A little update...I decided to keep the Chrome Moly barrel and the rifle is complete enough to shoot. My 'smith tested it out today. He didn't have any H4895 or CFE 223 (I should have sent some with the gun) but he tested with H335 under the 360 grain north forks. Brass formed well but he was not impressed with the consistency in the primer pockets of the QC brass. Virgin cases varied from nice and firm to loose. 50 yard accuracy was acceptable for a fire form loading of various powder charges...basically a ragged hole (albeit .41 caliber bullets can make a BIG ragged hole).
He started at 55 grains and worked up to 63 grains. Max velocity was 2230. It was not showing any pressure signs as far as bolt lift or extraction. However, when he resized and reprimed the brass anything over 61.0 grains had loose pockets and the 63.0 grain load pretty well blew the pocket. He figures a max working load with that powder is around 2100 to 2150...a tad slow for a 360.
He described the recoil a substantial but slow...very similar to his .450 Marlin. Having owned a .450 before and familiar with its recoil impulse I am actually pretty excited to touch this off. Seems more then manageable.
I am not the least concerned about the velocities as that H335 was not even on my radar for a powder choice. I am however a little disappointed to here about the consistency, or lack thereof, in the QC brass. Having to cull a bunch when paying $2/case doesn't give a guy a lot of warm fuzzies. Luckily I also recently bought a bunch of virgin .35 Whelen brass so may just fireform a bunch of that for general shooting and then save a nice stash of properly headstamped .400 brass for if I ever travel internationally. I have 120 virgin .400 cases so should get 70-100 "tight" pockets I would hope...more then enough for a LOT of hunting.
The barreled action will be sent off to cerakote soon and I am picking up the stock and shipping it to HS precision to have it painted brown w/black webbing and have them install a red decelerator. Could be burning powder by the end of July!
