Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Updating the 404 Ruger African project

Fired the initial rounds at the range this afternoon, but the chrono refused to work, so no MV data until next week. Learned a few things at the loading bench. Powders suitable for the Ruger case with the .423" 400 gn TSX are much faster than in the 375 Ruger. Mainly because the volume of the .423" bullet at the max COAL (mag limited to 3.42") allows about 75-78 gns powder. Cases bulge on seating bullets above 80-82 gn charges. So, powders tested today at starting charges were RL-15, BL-(C) 2 & IMR-4064. All gave easy extraction, rounded primers and healthy but reasonable recoil from the bench over bags and a rest.

Also shot a Ruger No. 1 404 Jeffery - recoil less and slower in the Jeff because of the heavier rifle and muzzle brake. Interesting comparison between the old & new.

Have started to think about shorter bullets to increase effective case capacity so waiting for Hornady GSXs and may try Swift AFs (not much shorter than TSXs) and Woodleigh 400 gn RNs (markedly shorter than TSXs). Bullets tried will depend on chrono data next week.

2 shot test groups at 50 yds with all 3 powders. The 404-375 Ruger groups are at 3 and 9 o'clock in the inner diamond, with the 1st group 4" low at 5 o'clock (followed by elevation adjustment). The 2 shots at 3 o'clock 6" right are from the 404 Jeffery. The small holes in the center are 6.5-284s - needed a break between 404 groups.



As usual, wildcatting is never dull because of the interesting problems to be solved along the way.