The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Wildcats And Their Development Odd caliber?Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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All I did was find a 50,000 PSI load??? Was that a mistake? I thought it was somewhere close to the load we used to fireform the first cases but maybe I am wrong - I will dig through the thread and double check. On the upside I had no trouble extracting and the primers look fine so maybe I just got lucky? Thanks again for all the great info and help -- if I ever write the magazine article I hope you will be ready to fly down to TX and help me get it all together - or err maybe I'll come to Kentucky!  I will bring my chronograph next outing and get the data. | |||
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Just yanking your chain, since you are going down on the powder charge maybe. Maybe you just need a faster powder to start low with and build up, using 300-grainers. Varget ought to be ideal for 400-grainers, start low and work up. Great with 300-grainers too. I use Varget in the 404 Jeffery with all bullet weights from 300 to 400 grains. My favorite there. No qualms about 50K psi loads for starting, but how do we know other than QuickLOAD? Need the chronograph to verify nearness to reality, short of actual pressure testing ... Keep up the good work. | |||
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RIP -- I was sure that the fire-forming load was near 50K PSI, and this confirms that, so all I did was find a load with Varget that was at 50K??? I am still a damned greenhorn and don't want to explode my gun (especially after so much time and work), and I like my arms and face (well, kinda), right the way they are, so I thought I made a reasonable guess on the 300g Varget load? Anyways, I am glad you kept cool through all of my learnin ups and downs and got me to this point, still alive, with everything attached, with an awesome rifle that I am grateful to have. | |||
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Also, I loaded a few rounds with 400g Woodleighs that I wanted to try out -- 66g Varget, 2165 FPS, 51021 PSI, 4162-ft lbs (according to QuickLoad), which I thought would be the equivalent of the 300g Hornady loads in terms of energy (recoil)? Wondered what your thoughts might be? | |||
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OK I didn't see your last post until just now -- what the heck?????? You answered my questions before I asked them!  | |||
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CHRONOGRAPH REPORT   Even with a 25-lb weight on the Lead Sled, it still kicks like a Mule and moves that Lead Sled - but at least I made it through the loaded ammo I had!   The two cases lower right I did not load for this session. I like both loads just where they are, and they both print surprisingly close to each other at 50-yards. No scope adjustments from last week...  In the black are the first 8 shots (300g Hornady) on the print out. The five shots low and in the white are the last five shots (400g)of the day.  There are 8-shots here... I know I need to improve my bench technique but I believe that will come with more gettin' used to the recoil of this thing - I hope  Edit 5 FEB: RIP cases weigh 234.57g - Quick Karl cases weigh 242.29g. All cases cleaned, sized, trimmed to 2.540". May account for some anomalies in the data strings - good chance I mixed things up here and there because of my focus on recoil abatement... I will be much for methodical next trip out. | |||
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I have quantities of H414 and H322 and I am interested in hearing thoughts on the use of those powder in this rifle. Sometimes I think that only RIP ever reads this thread...  | |||
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This load shows real promise, they want to go into one hole, you just have to let them:
That chronograph data is reassuring. QuickLOAD underestimated the velocity for the 300-grainer, but was very close to reality on the 400-grainer. I like both loads. You should not worry about pressure until you get over 2700 fps with the 300 grainer, and over 2300 fps with the 400-grainer. Then you will be approaching max loads. But those two loads you have, both around 50 Kpsi, do look like a good combo, like having .375 H&H and a 450/400 Nitro Express loads from one rifle. That will take care of anything needin' doin'. Though not necessary, if you want you can have a .375 Wby/.416 Rigby combo of load ballistics for that rifle too, for stunt shooting purposes.  I would zero the 400-grainer at 100 yards. First just adjust the scope so it is dead-on at 25 yards. Should be very close to dead-on again at 100 yards. Then see how high the 300-grainers land at 100 yards with same scope setting. You have room to tweak either load, aiming at dead-on with the 400-grainer at 100 yards, and 2 to 3 inches high with the 300-grainer at 100 yards. It does look like your "QK" brass adds about 20 fps to the 400-grainer MV, as compared to the "RIP" brass. Time to make some more brass and stick with one brass weight/internal capacity for big-bore-benchrest competition with yourself. It is all about "personal best." Doing good has no end. When you can't do any better just keep doing good. Riflecrank Internationale Permanente NRA Life Benefactor and Beneficiary https://home.nra.org/ | |||
