The reamer and the Woodleigh bullets both arrived in fine shape:





I am proud of this too, my Wife's CCDW permit graduation target:



She said she rushed one shot, pulled it high.
21 bullets into less than 21 holes, 9mm, Glock 19.
Not bad for a beginner.
There were over thirty guys shooting the course, she was the only woman, and she beat them all for score.
Just bein' willin' is better than bein' fast sometimes.
It was a good day last Sunday.

Looks like you got yourself a keeper there Rip
Congrats to her on fine shooting and not being shy about guns.

Thanks, boom stick. 37 years and still keepin'.
Too much on the plate this weekend to shoot the Woodleigh 400-grainers with H4895. That is next for me, trying Mart's load,
from Alaskan chill to KY summer heat.

........

..................




Wow!
I ordered a Shilen barrel on 6-7-2013.
It is expected to arrive at Hilltop Gun Shop on 6-25-2013.
Supposed to be a No.4 sporter contour, 28", 1:14" twist, stainless, .411"-groove/.404"-land.
Headsup to Rusty: Cut it to 650mm barrel length this time instead of 600mm, please.
I'll dig out the 35 Brown Whelen M70 to be rebarreled to 400 Whelen Berry of 2013.
Then compare the 400 Whelen Petrov of 2003 to the new one, with Woodleigh 400-grainers and H4895.
Allowances for barrel length difference.
Surely we can get it done before the end of 2013.

New barrel from Shilen arrived 17 days from order.

Did they have one in stock?

And here I thought it was so special, No. 4 Sporter, stainless, .411, 1:14".
I know sumbuddy who was led to believe Shilen would not make a .411-grooved barrel any lighter than No. 5.

That sumbuddy also said Shilen laps the stainless barrels routinely, but it is an extra if you order chrome-moly.

New barrel is 28-1/8" long, and it is about .640"-diameter at 28"-length.
The parallel-sided shank/knoxform portion is 3" long.
I will hope to have Rusty cut the breech end exactly 1/2", no more,
and cut the muzzle end enough to make it precisely 650mm long, 25.59".

If it tapers at the muzzle end by .011"/inch, finished at 25.59" with 0.5" cut off the breech, and 2.035" cut off the muzzle end,
muzzle diameter should be about 0.662".
Wall thickness in the grooves = (.6620" -.4110")/2 = 0.1255"

YES WE CANT

No this is not a new Democrat Party campaign slogan.
It is a statement of what we CAN DO in Kentucky.
First there was "Kentucky Windage."
Now there is "Kentucky Cant":



Above is the start of the testing of "Mart's Load" or .411/400-grain Woodleigh Weldcore RNSN with 58.0 grains of H4895.
I shall elaborate ...



Brass was the 35 Whelen R-P that was fire-formed with COW, brass length for initial trim = 2.465".
Primer was the Winchester WLR.
Bullet was Woodleigh RNSN .411/400-grainer: SD = .338, BC = .307
Powder was H4895 Extreme.
Work-up: 1 shot each charge of 53, 55, 56, 57 grains of H4895, then 10 shots with 58.0 grains.
55 and 56-grain shots made one hole.

After the first 4 shots I adjusted the scope,
then kept it there for 10 shots with 58.0 grains, through the chronograph.

Not my best shooting, even if 7 of the 10 went into about 1 MOA center-to-center at 100 yards,
Rusty watching, you know ...

To zero that load I need to adjust right about 1" and up about 1/2".

Still a nice uniform load.
10-shot mean = 2108 fps with Sd = 5 fps.
But in retrospect the level of the chronograph was off about 5 degrees, and this would penalize the chronograph reading by about 0.4 percent,
trigonometrically calculated, AND THAT'S ALL OF 8 FPS DIFFERENCE!!!
5-yard velocity should have been 2116 fps.



The bullet traveled farther (thus took more time) than it should have to cross the screens on a diagonal instead of straight down the center.
I knew something was funny about that chronograph: TENNESSEE ELEVATION

Now if we assume the BC of the bullet to be .307,
correcting to MV adds another 12 fps: 2128 fps from a 23.6" long barrel, in 83 degrees ambient temp.

Winds were nil. No Kentucky Windage to blame for my horizontal stringing, unless it was Rusty breathing down the back of my neck.
I'm shy.
No, it was just Tennessee Elevation and Kentucky Cant on 6-29-2013.
Keep your powder dry and level the chronograph!!!

