These would look nice in TiN, of same malevolent gold as The Devil Dies:

Please excuse the lint.

Not sure if they could be rehardened during the TiN process without making them too brittle. Have to talk to someone in that biz to find out.

Thos are some very fancy dies Doc!! I always like Redding product. Wish they made a bigger press for my projects.

The 400/395NE dies from CH4D are not TiN-ed, I did not even know about that gilding of the lilly.

I am getting 398 Lapua Mag dies from Redding too.

I might give CH4D a shot at the 500 Mbogo dies if i ever get the 400/395NE dies.

The 470 Mbogo dies I got from CH4D worked fine, just had to clean up some burrs on one set of threads on one of the die bodies.

Buffelputz:

Guys,
My .395 Max is still getting the final touches on it at the smith. After I get it back, I'll try some different loads, although the one that took that cow elk worked wonders.

My compadre, to whom I gave a .395 barrel, has agreed that our elk hunt this year will be a two-gun .395 affair. We should be able to give Macifej a better idea of his bullet's effectiveness on live game (although, .395 with almost any bullet of 300gr+ should easily take any elk).

Now if the 400/.395 Nitro Express gets finished in time for elk season, I may have to change from Macifej's bullet to a 400gr cast gas-checked bullet!

Ooh, I feel like a coke. May have to add some Buffalo Trace to it...50/50.

Max,
Is that the sights being added to the .395 Ruger Max?

It will be nice if GSC sees fit to ship the copper trio 340-grainers.

S&H brass Shark Velopex .395/310-grainers will obviously get the job done as a soft point for any game on the planet, with accuracy of first order.

Those S&H bullets are as precisely machined as it gets.

We'll also have some LBT LFN GC's in .396/410-grain cast in Rippalloy, for 2150 fps, 400 NITRO EXPRESS ballistics.

Next up will be some NEI FN GC's in .396/240-grain to replicate 400 Nitro For Black Powder Express 3" ballistics for squirrels and such (.395/230-grain @ 2050 fps).

Get started casting so you don't have to depend on me for your supply forever. Even a "cave man" can do it.

The McGowen Precision #4 sporter contour barrel is almost a perfect match for the barrel contour that Ruger is using on the Ruger No.1 in 9.3x74R.

I have decided to use one of those Ruger No.1's in 9.3x74R and replace the barrel with the stainless McGowen Precision #4 barrel and finish it up at 27". Just waiting on the gunsmith. He has all the parts. He is also employed as a Remington R&D engineer and commuting between Kentucky and New York, so going is slow, on the 10.03x74R AKA 400/.395NE.

As soon as the 500 Mbogo is done. My .395 Ruger Max will get built by the other gunsmith, before he heads off to medical school. From gun doctor to people doctor. Hopefully he will infiltrate the AMA as a mole to change the AMA anti-gun politics.

Guess it's time to order the Ratzeputz in larger quantities. Could try the Denmark connection or maybe the Canuckastanis have found a supply.

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
....maybe the Canuckastanis have founfd a supply.

Not yet.

Am working on an angle with a friend that gets to Germany semi-regularly though!



Cheers,
Canuck

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
....maybe the Canuckastanis have founfd a supply.

Not yet.

Am working on an angle with a friend that gets to Germany semi-regularly though!



Cheers,
Canuck

I have a friend here who's in the booze import and export business if we want to pay the freight he will bring a case in as samples.

I'm in on the Ratzeputz freight!

And another thing about those S&H brass bullets:

Besides superb accuracy, they are non-fouling.

A half hour soak with Wipe-Out and my bore is spotless.

Excellent barrel or nonfouling bullets?

If I ever get enough GSC copper bullets to run a volume comparison for fouling, some light may be shed on this.

GSC's foul little too, in my experience.

Gerard! Please send bullets to Max and me!

RIP,
Yep, sights and a teflon coating since my barrels were all chrome-moly. Also am getting a decent recoil pad installed and a thorough check on feeding, etc.

As far as casting bullets, I think I'm going to get my son to do that for me. (Gave him a complete casting setup for Christmas about 12 yrs ago. Don't know if he's used it much lately.) I can also size those .405 diameter cast bullets easily enough, if need be.

For an express load, I intend to use some of those resized Hornady bullets. May use those for deer this year if the rifle is finished.

Agree on the contour for the barrel. Had McGowen ship me a barrel that matches the Ruger contour. They'd shipped, by accident, a short one so that is currently on my Ruger 77. The original barrel is on my buddy's .395 Max because he likes heavier barrels. The 26" bbl is awaiting installation and will be deep blued.

Concur on Macifej's bullets. Two rifles, two cleaned easily. Will have to find out if its the bullets or the barrels. On Gerard's bullets, maybe I should have been more serious on marrying his daughter?

And last night's libation was comforting. Will also agree to ordering the Ratzeputz. I'll try anything once...twice if she's good.
Max

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
....maybe the Canuckastanis have founfd a supply.

