off the muzzle at +3300 fps.
Sub-sonic squib loads with those handgun bullets for squirrels and such.
What is not to like?
One planet, one rifle, or something like that, only better!




This wildcat requires "Cosmic Squirrel" security clearance. Throat specification is highly classified, just like on Saeed's .375/404 Jeffery of 1996.
It is beyond Top Secret.
Hillary Clinton will not be able to get her mitts on it and run it through the server in the bathroom.
Russian hackers? Give me a break!

I reverse engineered Saeed's cartridge, but had to go with a .375 Weatherby throat (latest C.I.P. spec) on the Manson reamer.
I sent him a set of the Hornady Custom reloading dies for my cartridge.
He says they work to load serviceable ammunition for his rifles,
no complaints specified compared to his own Redding Custom reloading dies.
But Saeed is awfully "tight lipped" about his pet cartridge's throat specs.

Hence, the throat specification of the ".410/404 Jeffery Rimless Nitro Express-Berry" will never be revealed.
Tit for tat!
And if anyone reading this does not care ... that is their problem ... or not!







Rifle no. 1 above (with a 26"-long, fluted, 1:12" twist, Lilja #6 sporter barrel) weighs 8-lbs and 14-oz. It will stay as is.
What do they say about imitation and flattery?
Something about sincerity?

Rifle no. 2 above (with a 25"-long, non-fluted, 1:10" twist, Pac-Nor #3 sporter barrel) weighs 8-lbs and 13-oz.
Muzzle diameter is 0.640" at 25" length, so it is heavier than a Douglas #3 sporter barrel.

No. 2 rifle is getting re-barreled with a .410-grooved/.400-bored, 8-grooved, 1:14" twist, Douglas #4 sporter barrel.

Muzzle diameter on the finished .410/404J
will be about .675", final barrel length not decided yet, 24" to 26" range.
Could be just under 9 pounds again, dry rifle weight.



There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

Just have Michael set you up with a 416 B&M and you are good to go anywhere--

400 hrs @ 2300 fps in a 20 in barrel.

quote:

Originally posted by Sean Russell:
Just have Michael set you up with a 416 B&M and you are good to go anywhere--
400 hrs @ 2300 fps in a 20 in barrel.

I have a .458 B&M, that I like better than the .416 B&M.
Both are short, light, 3+1 fourshooters in a Win M70 short action.
My .458 B&M has a 19.75" barrel and weighs 7 lbs and 1 ounce, a re-barreled 300 WSM.
That is an excellent use for a 300 WSM donor rifle, if you limit yourself to one of those.

But I think far too much has been claimed for the appeal of the runt-gun.
Not as cool as a full sized (sub-9-pound) .410/404J that is a six or seven-shooter,
and that can use a wider variety of bullets:

.410 rifle bullets
.410 pistol bullets
Any .416 bullet can be sized to .410.
Any .411 bullet can be shot as is (load adjusted for the squeeze) or sized to .410.
I dare say any .408-caliber bullet will do fine in the aggressive rifling of .410/.400,
as long as it is not too heavy/long for the 1:14" twist.
That allows use of .408 Chey-Tac "Battlefield Domination" 300-grainers, and heavier bullets.
I say this based on my excellent experience firing many different types of .423-caliber bullets in a couple of .425-grooved, McGowen-barreled 404 Jeffery rifles (Win M70 and CZ 550 Mag).

All that without even getting into custom-made .410-caliber bullets.
The possibilities are way-many!


There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

Hi Bro' Rip,
I do like that name. Almost as much as the shape.
"The temptation is strong with that one, Luke."
"How the hell do you get dates, Yoda, anyway?"
"Jedi Mind tricks Luke, It is not my 3.0 centimeter crank."

I suppose I will just throat one with a 0.300" section of freebore, and a 1.5 degree leade angle. What is your OAL, Rip? It would be fun to shoehorn some of these through a standard Mauser System 98.

Kind of makes the 400 HandH sound very appealing. , Or , the 411 KDF . I like belts ;-) But the 410/404 is lots more appealing than the 423 .

