Hi
The barrel machine is up, running and ready. The question is what should I have the CZ 550 Safari .375 H&H rebarreled to?

I have a couple reloading presses, and, I'm wondering what .404 owners use for bullets(.423 bullets, right?)

I'd like to be able to shoot the rifle a bit, and reloading components are a concern.

The .404/375, using Barnes X for nearly everything is certainly appealing, and, the 375 Weatherby gives about the same ballistics, but, with the ability to be able to shoot .375 H&H in it.

I notice Saeed doesn't like belts, and I've heard the arguments for case head separation with belts. Comments?

Other considerations would be a 375 RUM, pretty much the .404/375 without the cool name, or, just buy a new barrel/ rifle and go with the .458 Lott, or, rebarrel to .475 Ackley, or .510 Wells.

The appeal of the .404 is I get a big bore, while using the same barrel, and, that's the same appeal of the .375 variants...

Lugging the CZ around seems to justify a heavier cartridge then the .375 H&H>>>

quote:

I notice Saeed doesn't like belts, and I've heard the arguments for case head separation with belts. Comments?

For some reason almost all factory rifles chambered for "belted" cases seem to have built-in excessive headspace. The "GO" gauge on a belted case is .220" and the "NO-GO" is .224". I've seen very few rifles chambered in belted cases that wouldn't close on a .224" or "NO-GO" gauge easily, thus, exsessive headspace and short case life. While chambering a .375 H & H for me, I asked Tip Burns to use the .220" (GO") gauge as the "NO-GO" gauge.
He questioned my reasoning for this and I explained as above. He complied with my request and the rifle easily chambered all brands of cases tried. I feel that belted cases are solution to a non-existant problem. If you headspace a non-belted case properly, there's no reason to use the belted case. The "RUM's" are an example of this. Even the .404 Jeffrey with it's incredibly shallow shoulder headspaces properly without a belt, I know, I have one and did the chambering myself before I sold my lathe.

I don,t know how many thousands of rounds of belted brass I have reloaded and shot , But I have Never had a head separation ...

I found that case life was short when I had a barrel head spaced to min because the the case developed a slight "growth"of brass as it was FLS right on the front edge of the belt and the cases would not chamber. A Belted Magnum Collet resizing die from Innovative Technologies would have served to solve this problem but I sold the problem on before I found about this solution. The 404 has NO problems in this respect and 423 bullets are easily obtainable and increasingly so as this great old cartridge is 're-discovered'by knowledgable riflemen. A 400gn bullet at 2350fps and a 320gn HV at 2650 is a great "all rounder".

Von Gruff.

If you dont mind a wildcat don't forget the 404-375 HH which is the 375 HH necked up to 404 (.423") that eliminates the shoulder and brass is easy to form from your 375 cases.
You could rebarrel or rebore your 375. The mods to the gun are minimal and you could handload 404 Jeffe factory performance. 400@ 2150-2300
No feeding issues
No expensive brass
Rebore not rebarrel
Save time and money on smithing