Redneck Lawnmower Rusty keeps at his range:



Home on the range, where the deer antlers grow on trees:



Rusty sighting his 400 Whelen Petrov Mark X Mauser at the 100 yard "Kentucky Canted" target,
with his 350-grain, 2300 fps accuracy load with TAC, and second pic in full recoil:




That 400 Whelen really moves him around with the brutal recoil, eh? Not.
It is a most interesting rifle for men to grow old with:

"No more scope-bite scars on the bridge of nose and forehead for me!"
So says the archetypal 400 Whelen owner:



And here is another new load to add to ammoguide.com, Rusty's TAC load for the 400-gr Woodleigh RNSN.
Slightly better velocity with that ball powder and a WLRM (magnum) primer, 280 Rem. R-P brass fire-formed with COW,
and same COL of 3.215" as I used with my load.
Excellent uniformity for a ball powder :



59.0 grains of TAC >>> 2134 fps MV (corrected), 12-shot Sd = 8 fps
or
58.0 grains of H4895 >>> 2128 fps MV (corrected), 10-shot Sd = 5 fps

Both from 23.6" Shilen chrome-moly barrels.

Two good loads.
2128 fps with 400-grainer is 4022 ft-lbs KE. Classic.

Rusty has all the parts for a 400 Whelen Berry rifle now, a stainless Winchester M70 Classic Featherweight.

Mart got higher velocity than I did with 58.0 grains of H4895 and the Woodleigh .411/400-grainer.

However, he was using different brass and primer, IIRC, his powder lot was probably different, and his barrel is a wee bit longer than mine.
Also he probably had a level chronograph.

Kentucky proud. Yes we cant.

Yes we cant, sometimes on purpose.
iphone pic of Rusty's TAC load with 400-grain Woodleighs: 400 Whelen Petrov COL 3.215" with 280 Rem. R-P brass



Here is a slightly-better-camera pic of my 58-grain H4895 load with 400-grain Woodleigh, and the fired brass, 35 Whelen R-P brass:







With 2.465" long brass, crimping on the bottom of the cannelure as shown allows 3.215" COL.
We are still waiting on Quality Cartridge to re-work that bad batch of brass.
It may be possible to have 2.494" brass someday.
2.494" (same as 30-06) will be the max length for the "400 Whelen Berry of 2013"
which will also have 0.003" more/better shoulder than the "400 Whelen Petrov of 2003."
Neither of these is the same cartridge as the original "400 Whelen Townsend of 1923."
The latter fired a .409-caliber bullet.

Would be interesting to use a 409 barrel to use 408 Chey-Tac bullets as well as the .410" bullets. Target to pistol to regular rifle bullets. Would a 1 thou oversize barrel make you lose too much accuracy?

boom stick,
I was thinking the same about .408 bullets in a .409 barrel.
We use .410 bullets in .411 barrels. We use .423 bullets in .425 barrels from McGowen, like on every 404 Jeffery that CZ makes!!!
It just requires a faster powder to take up the pressure slack, or more powder of same speed as used in a "tight" barrel.
But, the .408, .410, and .411 barrels are more readily available than the .409 barrel.
So how about a .408 Whelen Boom Stick?
... I am already collecting parts for a ".408 CheyTac Sporter" aka 400 Underkill walkabout rifle. No wheeled carriage will be needed for it ...

I can't say I'm in the market for a 400 Whelen yet but with 408 bullets there is an interesting use for 409 barrels now for a 408 Chey-Tac that can use 408-411 bullets.

http://www.4-dproducts.com/submenu/Savage.htm

Here is one maker in 409 but a slow twist.

RIP,

I'm still getting right at 2150 with that load. I was at the range last month testing a few loads and ran three of those across the chronograph while I was waiting for another rifle barrel to cool. They made 2149. I don't think the difference we have in velocity will make much difference to a critter. My load is with the Qual Cart brass and a 24 inch barrel.

I did test several loads with H4895 and the 350 grain bullets. I will be running some ten rounds sets when I get back from the slope and will report the findings.

I have to concur that the 400 Whelen is a fine round to grow old with. I like that sediment.

Mart

quote:

unless it was Rusty breathing down the back of my neck.I'm shy.

I was not close enough to breath down your neck. I will deny it to my dying day. Besides, there is not any photographic proof. You word against mine. I was barely close enough to smell your aftershave.

Well,
That excuse for my Kentucky windage did not fly.
The only other excuse I can think of is my own case of gas, hot air as usual.

Mart,
Your load is a champ whatever velocity I get.
OK, one more correction: 0.4" of extra barrel on your rifle.
That will add another 8 fps to my calculated MV corrected to 24" barrel.
Same for Rusty's TAC load.