I am in looooove!
That cart is a beauty!
Finally correcting over 100 years of making the same mistake over and over again.
You can't duplicate the 450/400 without the 400.
A worthy wildcat endeavor
Panache and flair all in one if you dare.

Bro'dart,

Your throat spec is "not bad."
I will not discuss the throating of this wildcat.
"There is more than one way to skin a wildcat."

The COaL of the dummies for the .410/404J, shown above is 3.555"
and the BOaL is 2.875", same as for the 404 Jeffery.
If you load the .410/404J to 3.750", same as the suggested COaL of the 450/400 NE 3-Inch,
you have same effective case capacity as the
legendary ".400 S. Jeffery."

Of course you could do one on an opened up standard M98, or a WinM70, and keep your COal down to about 3.6".
But I prefer the CZ 550 Magnum with a box length of +3.8".
So my COaL for this skinning of the wildcat will be about 3.750".





The .375/404J has a shorter BOaL of 2.820", but can be loaded to 3.820" in the CZ 550 Magnum rifle no. 1 above,
with a full inch of bullet nose beyond the end of a maximum length case,
but nominally may be specified as COaL = 3.750".
That is how I skin that wildcat also.

Very interesting is that the Pac-Nor #3 sporter and the Douglas #4 sporter are almost identical from breech to about 11" out,
where diameter is .777" for both barrels.
From there the Pac-Nor #3 tapers to .640" diameter at a 25" muzzle,
but the Douglas #4 tapers to about .675" diameter at a 25" muzzle.
That means that wall thickness at the muzzle will be the same for both these .375 and .410 barrels:
(.640" - .375")/2 = 0.1325"
(.675" - .410")/2 = 0.1325"

From breech to 11" length the .410 barrel is lighter than the .375 barrel: Same external diameters, but bigger bore and groove hole.
From 11" to 25" length the .410 barrel will be triflingly heavier than the .375 barrel: Same wall thickness but bigger outside diameter.
Maybe one ounce lighter for the .410.
The 27.5"-long, Douglas #4 .410 stainless barrel "blank" weighs: 2 lbs and 14 ounces.
After chambering, shortening to 25", crowning, and polishing it will weigh less.
Bare, empty weight of rifle will be about 8.75 lbs, I am guessing.
Not a runt-gun, but mighty pleasant to carry AND shoot.


There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

quote:

Originally posted by Cold Trigger Finger:
Kind of makes the 400 HandH sound very appealing. , Or , the 411 KDF . I like belts ;-) But the 410/404 is lots more appealing than the 423 .

Hear here, what CTF said!

The 400 H&H got even Pierre van der Walt (or his proof-reader/editor) a little confused in the presentation.
Page 226 of his latest good book, AFRICAN DANGEROUS GAME CARTRIDGES, shows a drawing of the cartridge with a .411"-diameter bullet.
Page 228 figure lists a groove diameter of .410" and a bore diameter of .400".

On page 229 he quotes C.I.P. specs for the .400 H&H:
" One of the problems with this cartridge is that it sports a .4032"/.4110" (10,24mm/10,44mm) bore to groove relationship ..."

The belt spec on the cartridge drawing on page 226 shows a diameter of 0.5339", etc.




Might as well get your own wildcat and lay in a supply of brass to suit, and sort all the numbers properly from the get-go!

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
I am in looooove!
That cart is a beauty!
Finally correcting over 100 years of making the same mistake over and over again.
You can't duplicate the 450/400 without the 400.
A worthy wildcat endeavor
Panache and flair all in one if you dare.

Thanks, boom stick,
my thoughts precisely.
This may turn out to be only a sixshooter,
though your 400 Karamojo (.410/.375 H&H) is definitely a sevenshooter,
and preferrable to a .400 H&H to some of us.
Micro-shoulder or ghost-shoulder?

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

Thats it, I just remembered, the 400 Pondoro. Thats the one . ( I think , maybe , perhaps ) . Heck with what Capstick says.
Never heard of the 4hunnert/3+6bits. But actually, that should be a pretty great Alaskan wildcat. And would hold more powder than the 411 KDF . if needed . Or be low pressure. Be a good candidate for a gain twist barrel to help with the shooting of cast lead boolits. Final twist of 1 in 14" . The 400 Shoot All Alaskan Hunter .