Not yet.

Am working on an angle with a friend that gets to Germany semi-regularly though!



Cheers,
Canuck

I have a friend here who's in the booze import and export business if we want to pay the freight he will bring a case in as samples.

I could go in for that. Let me know. My germany connection could take a year to pan out! Long time to wait to try Ratzeputz out for the first time!

Cheers,
Canuck

Have you gents ever tried Maudite strong beer?



Looks like a good companion with Ratzeputz potentially. We can buy it locally. I enjoy it.

http://www.unibroue.com/products/maudite.cfm

Cheers,
Canuck

Maudite and Blanche de Chambly are my favorite beers.Nothing compares.They have to be fresh though and taste better when they come in the large 750ml bottles with the cork.

That Maudite sounds flowery to me. I prefer something with a little more grunt like this:

(hiccup)
GSC shall not be publicly lynched here!
Gerard has contributed much to the the earthly/worldwide advancement of the arts and science of bullets.

However long it takes to get .395 bullets, we are prepared to wait.

Hi Gerard and Gina!
How's it going?
Do I need to send more money or what?

Still no word on your bullets RIP??

Nope.
That's Africa.

No negatives on Gerard and Gina from me, either! I'm grateful to them and to macifej for bullets to shoot. I've sufficient bullets to last through several seasons, but would really like to use those GSCs.
Uh, should we bet on which will come through first, bullets or Ratzeputz? Both are well worth waiting for.

Toss up! I'd bet on the Ratzeputz if it were me.

I called again to check. The 400/.395 Nitro Express dies are still sitting in the bowels of CH4D. Constipation? In 5 more days it will be six months since the order. I asked a nice young lady in charge of shipping there to please send me a tracking number by email when they shipped.

About 10 days ago Dave Davison told me they ought to be shipped "next week."

Just the facts.

I could make a joke about crapping or getting off the pot (bowels of CH4D), getting the bowels moving, flatulence breaking my heart, etc., but no, I won't do that. Not funny.

You're cursed RIP!!

Everything you order takes forever......

Sounds like a vast right-wing conspiracy to me.

Not everything is so slow just because I ordered it.
The NECG CZ peeps from shelf stock to my hand, four days.
Six months for custom dies ain't bad, not good, but not bad. I just hope they come through in six months: by next weekend.

That would sound great, RIP. I've moved the barrel for my 400/.395 into the bedroom just so I can look at it and be reminded what awaits.
By the by, the Buffalo Trace is going down better now that I've mixed it with cola. And I'm seriously awaiting the Ratzeputz.

quote:

Originally posted by prof242:
That would sound great, RIP. I've moved the barrel for my 400/.395 into the bedroom just so I can look at it and be reminded what awaits.
By the by, the Buffalo Trace is going down better now that I've mixed it with cola. And I'm seriously awaiting the Ratzeputz.

Idol I mean barrel worship in the bedroom eh?

An alter to incomplete projects..........

Unfortunately, its the only thing in the bedroom that I can "worship."

LBT Blue Lube.
The bullet casts very close to .396.
A Hornady .416 gas check is put on by pushing the bullet through a Lee bullet sizing die base-first, then reversing it and pushing it through the die nose-first to flatten the base of the gas check.

Then I melted the solid-stick Blue Lube in a small skillet and stood the bullets base down in the lube and let it solidify. Used a piece of .416 Rigby brass (that was sized and chamfer sharpened at the case mouth and cut off at the base) to cookie-cut the bullets out of the lube.

Then I passed the bullets nose-first through the Lee .396-sizer for the final scrape of the lube into the grooves.

We'll see if these will be accurate enough for squirrels and such, going for 2150 fps with the 410-grainers in the .395 Tatanka, using about 100 grains of H50BMG.

That will duplicate 400/.395 Nitro Express Aboriginal loads.

Maybe Lyman will make a custom sizer die of .396 caliber for their lubrisizer someday?

Maybe you should try some of these RIP!!!

They come ready made in .395"

Yep,
I have bought out any sporting goods store I visited that had them on the shelves.
They work as well as a soap plug for fireforming. You can even get two of them into the neck of a .395 Tatanka and have a two-shot buckshot load.

When the 400/.395 NE arrives, I imagine a 4-shot buckshot load of .395 round balls can be devised, using the 10.03x74R case. Should finally get a useful pattern!

Can sumbuddy who know tell me what those .395 round balls are really used for?
Rammed into the cylinders of 36-caliber Navy percussion revolvers?
Patched and shot from 40-cal Pennsylvania-Kentucky squirrel rifles?

There must be some other use for them besides what I have been doing with them.

75 Bore

OOOO Buck

Derringer food

I have been reading up on The Longrifles of Western Pennsylvania and such.
I have a nice book with pictures of flintlocks and percussion rifles from the 1700's and 1800's in every caliber from 30 to 50:

.30, .31, .32, .33, .34, .35, .36, .37, .38, .39, .40, .41, .42, .43, .44, .45, .46, .47, .48, .49, and .50 calibers ...