24" MV Corrected:

H4895 58.0 grains >>> 2136 fps
TAC 59.0 grains >>> 2142 fps

But if Mart's rifle does 2149 fps at 5 yards, that becomes 2161 fps MV.

Fast barrel/slow barrel, tight/loose, smooth/rough
Brass make/case capacity
Primer make
Powder lot
Tennessee elevation on the chronograph
Headwind/tailwind on bullet
Temperature
Barometric pressure
Altitude (g effect too)
Latitude and longitude and compass direction of aim, relative to magnetic and gravitational effects
Coriolis effect
Distance to moon
Distance to sun
Lots of variables ...
Alien tractor beams?

The 400 Whelen Berry might need 60 grains of H4895, or more.
May need to cut a new cannelure on that Woodleigh and load it out a bit longer,
whatever the magazine box length and feeding will allow.

RIP,

If I was forced to choose one load for my 400 it would be that load. The Hornady, Hawk and Woodleigh 400 grainers as well as the Barnes Super Solids in that weight, shoot to the same POI and within just a few fps average of each other. I've had a lot of fun testing the other bullet weights and I still have a lot of work to do with 300 grain bullets. The 400 grain bullets won't set any long range hearts a flutter but the Woodleigh did fine last year at 250 yards on a caribou. Recoil is stout but not sharp. I would characterize it as one of the most comfortable shooting big bores.

Mart

Mart,
I gotta agree, if I had to stick with one bullet weight in the 400 Whelen I would use 400-grainers.
But ...



If GSC can make a .416/245-grain HV monometal copper bullet with a BC of about .301 at 2500 fps (.327 at 3400 fps) ...
Maybe a custom design of .411 caliber and about 250 grains, with boat tail and longer length, will come about some day.
Just for smaller game and more fun.
GSC HV or CEB MTH ???

Maybe just push the GSC .416/245-grain HV through a .410" sizing die from CH4D and hope they spring back to .411"?

We now have 22 loads listed for the 400 Whelen Petrov of 2003 at ammoguide.com.
Memebers there can view details as to why the same powder charge and same bullet produces different velocities.
Of course AR.com members already know all about it.

It has been called to my attention that the Dos Equis "Most Interesting Man Alive" is merely a take-off on the Chuck Norris One-liner Jokes.

Henceforth, the archetypal 400 Whelen shooter is Chuck Norris.

"In fine print on the last page of the Guinness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Chuck Norris,
and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone else has ever gotten."



Chuck "400 Whelen" Norris: No scars on his forehead from "Weatherby Eyebrow."

The dog's name is "400 Whelen."

Her name is "400 Whelen" also.
Daughter of: Carlos Ray 400 Whelen Norris.
Norris has said that he has Irish and Cherokee Native American ancestry.
Norris was named after Carlos Berry, his father's minister. (from Wikipedia)

Actually the minister's full name was "Carlos Ray 400 Whelen Berry" ... no shit
That's why Norris goes by "Chuck" but his middle name is "Ray 400 Whelen" as in "death ray."

And remember, when Bruce Lee beat him in "Return of the Dragon" or whatever silly movie,
Chuck was just acting, following the script.

Anyway, it's a good segway into the "400 Whelen Berry of 2013" hopefully to arrive sometime in 2013.
Rusty, take good care.

At 73 years of age Chuck Norris has finally come to appreciate the 400 Whelen: Man boobs?
Been slacking off on the Total Gym ... Got tired of dying that stubble so he shaved ... Only his hairdresser knows for sure.

CH4D has in-stock bullet sizers in .412, .411, .410, .408, .407, and no telling what else is ready to ship tomorrow! $68 each,
and I must say a better buy than a $30 Lee.
Hopefully the "CanToo" canneluring tool ($95) will be better than the one Corbin makes.

Any .416 bullet can be turned into a .411 bullet.
Any .411 or .410 bullet can be turned into a .408 bullet.

Maybe even .416 bullets can be turned into .408 bullets.

And I think the 400 Whelen Petrov reloading dies will work even better in the 400 Whelen "Carlos" Berry.

Oops,
The CH4D .411 sizer is on back order, got all the rest, delivered from off the shelf.
The guns and ammo feeding frenzy is not over yet.
Whittaker Guns got 8 of the 8-pound jugs of H4895 last week.
I happened upon the last one remaining in the store yesterday evening (Friday).
I grabbed for it so fast that I scraped a knuckle on the steel shelving.