Specs copied from the A-Square manual, for the 400 Pondoro, born in 1992.
With groove of .409" and bore of .397", it is truly an oddball!
The barrel was also a fast-twist 1:10",
yet it was touted for .410-caliber handgun bullets
along with the .409-caliber A-Square Triad of 400-grain bullets, for which it was reportedly designed.
Was the name "400 Pondoro" changed to the "400 Dual Purpose Magnum" after it got out that ol' Pondoro was light in the loafers?



Here is the micro-shouldered "400 Karamojo" with the slick-feeding body taper of the .375 H&H preserved.
It would certainly make a sensible .410-grooved/.400-bored, 1:14" twisted, versatile rifle, I'd say.
The .400 Karamojo is boom stick's kitten, and he will probably want to iron out the shoulder to his beloved "ghost shoulder"
for a fiveshooter WinM70 (under 8 pounds),
or sevenshooter CZ550Mag (under nine pounds, same weight as the .410/404JRNE):



".410 Journey" is another aka for the ".410/404JRNE" or ".410/404 Jeffery Rimless Nitro Express."
It has been quite a journey for me to finally come to enlightenment.
The path to bliss may have been taken by others before me,
but it must remain shrouded in Cosmic Squirrel Secrecy, regarding some details,
revealed only to those who make the vision quest.

.410/404JRNE aka the .410 Journey aka the ".410 Safari" when translated to Swahili.
This is the "Holy Cow" of cartridges.




There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

Oh man...I'm getting all jiggly inside... HAve always liked the 400 H&H, the 410/404 is so cool its craazy...

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
Oh man...I'm getting all jiggly inside... HAve always liked the 400 H&H, the 410/404 is so cool its craazy...

Hello Baxter,

Thanks for expressing your admiration for this beauteous cartridge.
You obviously are highly intelligent and have good taste.
But, even those with mere common sense will like it too.

I feel very much the same way as you describe it, about this .410/404JRNE of 2017.
The feeling reminded me of meeting my wife when she was 16 and I was 18.
We waited two whole years to get hitched, a long engagement by local standards of the time.
Must have been true love.

I have ordered, from Midway USA, the latest "Norma USA" as well as "Hornady" brass for the 404 Jeffery.
I would love to go with Hornady brass for this one if it works as well as the old Norma brass I used in the 404 Jeffery and the .375/404JS-2012.
I have found the Hornady brass to be excellent so far. Haven't tried their 404 Jeffery hulls yet.

Sometimes progress makes a U-turn.


There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

The Hornady 404 brass is Okay. I will stick with Norma myself. I have, and the idea was confirmed by you, started to add some freebore, and a 1 degree, thirty seconds leade angle for anything over bored. Mr. Manson approved of the strategy. I like the dates on the family tree. Nothing new under the sun, and our ancestors knew a great deal about cartridge design. Too bad they let a perfectly good empire slip away.

The Screamin' Eagles roost at Fort Campbell, KY: AIRBOURNE!

The future is the past of firearms technology. Back to the past for wildcatting!

W. Jackman Jeffery got it all started with high velocity: 400-grains at the then amazing velocity of 2200 fps for the .400 S. Jeffery,
and even a 404 Jeffery 400-grainer loaded to 2400 fps with improved Cordite, years before the .416 Rigby me-too-ed the scene.
Mr. Newton soon followed suit, and Mr. Weatherby's excesses followed, decades later, fueling the "belted magnum" fad:



The flanged .400 S. Jeffery begat the rimless 404 Jeffery.
And then came Don Allen,
basing most of his proprietary rounds on the most perfect case possible for the available bolt-action, magazine repeaters,
the 404 Jeffery head size faithfully reproduced:



From the sublime .416 Dakota to the ridiculous .423 Dakota-Lapua, "Lop-wow!"
That last one came late, and probably set Don Allen to fidgeting in the Happy Hunting Ground. R.I.P. Don Allen.
That Lop-wow did not help the CEO at the time to keep his job either.
The 450 Dakota is more like a 460 Wby with the belt turned off, not a true .416 Rigby, thank goodness!

