I know the popularity of the .458 Lott and other rounds based on necking up the .375 H&H case but I have read on this forum that the .416 Rem Mag has some capacity issues. Wouldn't the .404 case make a more versatile round for .416 calibers and larger because of the greater case capacity than the .375. What am I missing?

Mufasa,
The 404 is the basis of the remington ultra mags.. and the 416 dakota is a 404 necked to 416, and slightly improved.

Without a belt, the largest you could go to is .458 bullets, for headspacing, as the .470 and larger would use the belt.

great question.
jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by mufasa:
I know the popularity of the .458 Lott and other rounds based on necking up the .375 H&H case but I have read on this forum that the .416 Rem Mag has some capacity issues. Wouldn't the .404 case make a more versatile round for .416 calibers and larger because of the greater case capacity than the .375. What am I missing?

The .404 Jeffery is the perfect .40 caliber DG round. It has more case capacity than the 416 Rem mag, so no pressure issues. It can achieve 2400 fps with ease, and has less recoil than the .416 rigby. The .404 Jeff can also be made in a smaller lighter rifle than a 416 rigby.

The only problem with the .404 jeff is that there are about 6 sets of specifications for it with different shoulder angles, etc. It would be best to find out what spec the various factory ammo is made to and then get dies and a chamber reamer to that spec. Kynoch tends to be very open about the specs to which their ammo is loaded, so that is a good place to start. The same problem comes up with the .500 Jeffery.

500grains has it right on the nose with the ammunition. For an American shooter I would investigate the specs Federal is using. Heretofore, the .404 Jeff has not been a SAAMI standard cartridge. Perhaps Federal will fix that.

If using European ammunition go with the CIP standard.

My preference is for the .404 Dakota: you can get cases and ammunition from them, and no spec questions.

jim

HunterJim

I think Federal ammo will be made in Europe.

If everyone followed the CIP standard for reamers, barrels and ammo, there would not have been any problems.

Cheers
/JOHAN

Well thats kinda like pissin in the wind IMO! The difference is .007, thats divided by 4 for 4 sides of a bullet, thats .5714285 difference on each of the 4 sides, based on this I think the .404 is fine just like it is, but only if my math is correct!

The only way to improve the .404 is to neck it up to 458 caliber such as the .460 Guns and Ammo round, but I am not sure thats an improvement, just makes it bigger...

Bottom line is one cannot improve the 404 Jefferys, it as close to perfect as a caliber can be to a lot of us that use it...

BTW I do have a set of 416/450-400-3" RCBS dies for sale if anyone has one!! I really do..made a double years back and used 416 barrels so bullets would be easy to come by..had a stock of brass...I never have figured out why the guy didn't buy the dies!!

I have a.460 G&A based on the 404 case and it is a really sweet round.

Jeff