I am looking of some one that has a 404 Dakota reamer and head speace guage. I have the barrel and action with caliber specific Blackburn bottome metal.

I'm very interested in what you come up with. I've had a hard time trying to find .404 Dakota cartridge specs, as far as that goes.

This should work well in a .375 M70 Safari as an alternative to doing a .404 Jeff, don'cha think? Especially if you could find some good bottom metal to give 4 or 5 down.

I think you will not need a 375 length action as the 404 Dakota has a 3.32 OAL and should do fine in an action designed for the '06 or the 338 win. mag. I am trying to buy some brass to work with as well as well as looking for someone to smith the deal for me. The only thing that worries me is ammo availability although that shouldn't as I have not shot a factory round in years.

Not to hijack the thread, but on a similar topic, I've often wondered why someone didn't just shorten the as-is 404 Jeffery case by 1/4"? Call it the 404 Jeffery Short.

You only need to take .19" off of the case to make it the same OAL as a 416 Taylor.

With Dakota's future in question - as well as their proprietary cartridges - it just seems logical and easy.

You would have to have a reamer made and custom dies, but those aren't insurmountable.

I'm sure enough interest could be generated here on the forum to share some of the costs.

It would be pretty simple... just buy normal 404 Brass and trim off .20".

Leonard,
jamison made(makes?) the dakota brass, and can again.
i do suggest, how ever, that the 416 AR is a superior cartridge, at least in terms of brass, as it's handily made from RUM brass. And Jamison will be making brass for those, as well

Jeffesso, it is a good idea, but what to do with the .423 barrel and don't say donate it to you!

What about a 404 AR? Or are we just trying to make something else out of something.

Leonard,
yeah, well, you got me there... no 404 AR ... but there's a 416?>?!?!

i guess no donation for jeffe on the short .423 barrel !!!!

other than the 10.75x68, I am not a huge fan of the .423 bullets... i think that's because i was dropped on my head, though!!

jeffe

I know where you are comming from. I have more big bores than anyone would ever need but then as they say, it isn't about needs anymore! I am torn between the 404 Dakota and the 10.75x68. I guess it could go either way as I will have to find a reamer and head space guages anyway. Will the small ring Brno 21 hold up on a 10.75x68? Is it too much to ask of that small of an action?

if it's a small ring, large thread, yeah, but I don't believe the brno to be that.

I've done 458 win, 376 steyr, 358win, and others, on the mexican mauser... yeah, 458 win.. it's a rem405 ONLY gun, but lots of fun to see my baby son shoot his gun.

10.75x68!!!
jeffe

Would you make it on the Brno or a large ring Orberndorf action. I think it would be neat on a Brno. I wish I had a ZG47 to play around with on this project.

Would I do it on a Brno or Orberndorfan? If I had the barrel, reamer, and dies, in about 2 hours it would be in my mule stock, being test fired.

jeffe

Which action would hold its value better, the Brno 21/22 or an Orberndorf? I have all of it but the reamer and headspace guage. A stock would be next but I do have a McMillan fiberglass stock that I can use until we sort out the loads etc.. Ray said he had a reamer and headspace guage but his rifle was not as fast as the Hoffman he sold me.

The way ations are going up in price, i think both will be of similar value in 5 years. And in a neat caliber.. today, I would do the brno. Ask me tomorrow, I might say the oberndorfan, but maybe not.

reamers and gages are about $200 bucks for this one, from manson....
jeffe

Looks promising. I will let you know how it goes.

and if you are buying a reamer, let me know, we might just have to partner in it.

I will call and see how quick a reamer could be made. I had thought of making a rifle on the AR pattern. As you say cases would be easy to make from RUM but it still would be a wildcat on par with the Dakota without the proper head stamp. The advantage to the 10.75x68 is that I think there would be very little in the way of difficult gunsmithing to make it feed from a standard 3006 magazine box. My Hoffman feeds everything I have made for it very well in deed.

aww, thanks!!!

the 416 AR is pretty easy to get to work, but a 10.75x68 is SUPPOSED to be a cakewalk. If you decide on that reamer, let me know, if you want to do an AR, we can work something out.

jefffe