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

Well, the latest "Norma USA" brass for the 404 Jeffery has a headstamp like the one in the center here:



That settles it. No brainer.
That is the brass to be used for the ".410/404 Jeffery Rimless Nitro Express."

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

You can punch in ".410" in front of the 404 if you wish (for travel).

My new chauffeur:

Bro'dart,
Thanks for the reply, and for the "nice" picture above.
No rebate on that tail.

I don't think I am going to have to add any stampings to the chosen brass, and either the Hornady or Norma will do.
There is not enough room on any headstamp for the official designation:

.410/404 Jeffery Rimless Nitro Express 2-7/8-Inch

That about does it.
The partial name for the cartridge appears on either Hornady or Norma Brass.
Hornady: 404 JEFFERY
Norma: 404 Riml. N.E.

I just won't be able to turn the rims off of the Hornady 450/400 NE 3" brass, because of non-applicable poop on that headstamp.
I can live with that.



Just like Saeed gets by with using 404 Jeffery Brass for his .375/404 Jeffery.
He might have to switch over to Hornady brass now if all the new Norma brass says "404 Riml. N.E."
The poop on the new Norma headstamp will not fly with customs at the airports in Africa vis-a-vis his wildcat rifles.
That is why I am saving all my old Norma "404 JEFFERY" headstamped stuff for the .375/404 Jeffery Saeed of 2012, or switching to Hornady brass.


And just like with Saeed's pet wildcat, my new pet has Cosmic Squirrel Top Secret throating.
Preliminary reamer max spec drawing, redacted:



Will see if Dave Manson finds any problems with the above, including, for his eyes only, the PSFB throat length.

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

This is a pretty well thought out cartridge despite the circumstances of its birth. I may build one myself, if I can dredge up another action. I am becoming fond of the Winchester Long actions. Since they will all be blueprinted, the New Haven trash guns are just fine. Money saved on the rifle pays for the re-machining. The freebore section is likely .300" - .410"

quote:

Originally posted by lawndart:

The freebore section is likely .410"

If you are referring to the drawing above, meaning XXX = .410", that is wrong.

Or are you referring to your preferred PSFB length?



There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

No bro' I was jess whistling in the rain.
For me 0.300" of freebore is like a little black cocktail dress flight suit on a small boned girl. It is never wrong.

Speaking of big guns:

And to think all these years I thought the 404 Jeffery with its .423 400 and .450 gr. bullets was the best little big bore ever!! Just goes to show ya!! but sorry ole pal, too little too late, sticking with the retired 404 Jefferys hanging in my den.

Bro'dart,
I really like those non-rebated tails on girls and cartridges.
Interesting flightsuit rebate to boot(y).

Dave Manson has come up with the gage specs for this and his finish reamer drawing specs are same as those posted above,
except, of course, his drawing has the free-bore length specified.
He and I are the only ones with the Cosmic Squirrel Secret (CSS) clearance.
Need-to-know basis only.

Ray,
That's OK. Stick with the 404 Jeffery. That works. The .410/404 Jeffery Rimless Nitro Express 2-7/8-Inch is my problem, not yours.

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

You can do anything you want to do, but don't you, step on my blue webbed shoes



Goddamned gunsmith shoved my .423" beak into a .410" chamber

quote:

Originally posted by lawndart:
You can do anything you want to do, but don't you, step on my blue webbed shoes



Nice booby!
Goddamned gunsmith shoved my .423" beak into a .410" chamber

Nice booby! (Blue footed booby) That's the only kind of booby pics allowed in my house!

Better cover up the nudity on the blue footed booby or Walter will wrap some knuckles. You can't expose booby here.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
And to think all these years I thought the 404 Jeffery with its .423 400 and .450 gr. bullets was the best little big bore ever!! Just goes to show ya!! but sorry ole pal, too little too late, sticking with the retired 404 Jefferys hanging in my den.

IMHO the .410" tube has the most versatility in terms of bullet weight and functional impact velocity envelope range. Pistol bullets to 405 Win bullets to DG bullets. The .458" tube is a close second with specialized 458 SOCOM bullets to 45-70 bullets to DG bullets.