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H322 would be great in the 404 ExpFNB with 300-grainers. That was my pick from the start for your 300-grain-bullet loads. Start with 65 grains of H322 and work up to 2700 fps with the 300-grain bullet, 1/2-grain or 1-grain increments of powder, your choice. 70.0 grains ought to be about max, unless QuickLOAD is as bad on this as it was with the Varget and 300-grainers for predicted velocity. Might be faster than expected, lots vary, etc. I have had great results with H322 in the 400 Whelen and in the 12.7x68mm Magnum (.500/.338 Lapua Magnum Improved), using light bullets of 300 to 360 grains in those. I forgot what primer you are using. Keep using the same one for this load trial too. I think you better stick with Varget for the 400-grainers. I would! Both H322 and Varget are excellent powders, extruded and temperature insensitive (Thermo-Ballistic-Insensitivity = TBI, this kind of TBI can prevent the other kind of TBI, Traumatic Brain Injury). I do not use ball powders in big bores. But I do not see anything wrong with 105%/compressed loads of the Hodgdon Extreme line of powders, like H322 and Varget, etc. Riflecrank Internationale Permanente NRA Life Benefactor and Beneficiary https://home.nra.org/ | |||
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A small gun shop just a few miles away had some Varget so I am going to stick with that for the time being. | |||
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It appears Varget will do it all in your cartridge. But, H4895 is the go-to powder for 400-grainers in the 400 Whelen. It will be a good one to try if you get the chance. It is intermediate in speed between the faster H322 and the slower Varget. It is also EXTREME-ly TBI. The approximately 2150 fps Varget load with the 400-grain Woodleigh ought to work wonders with your gas-checked cast lead boolit. Use Lyman No. 2 alloy and you will have a great hunting bullet.  Riflecrank Internationale Permanente NRA Life Benefactor and Beneficiary https://home.nra.org/ | |||
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Well, I just kinda got some bad news today on this rifle -- it turns out that the old gunsmith I got this thing from never did any of the magazine work required to make it work the right way, so now I have to find someone to alter the magazine, and I am just so tired that I don't even want to do it... | |||
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OK, did you sleep on it last night Karl? Got your energy back? Just a feed job needed. There are very few rifles in the world with ideal magazine boxes. Most are make-do with tricks done to the feed rails, ramps and even windowing of the boxes. All the exalted makers of .416 Rigby and wider-bodied chamberings have shoe-horned the cartridges into boxes too narrow. You can make that M98 function well with a shortened .375 H&H belted basis like on the 404 Express FNB. It is a great thing that the action length does not need to be opened up to .375 H&H length. Every 550 Magnum rifle that CZ makes for .416 Rigby and bigger cartridges uses a too-narrow box. The 404 Jeffery is the biggest thing that fits the "Mauser Cosine Law" for box width in a CZ 550 Magnum. Ditto Dakota, etc. Yes, you need a competent gunsmith if you are not one. Onward. Riflecrank Internationale Permanente NRA Life Benefactor and Beneficiary https://home.nra.org/ | |||
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LOL Thanks, bro!  The guy at Swift bullets says that their Blackburn 17, 17X, or 26 bottom metal, should work... But there is still a feed job to do after that... I'm just going to give this thing a rest for a while, and shoot something else! | |||
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On the upside - the barrel cleans up quicker than any that I have ever owned except for my Schneider polygon AR15 barrel that cleans so fast it is as if it doesn't get fouled, at all... When I say clean, I mean no copper fouling, at all. Surprising! I am still trying to figure out what to do with my magazine box. | |||
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Don Markey made the front and rear sight inserts for me:  Thank you Don, they are perfect! My first time ever fitting a dovetail (I left them extra wide so I could file the width once I had them fit)! I still have to fit the rear insert, then file (site) them in, then finish sanding and blue them! | |||
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Nice, my favorite front sight, a "patridge" or "sourdough" with plenty of height for filing. I do hope you plan to do some flat-topped, square-notched rear sight filing too. Then it will shoot like a combat handgun at close range, leveled and centered in the notch, and you can hold the front higher for long shots, the way Elmer did it. Blacking or painting the front sight rear slope white or red or fluorescent? Riflecrank Internationale Permanente NRA Life Benefactor and Beneficiary https://home.nra.org/ | |||
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Yep - a square notch rear, like my 1911, is my plan! I've never found a coating, or a color, that I like on a front sight. It seems they all have their weak points to my eyes. Maybe white? If I'd had thought of it sooner I would have asked for a pocket to be milled for tritium inserts | |||
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Gun is dead. Cannot justify half to full cost of a Satterlee action to have the Blackburn bottom metal I bought, fit to my action and have the magazine well milled to match the interior profile of the Blackburn magazine box (yes, I got a quote like that). Alternatively, I am not willing to experimenting on it only to wind up with a paperweight. Chalk it up to experience - buy a Remington M700! | |||
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What an interesting thread! I hope that Quick Karl gets the rifle finished some day - helluva story!  | |||
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Ditto!  Riflecrank Internationale Permanente  | |||
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