quaidwolfe8
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Good evening everyone! Long time member, first time poster. I’m reaching out in regards to reloading the 404 Jeffery.
A bit of background, my father and I have a buffalo hunt planned for September 2025 in Mozambique. I’m a novice reloader and have only been loading for a couple years and not for large cartridges except for 375H&H. I recently received my Pre 64 Model 70 custom 404 with a 25 inch barrel. I’ve started to reload for it to regulate my irons but I’ve run into an issue.
From my readings of the wealth of knowledge on the forum, everyone swears by the H4350 84.0 grain recipe at 2300+ with a Swift A Frame. However, I would rather load it to the classic 2150-2200 FPS. I’m currently working on a “inexpensive” load with hornady 400 grain softs and solids. Then I’ll move to the A Frames when I get a better idea of how my rifle performs.
The issue I am having is with the primers backing out after firing. I got the speed I wanted with the DGX and Solids but the primers are backing out. Not falling out but enough to make the case pivot on the primer if sat on a flat surface. This being a load of 82 grains of H4350. After trying different lower loads I’ve found that these are under pressure somehow and that is the reason the primers keep backing out. The lower the charge, the more it protrudes. I even called Hornady and they deemed this the same answer to the problem even though I’m over the max load at 78.9 grains. It’s also important to note I have no extraction issues, no brass bulging or anything like that. Factory loads perform excellent other than kicking like a mule in my rifle but all primers are fine.
My question is why is this the case and has anyone else experienced this problem at 2200 with H4350? I do have plenty of IMR 4350 on hand, and I get my speed I want with no protrusion of primers. Being a novice reloader I’m mainly concerned about the whole temperature sensitivity deal of the IMR versus the H4350 that ones talk about. Is this talk more of a drastic change in temperature from 90 degrees to 10 degrees or would a 30 degree difference even matter?
Any experience would greatly be appreciated! Thanks
A bit of background, my father and I have a buffalo hunt planned for September 2025 in Mozambique. I’m a novice reloader and have only been loading for a couple years and not for large cartridges except for 375H&H. I recently received my Pre 64 Model 70 custom 404 with a 25 inch barrel. I’ve started to reload for it to regulate my irons but I’ve run into an issue.
From my readings of the wealth of knowledge on the forum, everyone swears by the H4350 84.0 grain recipe at 2300+ with a Swift A Frame. However, I would rather load it to the classic 2150-2200 FPS. I’m currently working on a “inexpensive” load with hornady 400 grain softs and solids. Then I’ll move to the A Frames when I get a better idea of how my rifle performs.
The issue I am having is with the primers backing out after firing. I got the speed I wanted with the DGX and Solids but the primers are backing out. Not falling out but enough to make the case pivot on the primer if sat on a flat surface. This being a load of 82 grains of H4350. After trying different lower loads I’ve found that these are under pressure somehow and that is the reason the primers keep backing out. The lower the charge, the more it protrudes. I even called Hornady and they deemed this the same answer to the problem even though I’m over the max load at 78.9 grains. It’s also important to note I have no extraction issues, no brass bulging or anything like that. Factory loads perform excellent other than kicking like a mule in my rifle but all primers are fine.
My question is why is this the case and has anyone else experienced this problem at 2200 with H4350? I do have plenty of IMR 4350 on hand, and I get my speed I want with no protrusion of primers. Being a novice reloader I’m mainly concerned about the whole temperature sensitivity deal of the IMR versus the H4350 that ones talk about. Is this talk more of a drastic change in temperature from 90 degrees to 10 degrees or would a 30 degree difference even matter?
Any experience would greatly be appreciated! Thanks
