405 JESS Arrived

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Yesterday received a postal notice I needed to sign for a pachage. This morning at 8:15 I was at the postal place where happily I received my box. Inside I found a finely bored, rifled and chambered Marlin 336 (Glenfield) receiver barrel unit I sent to Jess reboring just 2 weeks ago. Jess gets on a job and gets it done ! This is my third job and I will keep sending him my rebore jobs. That barrel inside is beautiful.
The barrel is nicely stamped 405 JESS somewhat readable in the first photo. Also pictured is the custom 405 JESS dies that will get a workout in about 3 years when we return. The paper is some loading info that was kindly sent along to get me started.
The brass is 444 Marlin (2.250) that will get trimmed to .2015. The boolit is actually a .413 240 grain reject my wife found in my desk. All my reloading gear and everything gun related is in storage except for what we keep handy.
I look at this caliber as a .414 Super-Duper Mag. Wish I had another month of 50 degree or more weather to try this cartrige out. But it will have to wait.
Mike in ILL till 28 Jan.

[Piedmont]

So it looks very similar to a .40-65, except on a .444 case. So can a 336 handle .444 Marlin? I guess I thought the .45-70 and .444 were on a slightly bigger or stronger action. What is the story on that?

Where do you get dies for this .405 JESS?

[missionary5155]

Good morning
The dies are made by C&H and probably others. There are numerous cartriges out there very similar to this 405 JESS. But in all reality it will be no better than the 40-65 in a modern rifle.
I decided to go with the JESS as :
#1 He does the chambering and will open the bolt face for no extra charge.
#2 I do not have a 40-65 reamer.
#3 I was running out of time so dedcided to go with the wildcat.
#4 I had 2 pieces of 444Marlin sitting on my reloading desk I tried to give away and no takers. They were sitting there with those big open mouths saying " Please ... we want to go out and play too".
#5 Someone here "needs" to shoot one of these. I just wish I could take it to Peru and do so for 3 years.
Actions... I do not think there is a whole lot of problem for what I will do. I have a 375 Marlin and it seems to slam the 280 GC grainers out the barrel with no problem at any velocity I can tearfully tolerate. I am not looking to go beyond 2200 fps with a 265 gc. Actually I will do most my shooting down about 1900 fps. I will do case head expansion measures as I get to the hotter loads as no two action/barrel combinations are equal. This cartrige will get to 1900 fps with slower powders than the caliber 414 Supermag can with 1680 but does so safely in my rifle.
There was and has been a long discussion over at Marlin Owners about the "two actions". May even have been rattled through here. I know it was an eye opener to me when the two were compared stripped of all other materials.
For me this is the modern lead boolit caliber .41 that Marlin never made but should have (Winchester also). A 40-65 would have been just fine. This was far more economical and those two 444 Marlin cases were breaking down my resistance terribly.
Mike in ILL till 28 Jan.

[Tatume]

Hi Mike,

I joined Marlin Owners forum just to read that discussion, but could not find it. Could you share some key words that will help me locate the thread, or send me a link to the thread?

Thanks, Tom

[Warhawk]

I have considered having JES rebore a Glenfield 30-30 to .444, but have held off after reading reports of feeding problems, even loading problems (it seems that you need a magazine tube with the "goose egg" to be able to load .444 into the magazine).

[missionary5155]

Howdy Tatume
Far easier to go to Google search and type in "336 marlin action strength" or something along those lines. The 336 is rated at 42,000 so I am not real worried about where my cast boolit loads will fall into place.
Mike in ILL

[TXGunNut]

Wow, that one's going to be hard to pack away without a range trip. I'm kicking around having JESS rebore a shot-out bolt gun but having trouble getting excited about bolt guns lately.
Three years? Wow, have a safe trip. You'll be in my prayers. Will you have Internet service as before?

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Yep .. well as best we think right now. If everything is still the same in our big city down there.
Mike

[3584ELK]

Nicely done, Missionary5155! That should make an interesting and fun piece to load for a shoot!

And kudos for doing the Lord's work and sacrificing your time and money for that cause.

Can understand the delay on shooting as I have been working (not for the Lord, however) in Deutschland for the past 4 years. I was able to return to the states yearly and go hunting and shooting, so haven't had withdrawal symptoms quite as severe as you are up against.

Be safe!

[missionary5155]

Greetings everyone
Thank you for the well wishes. We have no idea what may happen this time around as the Peruvian Pres has been pushing to eliminate all American Missionaries ASAP. Seems we are a "cultural influence" that is causing change. Imagine a President who would not want his nation to read the Bible, walk in Holiness, cease drunkedness and drug usage, raise their children in righteousness, stop beating their wifes and children ... infinity...
But that is the way all the socialist / commies want their nations. Looks like Danville, ILL to me.
So we may get asked to leave when we get there. We may be welcomed as always before. We may have to enter as tourists. Just hard to tell who will be sitting at the desk when we walk up Tuesday morning. But life in South America does have a unique flavor and God is still in control.
Mike in ILL till Monday

[StrawHat]

Godspeed and God Bless.

[6pt-sika]

My exwife was from Peru .

I always would have liked to have gone to Peru to visit Machu Picchu .