That is as far as my studies have taken me so far.

Until I can find a proper flintlock Kentucky Rifle that shoots .395 round balls, I may have to settle for a "40-caliber Dixie 'Deluxe' Cub Rifle."
Flintlock or percussion, with 28" barrel, 43" OAL, and weight of rifle is 6.5 pounds.
From Dixie Gun Works, Inc.

It has .400" land diameter and .418" groove diameter, 7-groove, and uses a .010" greased patch and .395 round balls. Maybe 1:48" twist?

That will be fine sport, hunting squirrels with that.

Hopefully not too many squirrel seasons must come and go before I finish the "projects."

Max,
I have a tracking number for the CH4D dies for 400/.395 Nitro Express "Aboriginal."
Will let you know.

That cartridge will be easiest of the modern .395's with which to recreate 40-caliber flintlock ballistics, as well as 400 Nitro for Black Powder 3" loads, and the full 400 Nitro Express 3" loads that have purest pedigree: .395-caliber.

~100-grainers for squirrels.
~230 to 300-grainers for deer.
~310 to 410-grainers for the big stuff.
It doesn't get any better than that for comfortable, versatile, competent killing.

And who can argue with the Master?
For lubrication of the round balls (I'm assuming these are the 100gr loads), what are you using? I'd think that either one of the spray lubes, or tumbling with moly might do. Velocities going to be kept to about 12-1400fps?
I'm going after mule deer in November and hope to use the 400/.395NE for that hunt. I may even use some of my cast bullets for elk, but I'd kinda like to use the .395 Max again with Macifej's bullets.

You have all summer to slay some Wild Pigs Max!! Why wait til November.....

quote:

Originally posted by prof242:
For lubrication of the round balls ...

Max,
For the 1:12" twist 400/.395 NE round ball loads, will have to experiment with your suggestions and also the Lee Liquid Alox ... tumble them around in a tin can until they are thoroughly coated, then set them out on wax paper to air dry, and shoot at about 1000 fps for starters, subsonic squirrel loads. Go up from there if squirrels are particularly hard headed.

I have a line on a custom made flintlock 40-caliber. Curly maple stock and a 41" barrel of 1:48" twist. Shoots .395 Hornady round balls with minute-of-squirrel-brain accuracy.

It was made by the same gunsmith who is holding the parts and reamer for the 400/.395 NE. He is in New York through the week (Remington R&D engineering) and in Kentucky on the weekends.

Select gunsmithing gets done on the weekends.
Can't tell you when my reamer will be ready for your use, but I ought to be able to package up the dies and mail them to you this weekend.

You might get the reamer quicker by ordering one from Dave Manson, for I am still waiting on the gunsmith traveling back and forth between NY and KY. Maybe if I offer to take one of his pet squirrel rifles off his hands it will remind him to finish up with my reamer.

Then there is that other smith in Tennesssee who is babysitting the 500 Mbogo ...

RIP,
You seem to have it well in hand with the round balls. 1000fps to start sounds like an excellent idea. Might try this myself. My cat likes to go squirrel hunting with me. She'll go around to the other side of the tree and then I get a shot on my side! Yeah Weird.

Send me info on the flintlock. My son is really into blackpowder. Has an original Pennsylvania rifle that he cherishes.

Macifej:
Have asked my hunting compadre to arrange a hunt in Texas near some land he owns. We'll either use our .395 Max rifles...or, our Poor Man's Double Rifles (12ga SxS's w/ sights and rifled screw-in chokes).

Maximus -

Picked up a bottle of your favorite Buffalo Trace on the way home just now. Will report shortly. 35 of those .395 swaged balls would make a nice 2-Bore BP Danderbusse Buck load eh??

Max,
The Rusty McGee 40-cal flintlock is a one of a kind custom, Kentucky longrifle, homemade. Rusty has shot it at the Friendsip, Indiana shoots.
I will be checking it out and making him an offer.

Dixie Gun Works, Inc.
www.dixiegun.com
has the Pedersoli of Italy Dixie Deluxe Cub (28" barrel) 40-cal (.395 round ball) in completed rifle, flintlock, for $530. They have the percussion rifle in kit form only (Pedersoli) for $440.

Macifej,
You will not be disappointed by the Buffalo Trace unless you have wussy taste buds like Max. His shame is his penance. He has suffered enough.

Well it's certainly different than most Ken-Tuck types. Beautiful aroma of vanilla - tawny color - medium to heavy bodied - nice up front but VERY distinct wood rosin finish. Definitely drinkable but not for light weights. A keeper

I have been thinking for a few years that I'd like to have a 2-Bore cap lock blunderbuss. Starting load of half pound #9 shot over 250 grains 3F.