Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 404 Jeffery

I traded a LH rifle for a LH Zastava opened at factory for 375 H&H and am considering a 404J to pair up with my 275 Rigby and 9.3x62. Fresh thoughts on the 404J welcomed.

.404J is a good round.

I built one on a M-70 RUM donor. Find a left handed CRF M-70 donor in 300 RUM and build you one.

There is less work to do with a RUM action, already set up for fat rounds. You will have to open the bolt face, which is easier with CRF than PF.

DF

Keeping it 375 will be a whole lot easier.

Just sayin'!

I own both a 375H&H and a 404 Jeffery.

The 404 is one cool rifle, but I have little use for it. When I was a young man I used a 404 for almost a year. Loaned to me, and I came to really like the rifle, but here in the USA I have no use for it. I made the one I own now for the nostalgia of having it, and the 375 covers all the bases better for me as does the 9.3X62 and the 9.3X74R.
There is just nothing in the USA or Canada that a 404 does that a 375 won't do as well, and if the game is over 200 years away the 375 makes range estimation less critical.
Also the bullets available for the 375 go from those made to open easily to those that open only some when they hit thick skin like that of a hippo or cape buffalo, to those that don't open at all.
In the .423 diameter you have "African bullets" and nothing else. Not that it matters much, but it is a point to think about.

If I were to be forces to choose between a 375 OR a 404 I would say the375 is a better choice for me, but the best is to simply have both.

Just fanning the fire but do you consider that the Jeffrey brings anything to the table that the 375 doesn't do on big game? I have heard some say that over 40 caliber is better but I doubt I could see a difference. If you follow this line of thought you could always go with 350 grain bullets in the 375. Taylor split the difference on if in open country or heavy cover on his preference.

Go for it, you already have a 9.3 which is close to the 375. Hornady makes ammo and brass for the 404. Resale on a 404 Jeffrey will be way better than a plain jane 375 in case you decide you don't need it in the future. Plus you get to say you have a 404 Jeffrey!

Life is too short not to have a few cool rifles in your lifetime. The 375 H&H is a great round but rather common. If I didn't already have an ongoing love for the 400 Whelen, I'd build a 404 Jeff. You are neither over gunned for anything on this continent nor under gunned for any other continent.

Well Peashooter makes an excellent point. One well worth listening to.

Your 9.3 is close enough to a 375 that I doubt you'd see any difference in the 2 on North American game. I can't anyway, and I also have several 9.3s. I have not killed anywhere near the number of game animals with my 9.3s as I have with my 375 (which is on it's 2nd barrel now) but I have killed and seen killed enough game with the 9.3X62 and 9.3X74R that I can say on elk, moose and buffalo, I have not seen any real difference in how the 3 cartridges kill.

So if you like the idea of the 404, make it.

As I said above, if I were forced to choose between a 375 and a 404 I would go with the 375, but the 9.3 is close enough.

Agree. I traded my .404J, kept my .375 H&H.

A .416 Rem is an easier conversion, most any full length mag action will work, less alteration than .404J.

DF

I'm in the process of building one on a LH Zastava. It would be nice if lighter, more streamlined bullets were available. Something like a Woodleigh 350gr PP, but they make a round nose in that weight that should open up well on lighter game. Most guys here that have them seem to have no trouble on lesser game using 400gr RN pills. I intend to use mostly cast in mine for local use.

I ended up with a Walther barrel for my .404J. Seem not everyone makes .404J barrels.

What barrels are available to you guys down under?

DF

We have a few barrel makers locally (TSE, Maddco, Sprinter, Swan and others plus a few Kiwi barrel makers). To be honest I didn't check locally as I bought a new Walther Lother prefit for a 98 when it was on sale.

For 98's it pretty hard to look beyond a Walther Lothar prefit. If you have time to order one, they have a huge list of chamberings (including quite a few obscure European chamberings) and a few contours.

Walther will work, mine sure did...

DF

.404J on a .300 RUM CRF M-70 donor with Walther barrel, Echols Legend stock, Williams bottom metal, NECG front and peep, M-70 Safari fold down rear to accommodate peep...

DF

Nice looking rig there, DF.

Thanks JFE. It wasn't that hard a build. The .404J is the parent round for the RUM family. They have rebated rims, the .404 doesn't, so the bolt face has to be opened and the extractor adjusted for the wider rim. The box mag is already set up for those fat rounds, Feeding ramp will need to be widened.

I talked to D'Arcy about the stock. It's made by McM for him, but he has full rights, they can't sell it direct. He inletted it for Williams bottom metal and the fit was Echols perfect, just a drop in. I didn't have to touch it. He did install cross pins that I painted over. McM would only recommend mag fill for a big gun like this, this one is std fill. D'Arcy said it would hold and it held just fine, although I did Steel Bed it.

Someone could do a similar build with a LH donor.

The Legend comes without inletting for the port or bolt handle, so it could be set up left or right handed.

D'Arcy is very easy to talk to and knows his stuff, likes to help his customers.

DF

Is that Light Years?

Good luck finding a left handed M-70 in 300 RUM though.

OP could go over to Accurate Reloading, in the Gunsmithing sub-forum, and read the thread on D'Arcy making a mauser feed 9.3x62, IIRC. Lots of pictures, videos and commentary on getting it to work 100%. There is a LOT more to it than just swapping parts.

As OP already BTDT.

If you handload, you can do a google search for ".404 Jeffery bullets." There are several sources that offer a respectable array of bullets suitable for most North American big game hunting.