30-404 JEFFERY

 

The following data was developed in rifle built on the Hall Giant action. The barrel is from Hart, straight tapered and finished at 29.5 inches. A Leupold 6.5-20X scope was installed in Jewel Live Centre rings on Kelbly bases. We used RWS 404 brass and the Federal 215 primers throughout our tests, except for the fire forming loads, in which we used the Winchester large rifle magnum primers, with 18 grains of GREEN DOT. This load produced perfectly formed cases.

 

The rifle, without scope, weighs 25 pounds.

All shooting was done off the bench in our indoor shooting tunnel. All groups are 5 shots at 100 yards, and all bullets were molly coated.

 

I was surprised to see that H 5010 developed more velocity for the same charge than H 870. The 2 loads of H 5010 were compressed considerably, although we have used a 3 foot drop tube. The load with 101.5 grains of H 5010 and the 240 MK had an SD of 2!

 

I checked the throat for any sign of erosion after about 260 rounds. There was a definite sign of slight erosion; another check was done after 345 rounds. I could not see any noticeable increase over the previous check. I am afraid there is nothing scientific in this, it is just what I can see with my eyes under magnification. Another thing you might notice is that with the same charge of powder – 103.0 grains of H 1000, and two different bullets of the same weight, we got a difference of 126 fps! That’s is between the Nosler 125 Ballistic Tip and the Berger 125. Both bullets were molly coated.

 

The barrel was inspected after 465 rounds. The original erosion noticed at the beginning of the throat did not seem to have increased very much, but, there was more signs of erosion further forward for about 3 inches ahead of the chamber. This did not seem to make that much effect to the accuracy so far, as evidenced by the two groups of 0.161 and 0.149 after 430 rounds.

 

A few people have expressed interest in this wildcat, it seems they were won over by its accuracy. I would like you to bear in mind that in addition to the rifle being built on a very good bench rest action, we also have gone to a few extra steps to eliminate any variables that might affect the accuracy. For instance, each group was shot with cases that have been weighed to be exactly of the same weight, and the same was done to the bullets as well. This was done in addition to the normal match preparation of the cases. All our powder charges were weighed. We had a magnum bolt face on our rifle, and it handled the 404 case head size without any problems at all. May be our bolt face opening was on the generous size.

 

 

 

This is Scary, one of our resident cheetahs. As you can see, he is right in his elements, as he loves shooting. We have a job sometimes taking the rifle out of his paws.

 

 

POWDER

VELOCITY

GROUP

BULLET

18.0 GREEN DOT

NOT CHECKED

FIRE FORMING LOAD

SIERRA 240 MATCH KING

 

 

 

 

80.0 RELOADER 22

2925

0.149

SIERRA 220 MATCH KING

81.5

2980

0.294

 

83.0

3027

0.160

 

84.5

3081

0.842

 

86.0 H 1000

2959

0.096

 

87.5

3002

0.335

 

89.0

3060

0.427

 

90.5

3103

0.850

 

92.0

3125

0.288

 

95.0 H 870

2992

0.411

 

96.5

3045

0.599

 

98.0

3093

0.432

 

99.5

3144

0.576

 

101.0

3182

0.776

 

102.5

3205

0.519

 

104.0

3227

0.963

 

105.5

3254

1.068

 

92.0 H 870

2851

0.466

SIERRA 240 MATCH KING

93.5

2915

0.459

 

95.0

2947

0.468

 

96.5

2997

0.942

 

98.0

3026

0.495

 

99.5

3058

0.631

 

101.0

3083

0.684

 

102.5

3098

0.653

 

104.0

3107

0.151

SD 2

100.0 H 5010

3100

0.268

 

101.5

3164

0.438

 

100.0

3202

0.578

BERGER 210

101.5

3224

0.312

 

88.0 H 1000

2994

0.072

SD 3

89.5

3056

0.188

SD 2

91.0

3090

0.345

 

92.5

3151

0.433

 

94.0

3188

0.412

 

95.5

3237

0.641

SD 3

97.0

3294

0.449

 

98.5

3305

0.473

 

100.0

3546

0.660

BERGER 175 VLD

80.0 VVN 165

3055

0.446

 

81.5

3090

0.288

 

83.0

3145

0.632

 

84.5

3171

0.497

 

86.0

3225

0.168

 

87.5

3273

0.185

 

89.0

3293

0.442

 

90.5

3365

0.183

 

92.0

3422

0.184

SD 1

93.5

3460

0.334

 

95.0

3540

0.447

 

96.5

3599

0.282

 

98.0

3637

0.683

 

100.0

3791

0.402

RUBRIGHT 150

101.5

3841

0.715

 

95.0 RELOADER 22

3671

0.847

 

96.5

3720

0.595

 

98.0

3820

0.519

 

95.0 WMR

3630

0.238

SD 3

96.5

3663

0.205

 

98.0

3716

0.216

 

99.5

3764

0.515

 

101.0

3813

0.256

 

102.5

3889

0.158

 

100.0

3853

0.342

RUBRIGHT 135

101.5

3881

0.232

 

103

3975

0.410

 

85.0 H 450

3450

0.623

 

86.5 H 4831

3355

0.310

BAD MUZZLE FLASH

88.0

3389

0.244

WITH THIS

89.5

3446

0.253

POWDER

91.0

3509

0.248

 

92.5

3550

0.433

 

100.0 WMR

3911

0.990

NOSLER 125 BALLISTIC TIP

101.5

3951

0.409

 

100.0 VVN 165

3931

0.588

 

101.5

3990

0.337

 

100.0 H 1000

3635

0.244

 

101.5

3671

0.617

 

103.0

3748

0.749

 

103.0

3874

0.246

BERGER 125

104.5

3932

0.392

 

106.0

3995

0.440

 

107.5

4041

0.339

 

109.0

4074

0.312

 

97.0

3471

0.567

LAPUA 185 SCENAR

105.0 H 870

3340

0.161

 

106.5

3404

0.149

 

108.0

3450

0.388

 

90.0 WMR

3316

0.550

SD 3

91.5

3392

0.452

 

90.0 RELOADER 22

3373

0.452

 

90.0 VVN 165

3306

0.282

 

91.5

3328

0.379

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the different stages of forming cases for our rifle, loaded round on the right with a Sierra 220 match King bullet.

 

 

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Last updated 31 December 1999