I have a 330 Dakota on a M700 action that works fine but is gathering dust. When hunting game that needs a bigger thump than my 300 can deliver I always jump over the 330 and go direct to my 375.

I don't see why the 330 couldn't easily be converted to its parent 404.

If there are some inherent problems with this project please let me know. Also if there is something about the 404 that is not obvious I'd like to know that too.

I would think that the rails would need almost no work and ditto on mag. box and follower.

What I originally wanted was a 416 Rem. but it seems the 404 will match the 416 velocity with a little more frontal area. Of course the 404 has a little more class and most important it fits the M700's modified bolt face.

Finally do you guys know a gunsmith that likes African cartridges and would enjoy doing the rebarrel??

I would appreciate all your comments on this project.

Hi Mark,

There are others here who know more about this than I do. The 404 Dakota would be the obvious choice because it is the same length as the 330. Both are shorter than the parent 404 Jeffery so they will fit into a standard length action. Dakota Arms emailed me some info on the 404 Dakota yesterday and it looks like they are using a 400 grain .423" bullet at 2300 to 2400 fps. Believe me--that is ALOT more thump than the 330 has! Several rifle builders post here and hopefully some of them will weigh in on this regarding the technical stuff. Hope this helps a little.

Good Hunting,

No enough thump from a .330 Dakota?

Lest see...
.375 H&H with a 300-grain TBBC Federal round = 2,530 fps/4,265 foot-pound (muzzle)

.330 Dakota with a 250-grain NOS (factory) = 2,800 fps/4,353 foot-pound at the muzzle.

You can always load 275-grain Swift A-Frame or a 300-grain Woodleigh at 2,700 fps for a tremendous thump. One advantage the .375 H&H has over the .330 Dakota is that you can launch heavier than 300-grain bullets. The .375 bullets may be slightly fatter, which is good, but .33 bullets have greater SD.

I would leave the .330 Dakota the way it is (or sell it to someone), and buy one of the .416's.

Dear Ray,

Believe me I am 33cal. fan and have been for 20 years. I was just relaying what I do now when it comes time for hunting. I leave the 330 home because I choose to.

Actually my 330 clocks 2900 fps with 250 Swifts and the 375 I mentioned is the Weatherby version that gives an honest 2775 fps with 300 NP.

This original post actually had nothing to do ballistics. It was intended to find opinions on converting the 330 to 404. Speaking of ballistics my observation has been that big holes through the vitals kill animals not ft/lb.

Good Hunting

In that case, the .330 action should make an excellent .404. It's just that such an action (Dakota) is so expensive that it would make more sense to live it like it is now. The only problem I see with the .330 is the price one has to pay for ammo or cases for it.

I have heard that the .404 is pretty close to a .338 RUM, but I don't know enough about it to form an opinion. I do know that ammo for the .416 are available at the local stores.

Federal factory ammo for the .416, with 400-grain TB produces 2,400 fps/5,115 foot-pound. Sighted +2.9" at 100 yards, the 400 grainer drops to -12.5" at 300 yards. At that distance it still travels at 1,770 fps, and the retained energy equals 2,785 foot-pound.

The .404 Dakota with a 400-grain Woodleigh at 2,400 fps, produces 5,117 foot-pound of energy at the muzzle. Sighted +3" at 100 yards, the 400 grainer drops to -12.1" at 300 yards. Velocity at that distance is 1,748 fps, and energy is 2,693 foot-pound.

The two are very close ballistically, but an advantage of the .416 over the .404 is ammo availability in Alaska, and the price for brass.

The .416 Dakota is about 100 fps faster than the .404 and the .416 Rem. Mag., while the .416 Weatherby is about 200 fps faster than the .416 Dakota.

[ 09-22-2002, 06:18: Message edited by: Ray, Alaska ]

Ray,

Please read my original post. The gun is a Model 700 Remington.

I also can spout the ballistics tables in my sleep.

I'm only interested in if it would be an easy conversion not if one caliber is better than another.

Thanks for your thoughts anyway.

Mark,

I would imagine it would be OK because the body of the 404 case would be about the same length and of course diamter as the 330 Dakota.

I am thinking that the although the 404 is 2.85" as opposed to the 330 at 2.5", a lot of the 404s 2.85" is neck.

If you can get hold of a few 404s I think they will go far enough into the 330 Dakoata chamber for you to get a good idea on how feeding would be.

Mike

I have not done this conversion, but looking at the cartridges, 330 & 404 Dakota, it would seem to be rather straight forward and simple.

There should be no need whatsoever to open rails since the cartridge diameters and shoulder axial positions are the same. You might need to adjust the feed ramp due to the larger diameter bullet of the 404. This could be a problem though, as I recall the M700 action does not have much width to it's feed ramp. This is the only area I would be concerned about. The best way to find out is to acquire a few dumby rounds, unscrew your existing barrel and feed the dumbys through your action. That is the only way to know for sure.

Axel