I knew a guy who ordered 1000 eggs of those birds. He had grandiose ideas of hatching them and making a fortune selling the colorful birds in the Pet Store market. He invested a lot of money, bought a lot of equipment, and made some big personal commitments.

Sadly, his big scheme came crashing down on him and left him in debt when it turned out all the eggs he received were un-fertilized. It was a very hard setback for him and it took a good while for him to recover financially and to rebuild his reputation. He never forgot the lesson. To this day he is quick to remind all his business associates to "Never count your boobies before they hatch".

these tree frogs will be watching for RIP to come by down the bunny trail. I have trained them to immobilize Ron just long enough for me to measure his precious freebore length. They can get close because the blue foot boobies will occupy RIP's attention. Yes, I suppose I am weaponizing the formerly neutral "bunny trail" landscape:

quote:

"Never count your boobies before they hatch".

That one totally sucked me in.

Okay Ron, I am turning control of your thread back to you. Since I am only using one percent of my Photobucket capacity, Images as warfare will likely continue to make appearances.

My first thought when I saw the picture of the blue-footed booby was: " So Charlie has been Googling for boobies, eh?"
Everyone here has done an excellent job of covering the subject of "birds."
I especially like the wisdom: "Don't count your boobies before they hatch."
Wit and wisdom there!

I would not touch those frogs ...

While waiting for my .410/404JRNE to hatch I will have a go at some more fire-forming loads,
trying for an easier way, with less elbow grease involved.
Skip the neck-up to .458 before necking down to .410?
Will see if simply sizing down the 404 Jeffery neck and case body in the 450/400NE FL die allows as good a fire-form as the previous method,
necking up the 404 Jeffery neck to accept .458 bullet and then necking down to accept .410 bullet.
The preliminary .458 neck-up makes for a better fire-forming shoulder,
but even that is pretty weak looking, as was seen seen with "A," below, never a hitch in fire-forming:





The forsaken .410/.416 Dakota makes for a much more positive fire-forming shoulder, "B," above.

"A" chambered easily in a Ruger No. 1 450/400 NE 3" and produced perfect looking brass for the .410/404 JRNE.
"B" required some hard force on the bolt to turn down handle when chambering in a .416 Dakota,
but it produced excellent results in fire-forming,
for the abandoned wildcat now called the ".410/404 Jeffery Unjustified."
Maybe someday "B" will become the ".410/404 Jeffery Justified," again.

Headspacing on the 404 Jeffery neck simply sized down to accept .410 bullet will make a micro-shoulder that has a much smaller diameter difference than that of the 400 Whelen,
and the shoulder angle is much smaller too.
I will establish whether that is a go or no-go step by using handgun bullets with RL-7, as before,
then consider Cream O'Wheat (COW) and pistol powders (PP) if it works.
COW & PP: Cheap and easy is always good when fire-forming, sometimes not so good with boobies!



There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
IMHO the .410" tube has the most versatility in terms of bullet weight and functional impact velocity envelope range. Pistol bullets to 405 Win bullets to DG bullets. The .458" tube is a close second with specialized 458 SOCOM bullets to 45-70 bullets to DG bullets.

Vaporize cup&core pistol bullets as they emerge from the muzzle at +3400 fps?
Custom pointy-tipped, monometal 210-grainers at 3300 fps for plains game?
Cast lead, gas-checked 450-grainers at 2200 fps?

.408 Chey-Tac pointy 300-grainers through the magazine, longer and heavier ones single-loaded.
Whatever the 1:14" twist will bear, in that .400-bore/.410-groove rifling!

And, size down to .410"-diameter:
Any .411 to .416 bullets, i.e., the Barnes .416/350-grain TTSX,
or the Speer .416/350-grain MagTip, etc., etc. ...

Custom order from GSC and CEB and use North Fork and Swift as is/are (tooling too expensive for boutique bullet orders), oh my!
The imagination runs wild on weights and shapes of bullets.
Not for boobies or booties.
Let's try to keep our minds on the OP subject.
Best little big bore ever.
Not best little whore house in Texas, or Idaho.

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

I'm afraid you will be best served by the opening to .458, and then neck down step. More positive control.