You're a lucky man. I've had an eight pounder of H4895 on back order for 7 months. Haven't seen a one pounder in 4-5 months and I bought it when I saw it.

Mart

Mart,
Next time out with your load, I will try the magnum primer (F215)
instead of the standard large rifle primer (WLR).
Will also compare the 400 Whelen Petrov to the 400 Whelen Berry
with the same load, then start adding more powder.
H4895 of course.

RIP,

Made it to the range today to test a few more 400 loads. Had a couple of more winners. One not so good.

They are all loaded in Norma cylindrical brass, sized in a CH4D 400 Whelen die, primed with Winchester 120's (I have a lot of them) and loaded with 61 grains of H4895. All groups were ten shot groups. All loads gave easy extraction, no indications of shiny spots on the base of the brass, no flattened primers and velocities were right were I expected them to be.

The first load was the North Fork 360 grain bullet with 61 grains of H4895. Great load for the 400 in my estimation. Velocity was 2261 and the group was a nice 2" cluster. It should have been smaller, I threw a couple and was only using a 3x scope. Here's a target picture.



Second load was the Swift A Frame 350 grain bullet over the same 61 grains of H4895. Once again a great load. Same as before a 2" cluster with a couple I threw. Velocity was 2273.



And the last load being the Hawk 350 grain and 61 grains of H4895. My rifle doesn't like the 350 Hawk. Really a shame as I like the big round nose with lots of lead exposed. Haven't been able to get it to shoot. Velocity was 2292.



Mart

Alrighty then, Mart! Good shooting with 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
Condolences regarding the Hawks.
New loads:
May I add them to ammoguide.com?

Mart's rifle and 3 new loads:
Barrel is 24", primer Winchester 120, and powder charge 61.0 grains of H4895,
Norma cylindrical brass was sized and trimmed to what length, please (all three loads same)?

Case was full? Or was powder compressed for each of these three, please?:

1. North Fork 360-grain SP at 2261 fps
2. Swift 350-grain A-Frame at 2273 fps
3. Hawk 350-grain RNSP at 2292 fps.

And what was the Cartridge Overall Length or each of those three loads?

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Mart,
I gotta agree, if I had to stick with one bullet weight in the 400 Whelen I would use 400-grainers.
But ...



If GSC can make a .416/245-grain HV monometal copper bullet with a BC of about .301 at 2500 fps (.327 at 3400 fps) ...
Maybe a custom design of .411 caliber and about 250 grains, with boat tail and longer length, will come about some day.
Just for smaller game and more fun.
GSC HV or CEB MTH ???

Why not just have Dan upsize the .375 ER L235 ER Raptor to proper dimensions for your collective .400 Whelen cartridge/rifles?

The .411" diameter is close enough to just use the .409 caliber HP diameter tooling which also allows use of the Talon Q Tips designed for the .409 caliber ESP & Safari Raptor bullets. Heck you could even have it cut from copper if desired...

All that's needed is to order the minimum run of bullets and you'd be pretty close to your 245gr target weight - likely slightly heavier, perhaps 260gr...

Just a thought...

RIP,

By all means go ahead and post them. My case length was 2.495. I neglected to write the loaded OAL down but I think it was 3.330 for all of them.

Cases were full or slightly compressed. The North Forks are a little on the long side so the powder was a little more compressed than either of the other two.

The Swift A Frames miked .4095. Both the Hawks and NF's came in at .411.

As much as I love my original load of 58 grains of H4895 with the Woodleigh 400, I think the 400 could really shine with 350 grain bullets. After hunting season I plan to use up the rest of my North Forks and Swifts at 200 and 300 yards to get a feel for their behavior at a little longer ranges.

I picked up a quite a few of the 300 grain Barnes original X bullets and will try them along side the 300 grain TSX. That will be one of my winter projects.

Mart

We now have 25 loads listed here:

http://ammoguide.com/?catid=863

Jim,
Good idea, I have too many other irons in the fire right now to be ordering CEB custom .411 varmint bullets.

RIP,

Looks like I may have to start working up loads for Accurate 2495. I'm almost out of H4895 and it doesn't look good for getting it anytime soon. I've never worked with 2495 but on the burn rate charts it's just a sniff slower than H4895. It is available, at least occasionally around here. Any thoughts? Have you worked with Accurate 2495 at all?

Mart

Mart,
Yes, give the AA 2495 a try. I like AA powders just fine.
Either Accurate Arms or Alliant Reloder powders if I cannot get a Hodgdon "Extreme" powder.

