Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Thoughts on the new .400 legend?

Outdoor Life did a write up on a cartridge that was recently introduced. It's a .40 caliber straight wall cartridge with a case length of 1.65 inches which makes it a legal cartridge for deer hunting in cartridge restricted areas that limit hunters to using straight wall cartridges or cartridges of .35 caliber or greater with a case length between 1.16 and 1.8 inches (or both). It seems to fill a bit of a gap between the .350 legend and the .450 bushmaster (hits harder than the .350 legend, but has a flatter trajectory and less recoil than the .450 bushmaster) and would be adequate for elk and moose (which the .350 is not suited for).

I've been thinking about what I should get as far as a hunting cartridge for Indiana, and I was thinking about .350 legend but leaning towards .450 bushmaster. Now I want to see what kind of industry support this cartridge gets as it seems that it might have the best characteristics of both.

As a side note, it can use .40 caliber pistol bullets, though new bullets are being introduced with it that are specifically designed for usage in this cartridge. I imagine a 135 grain .40 S&W bullet being driven at 3000+ fps would be hell on a ground hog!

If you have the listed caliber restrictions for elk or moose I could see the usefulness. I'm not aware of any places that have those restrictions for el/moose but I haven't looked either. For deer I think it's a step backwards from the 350.

Believe I'd rather have a 400 Whelen.

Agreed

I think it is an answer in search of a question. Someone is trying to sell you guns that you don't need. I'm not aware of anywhere that has a huntable elk population that requires use of short straight wall cartridges. The .350 Legend is a better choice for deer. Is there a place that requires straight wall cartridges for hogs? If so, maybe that's an application. Otherwise .. meh, like I said, an answer in search of a question.

The 450 Bushmaster is a better all around choice.

One gun could do it all, but not very well. Deer yes, but there are better choices for moose.

I am liking the looks of the 360 Buckhammer for deer.

I agree with the 360 Buckhammer choice. Seems to be a much better all around load. More bullets available.

Making a cartridge under the limit of 1.8" just so it can be used in a AR-15 is plane stupid.....if the 400 Legend was 1.8" the limit for States that require it would be a much better cartridge....

I build my own 400 caliber cartridge been doing it for over 5 years its 1.8" long and shoots a 165 gr. Cutting Edge Bullet no problem getting 2900 fps ....

I pulled the trigger on the bushmaster. Ruger Go wild bolt gun. It shoots well and I have an accurate 250gr FTX bullet hand load that averages. 2397FPS. I cannot wait to hammer a deer with it this coming season. While other new offerings 360/400 are popping up, that matter is settled for me. The 450 is my huckleberry!

Why not just use a rifle chambered in 44 Mag? No reason to reinvent the wheel

Unless the deer are bigger than you...get a 45-70.

Unfortunately, .45-70 is not legal for hunting deer because of the 1.8 inch case length thing. Even if thè perfectly legal 450 bushmaster has just as much range, and a rifle in .500 magnum (also legal) would have greater range.


Tell me more about your wildcat.

Check the Big Game Forum, there is a discussion there.

I meant to say the HUnting Rifle Forum, this the Big Game Forum. I am old and easily confused, I guess.

Sounds like a modern version of the old 401 Win S.L.

Exactly. 44mag and 45colt and the like fit all the requirements for these restricted locations and like you say they're already available and have existed forever. Any whitetail out to 100-150yds is freezer bound.

The 400Legend is interesting. Like the 350Legend, intended for the AR15 platform, w/ all its constraints(but it'll be in XPR and RAR boIt rifles too). If you look at Starline Brass's website, you'll find cylindrical 7.62x39 brass. The 30 Short Russian case is about the largest you can use in a regular AR upper. Rebate the rim to 30Rem/10mm/6.8SPC dimensions, and you have the 400 Legend. The .422" bolt head diameter of the 6.8SPC provides stronger bolt locking lugs than the .447" rim diameter of the 7.62x39. And, like the original Norma10mm loadings, uses a just under 220gr bullet. W/ a COAL of 2.260", the 400 Legend should still feed from modified STANAG magazines but at reduced capacity. Other than the 450 Bushmaster and 50 Beowolf, the 400 Legend will have the 3rd greatest amount of muzzle energy available in the AR15 platform. Lots of potential for the small AR15 platform I'd say.

I'm curious why you folks think that the 350 would be better than the 400?

Genuine question since I haven't gotten into either caliber and the 400 is so new that there's hardly no real data about them except in gun rags.

With that said, I don't know why the 400 couldn't be a fine deer rifle.

Being devils advocate, with a 16 inch barrel and 155 gr pills, I am loading 10mm brush gun around 1770 fps average. Add with a longer case of the 400 I'm sure that with a carbine length barrel that the 10mm bullet could easily be pushed well beyond 2000 fps and get better than 30-30 ballistics without breaking a sweat.

Again, I haven't gotten into either of those new calibers so maybe I'm missing something, but there's a lot of folks happy with just 10mm performance on deer and bear. I don't see how adding more velocity and ft lbs on target would hardly be construed as a bad thing.

No, I don't see short straight wall cartridges ever performing better than most belted magnum cartridges or anything, but I don't see them being inadequate either.