Dave could make you a custom reamer for a sizing die. You could then just run 404 Jeffery cases in and out, voila.

What's the case capacity on this retro redux?

quote:

Originally posted by lawndart:
I'm afraid you will be best served by the opening to .458, and then neck down step. More positive control.

Dave could make you a custom reamer for a sizing die. You could then just run 404 Jeffery cases in and out, voila.

Bro'dart,
The only custom die that would make any difference would be a hydraulic case-forming die like from Hornady.
Send three fire-formed cases along with about $180 and wait 3 months.
Water pressure and a lead hammer would move the shoulder out 0.099" farther from base,
but only after the 404 Jeffery brass was first sized down at the shoulder and neck by a pass through the 450/400NE3" FL die.

I got it figured out now, easier and better than hydraulic forming:

1. Size the new 404 Jeffery brass in the 404 Jeffery FL die to uniform the necks and case
mouths.

2. Then FL size that 404 Jeffery brass in the 450/400NE3" FL die. It is already lubed from step #1.
This necks it down for .410-caliber bullet, establishes the new Neck-1 diameter and headspace, and reduces the shoulder diameter by 0.009".

3. Prime the case and charge with powder.

4. Seat a Hornady XTP .410/210-grainer to a COaL of 3.370".
This puts the bullet in contact with the lands of the 450/400NE3" Ruger No. 1,
apparently a zero-free-bore/leade-only throat.
Even if the secondary micro-shoulder on the neck of the 404J brass doesn't maintain headspace when the firing pin falls,
the bullet in the lands will, for sure.

5. Chamber the round and fire.

6. Push the perfect case out with a 3/8" wooden dowel.

This will work the brass minimally in the fire-forming. Anneal the new batch and go to town with some handloading for the new .410/404JRNE bolt-action rifle.

Easy as falling off a log,
COaL's range from 3.400" on far right to 3.370" on the far left of these 5 dummies,
3.370" is just kissing the lands:

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
What's the case capacity on this retro redux?

boom stick,

I did not measure water capacity of the first 7 cases I fire-formed. I turned them into feed dummies, working on the sevenshooter, doan-cha-know.

I will be measuring both Norma and Hornady brass for gross H2O soon.

Until then, this is a good relative comparison of case capacities:
.410/404JRNE: 112 grains
404 Jeffery: 114 grains

Note that if the .410/404JRNE is loaded to COaL of 3.750" in a CZ 550 Magnum,
it will have the same effective case capacity as the 450/400 NE 3-Inch of same COaL with same bullet: About 121 grains of H2O

Thus, besides having a greater variety of bullets, the .410/404JRNE has a greater case capacity than a short-throated, short-COaL 404 Jeffery.

Rats!
Photobucket removed the rebated flight suit pic from Bro'dart's account.
It is only a fond memory on this thread now ...
There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

Once ClarISSa has passed from this vale of tears, the girl will return.

I have put together some more fire-forming loads with the little pistol bullets jammed into the lands.
I decided to use a COaL of 3.375" instead of 3.370", for more positive headspacing, on the bullet ogive jam.
Once again, 75 grains of RL-7 from a finely aged lot (2000 AD was a very good year), an F215 primer, and a .410/210-grain Hornady XTP will be the mixology.

I will be doing some iron-sight plinking with a Ruger No.1 450/400NE3" to form brass for the .410/404JRNE2-7/8".
Might get some chrono data for laughs too ... if the rain quits.
Meanwhile, my tomato plants rejoice in the rain ... (sound of crickets chirping) ...

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

Stupid is as stupid does.
I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory today.
I will never again use bullets jammed into the rifling to headspace in fire-forming.

First two shots chambered easily and fire-formed nicely, and the case fell out of the chamber with a gentle nudge from a cleaning rod.

The third shot was hard to chamber, but I just thumbed it on into the Ruger No.1 chamber and closed the lever with only a little resistance.

Complete head separation of a never-before-fired case.

I'll be back ...

There is more than one way to skin a wildcat.
Riflecrank Incurable Permanente

If I ever decide to get something to re[place my .375 H&H. it will be a .375/.404 JS.