Rusty McGee is mighty fond of Ramshot powders too, especially Ramshot TAC.

I am going to see what happens if I try to copy and paste the burn rate table from www.hodgdon.com ...

Fastest to slowest, #1 to #145:

H4895 Extreme is #87.
AA 2495BR is #92.

Ramshot TAC is #86, right next to H4895.
59 grains of TAC, a ball powder, used with a WLRM (magnum) primer, barely edged out 58 grains of H4895 with WLR (standard) primer for velocity,
but TAC barely got beat for uniformity, by the H4895 Extreme.
No statistical difference between those two loads methinks.
That was with 400-grain Woodleigh Weldcore .411 RNSP.



1 NORMA R1........................74 Hodgdon H322
2 Winchester WAALite..............75 Accurate Arms 2015BR
3 VihtaVuori N310.................76 Alliant Reloder 10X
4 Accurate Arms Nitro 100.........77 VihtaVuori N130
5 Alliant e3......................78 IMR, Co IMR 3031
6 Hodgdon TITEWAD.................79 VihtaVuori N133
7 Ramshot Competition.............80 Hodgdon BENCHMARK
8 Alliant Red Dot.................81 Hodgdon H335
9 Alliant Promo...................82 Ramshot X-Terminator
10 Hodgdon CLAYS ................83 Accurate Arms 2230
11 Alliant Clay Dot ...............84 Accurate Arms 2460s
12 IMR, Co Hi-Skor 700-X...........85 IMR, Co IMR 8208 XBR
13 Alliant Bullseye................86 Ramshot TAC
14 Hodgdon TITEGROUP...............87 Hodgdon H4895
15 Alliant American Select.........88 VihtaVuori N530
16 Accurate Arms Solo 1000.........89 IMR, Co IMR 4895
17 Alliant Green Dot...............90 VihtaVuori N135
18 Winchester WST..................91 Alliant Reloder 12
19 IMR, Co Trail Boss..............92 Accurate Arms 2495BR
20 Winchester Super Handicap.......93 IMR, Co IMR 4064
21 Hodgdon INTERNATIONAL...........94 NORMA 202
22 Accurate Arms Solo 1250.........95 Accurate Arms 4064
23 IMR, Co PB......................96 Accurate Arms 2520
24 VihtaVuori N320.................97 Alliant Reloder 15
25 Accurate Arms No. 2.............98 VihtaVuori N140
26 Ramshot Zip.....................99 Hodgdon VARGET
27 IMR, Co SR 7625.................100 IMR, Co IMR 4320
28 Hodgdon HP-38...................101 Winchester 748
29 Winchester 231..................102 Hodgdon BL-C(2)
30 Alliant 20/28...................103 Hodgdon CFE 223
31 Alliant Unique..................104 Hodgdon LEVEREVOLUTION
32 Hodgdon UNIVERSAL...............105 Hodgdon H380
33 Alliant Power Pistol............106 IMR, Co IMR 4007 SSC
34 VihtaVuori N330.................107 Ramshot Big Game
35 Alliant Herco...................108 VihtaVuori H540
36 Winchester WSF..................109 Winchester 760
37 VihtaVuori N340.................110 Hodgdon H414
38 IMR, Co Hi-Skor 800-X...........111 VihtaVuori N150
39 IMR, Co SR 4756.................112 Accurate Arms 2700
40 Ramshot True Blue...............113 IMR, Co IMR 4350
41 Accurate Arms No. 5.............114 Hodgdon H4350
42 Hodgdon HS-6....................115 Alliant Reloder 17
43 Winchester AutoComp.............116 Accurate Arms 4350
44 Ramshot Silhouette..............117 NORMA 204
45 VihtaVuori 3N37.................118 Hodgdon HYBRID 100V
46 VihtaVuori N350.................119 VihtaVuori N550
47 Hodgdon HS-7....................120 Alliant Reloder 19
48 VihtaVuori 3N38.................121 IMR, Co IMR 4831
49 Alliant Blue Dot................122 Ramshot Hunter
50 Accurate Arms No. 7.............123 Accurate Arms 3100
51 Alliant Pro Reach...............124 VihtaVuori N160
52 Hodgdon LONGSHOT................125 Hodgdon H4831 & H4831SC
53 Alliant 410.....................126 Hodgdon SUPERFORMANCE
54 Alliant 2400....................127 Winchester Supreme 780
55 Ramshot Enforcer................128 NORMA MRP
56 Accurate Arms No. 9.............129 Alliant Reloder 22
57 Accurate Arms 4100..............130 VihtaVuori N560
58 Alliant Steel...................131 VihtaVuori N165
59 NORMA R123......................132 IMR, Co IMR 7828
60 VihtaVuori N110.................133 Alliant Reloder 25
61 Hodgdon LIL'GUN.................134 VihtaVuori N170
62 Hodgdon H110....................135 Accurate Arms Magpro
63 Winchester 296..................136 Hodgdon H1000
64 IMR, Co IMR 4227................137 Ramshot Magnum
65 Hodgdon H4227...................138 Hodgdon RETUMBO
66 IMR, Co SR 4759.................139 VihtaVuori N570
67 Accurate Arms 5744..............140 Accurate Arms 8700
68 Accurate Arms 1680..............141 Hodgdon H870
69 NORMA 200.......................142 VihtaVuori 24N41
70 Alliant Reloder 7...............143 Hodgdon H50BMG
71 IMR, Co IMR 4198................144 Hodgdon US869
72 Hodgdon H4198...................145 VihtaVuori 20N29
73 VihtaVuori N120

