Fireforming a few Biggies

[BruceB]

Been expanding my supply of .404 brass by including a box of .375 Ultra Mag brass with every Midway order. It costs about $16 per 20 rounds, compared with $60 per 20 for "real" .404 cases. I took out the latest 20 for fireforming yesterday.

The process is simple. Using a well-lubed .375 case, and with the expander assembly removed from the .404 sizer die, I progressively increase the amount of sizing until the case JUST BARELY allows the rifle bolt to cam home. I then prime and size all the .375 brass at that setting, in a single pass through the die. Case loss to date: zero.

21.0 grains of 2400 is charged in each case, and 4.7 cc of cornmeal is dropped on top of the powder. (The Lee set of powder scoops is perfect for this job.) A tuft of dacron in the remaining neck space holds the whole mess together.

Pointing the rifle vertically upward and firing the 'rounds" gives me nice square mouths and fully-formed .404 cases. If the rifle is NOT vertical, I find that some mouths are off-square and need to be trimmed. This is LOUD, so don't do it in your garage.

I have enough brass on hand now to allow all attendees at the NCBS 2007 to get a real "feel" of how a nice English "medium" express rifle performs. I've removed the scope, and it's all shallow-V irons from here on out. Trust me, y'all will know that the primer functioned correctly. You'll also appreciate the Pachmayr Decelerator pad installed by Duncan's Gun Works in San Marcos, CA.

I must be a bit punchy, because I'm greedily eyeing the new Ruger Hawkeye rifle and its new .375 Ruger cartridge. Heck, it weighs 7.5 pounds, and its ONLY a .375! What a varminter!

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

but,
does it rain cornpone?

Rich
DRSS

[dubber123]

Any suggestions for making cheap .416 Rigby?. I just looked at brass, and really wish I had bought more 2 years ago.

[MT Gianni]

I still remember Karen being heard over the shooting going on when a heavy load found it's way into the mix. It does go boom. Gianni.

[powderburnerr]

Darn ...I am going to miss it,That is a nice litle rifle and I can bet them sights will be just the thing for it...........Dean

[JeffinNZ]

I fire form by .303 brass when new in the same manner. It's a good honest BOOM you get. Great stuff.

[BruceB]

Dubber, sir;

I could use a source of low-cost brass for making .416 Rigby, too!

About the only other cases I'm aware of which can be transformed are the Weatherby series of big magnums, namely the .378, .416 and .460. Roy Weatherby looked around for the biggest danged existing case he could find for his super magnums, and it was the .416 Rigby. He added the trademark belt to Rigby brass, and his new maggies were off and running.

To use Weatherby cases in a Rigby chamber we'd need to remove that belt. I have a Unimat lathe so it would be easy for me. Trouble is, the Weatherby brass is just about as costly as the actual .416 Rigby stuff. I hope to trip over a stash of Weatherby brass someday, but so far it's pretty rare. Even on Ebay, the .378/.416/.460 brass is very pricey even in once-fired form.

Oh, well....

[BruceB]

Just did some scuffling around on the 'net looking for .416 brass.

I found a place that has seventy boxes of .378 Wby brass at about $40/20, but I also discovered that Midway expects Jamison International .416 Rigby brass "soon", and will ask just $35/20. THAT is good news, and I'm going to wait awhile to see if this particular fairy tale comes true. There's no point in messing with case alterations if the real thing is going to be available soon at reasonable rates.

[Buckshot]

...........Jamison has brought out 577-450 and 577 Snider, and if they can do those, why not .416? I bought my first 577-450 for $108/20, which kind of put other brass prices into persepctive. Heck, 43 Spanish and 11mm Mauser at $28/20 was almost so cheap you could just leave them on the ground :-)

We're now seeing the 2 British cartridges at $2.15 ea from Jamison, through a group buy on the British Militaria forums.

................Buckshot

[dubber123]

BruceB, that would be good news provided the Jamison stuff is of a good quality. 35$ for 20 is less than I paid for my small quantity of Norma stuff 2 years ago. I got to thinking I should get some more, and when I checked I believe it's now over 70$ for 20, almost double. 100 rounds was over 300$. I only paid 800$ for the rifle, so that seems a bit steep! The Norma brass has been great so far though.

[BruceB]

What I've read about Jamison's quality is encouraging, so I have high hopes in that department.

All my .416 Rigby brass is (and has been from Day 1) Norma-made. Out of the first batch of 40 cases which my wimmenfolk gave me along with the rifle (and RCBS dies, too...they KNOW their stuff) I had to throw out about three cases without ever loading them. The rims were GROSSLY over-thick, and came nowhere near fitting into the shellholder. All my Norma .416 brass since then (1995) has been fine.

My rifle has never seen a factory load, and isn't in any danger of changing that situation, at $9.00 per round!