404 Jeffrey Brass

[Ontario Hunter]

I try to buy what I can as far as brass goes, if it’s to difficult to find I will invest in a bunch of loaded Hornady factory loaded rounds and shoot them and load them as needed, I understand that Hornady is good stuff as well

Brass is good, bullets are good, but too hot. 2300 fps is more gas than needed. A lot more.

 

[Maskell Shotgun academy]

Having trouble getting posts completed.

You're absolutely correct! Case length should not affect shoulder placement if dies are set up correctly. It appears the problem is entirely inconsistent rim thickness of RWS brass. I don't need to measure the rim thickness. Variations are apparent to naked eye. I suppose I could thin my 404's extractor to snap over on all RWS brass but I'm not liking that idea.

The other issue with short cases is crimping bullets in cannelure. That requires seating the bullet deeper which changes the load performance, at least theoretically. But for range work I don't need to crimp or snap over. Just load one at a time from the magazine. So I set the dies up for Hornady brass and standard OAL. Will still work for RWS range use. Anyway, right now I'm using up a box of old Barnes TX bullets with no cannelure so not a big issue.

What action is Your rifle built with?

 

[Nevada Mike]

These problems are partly to do with the long, gently sloping neck of the 404J which makes headspacing a bit tricky. I fireform all my 404J brass, check the primers, then measure the distance to a known point on the shoulder of the cartridge. This gives me an index for setting the die to resize. I want about .005" set back (bump) on the shoulder. Then I check all the brass to make sure that it chambers and load my rounds. I crimp all my rounds with the Lee Factory Crimp Die. Then I check that ALL the loads feed from the magazine into the chamber and EJECT properly.

I found that primer problems are often headspacing issues.

This may sound fussy, but I am fussy... I want all my ammo to work reliably.

 

[MacJenkins]

Having trouble getting posts completed.

You're absolutely correct! Case length should not affect shoulder placement if dies are set up correctly. It appears the problem is entirely inconsistent rim thickness of RWS brass. I don't need to measure the rim thickness. Variations are apparent to naked eye. I suppose I could thin my 404's extractor to snap over on all RWS brass but I'm not liking that idea.

The other issue with short cases is crimping bullets in cannelure. That requires seating the bullet deeper which changes the load performance, at least theoretically. But for range work I don't need to crimp or snap over. Just load one at a time from the magazine. So I set the dies up for Hornady brass and standard OAL. Will still work for RWS range use. Anyway, right now I'm using up a box of old Barnes TX bullets with no cannelure so not a big issue.

I’ve never needed to make 404 from RUM brass but have formed many other cartridges. Whenever I’ve come across short headspace issues I’ve formed a false shoulder at the neck juncture and that has always worked. I set me full die so the bolt firmly closes on the sized brass and that keeps the case head against the bolt for that first fire forming.

 

[henkg]