I have not used the AA 2495, but have some experience with old AA 4350 and more recently AA 2520, and liked them both just fine.

Here is the busiest target photo ever posted here at ar.com according to Mjines,
and I did not even get the Sd and ES for these 5 shots with AA 2520 on the page:

RIP,

Thanks. I picked up some AA4350 a few days ago and when I saw the 2495 I figured I better grab it. After hunting season I'll settle into some more load testing with the 400. I need to see what the 2495 will do. I haven't seen any of the Ramshot powders locally but will grab some TAC if I see it. I'd still like to get my backordered 8 pounder of H4895.

That's a pretty fair group there.

Mart

The 400 Whelen Berry is barreled, stamped, and getting a feed job and beadblast finish, soon.
Houston: The Eagle has landed.



When the eagle craps I'll be able to pick up the rifle.

As Smokey The Bear says to gunsmith abusers who don't bring in the eagle crap: "Only you can prevent eagle constipation."

And....the bullet of Swiss caliber .413 (10,3), is in 255 gr semijacket e FMJ.

quote:

Originally posted by 10,3x60r:
And....the bullet of Swiss caliber .413 (10,3), is in 255 gr semijacket e FMJ.

Yeah! That's good. Would add a new, numbered, Swiss bullet account to the 400 Whelen riches.
Run those jacketed .413/255gr Swiss bullets through a .410" CH4D sizer and let them spring back to .411".

www.municion.org

"10.3x60R Suizo" A nice, rimmed 400 Whelen cousin.
AKA:
10.3x60 R Swiss Mod. M30 / .400 Long Rifle / .450/400 Express / 10.3x60 Wichser Mod.34 / 10.4x60R Hunting / .450/.400 Express 2 3/8"
/ DWM 76 / DWM 76A / SAA 6975B / ECRA-ECDV 10 060 BBC 045









Off Topic: Cartridges with .396-caliber bullets from 1878 and .395-caliber bullets from 1905 may also be found at municion.org.

"Easy Link" to this cartridge (copy and paste into emails, forums, etc.):

400 Whelen-Berry ...................................................................................................................................................................400 Whelen-Petrov

http://ammoguide.com/?catid=891
http://ammoguide.com/?catid=863



The .400 Whelen-Berry of 2013 was derived from the .400 Whelen-Petrov of 2003 (listed here as "400 Whelen").

Michael Petrov created a chamber casting of a Griffin & Howe rifle using .411-caliber bullets. The .400 Whelen-Berry variant includes some subtle changes.

The new version has less neck taper, reduced from Petrov's .004" to .001", reducing neck diameter by .003" at the shoulder.
Maximum case length is increased to the original .30-06 specification of 2.494" from Pertov's 2.490".
Throat freebore length (parallel-sided) is increased from .188" to .300".

Dies and Load data may be shared with the .400 Whelen-Petrov. The developer believes that some small increase in powder charge and velocity will be possible in the .400 Whelen-Berry. Dave Manson made the reamer and Rusty McGee is the gunsmith doing the work. Load testing to follow.

The defective 400 Whelen brass was sent back to Quality Cartridge in March.
Another batch is supposed to be made at the end of this month or early next month.
Hopefully it will be properly hard and not have a doughnut on the neck.
The 400 Whelen Berry M70 Winchester is still with the smith.

quote:

The 400 Whelen Berry M70 Winchester is still with the smith.

But it won't be for long.