The .404 Jeffery Cartridge

[z375]

Miroflex,

The Winchester ammo will be .405 Winchester, not .404. I hope the mentioned dealer doesnt ask you to sandpaper the ammo a bit until it fits and goes bang! Check the stock for soundness if you have doubts, cracks behind the tang and into the inletted area between the rear wall of the magazine and trigger will be there 90% of the time on the big guns, this can be corrected with a glass bed, cross-bolts if any, may have set back indicating heavy use and neglect with regard to the action guard screws, also check the bolt face for signs of damage or neglect, corrosion, fine cracks in the lugs in particular. Older Kynoch ammo was loaded with cordite and being sensitive to sustained higher temperatures it had a tendency to "sweat" its nitroglycerine content and this would sometimes cause dangerous pressure spikes upon ignition. I had lit off a few such reprimed Kynoch rounds through a friend's Fraser .500 Nitro recently and the recoil made me remember things I was supposed to do last week!

[miroflex]

Hi,

I found the posts about the .404 Jeffery in this forum as well as on http://www.africahunting.com very interesting and informative. It is heartening to note that this great cartridge is making a comeback in Africa.

There were a large number of .404 Jeffery rifles in India during the 1920s and subsequently. It would be interesting to hear from fellow members who still own these rifles. I wonder how they are managing about ammunition. Are there any dealers who stock these cartridges?

The .404 is not on the list of cartridges whose import is allowed to dealers by the Director General of Foreign Trade. The cartridges are stil being loaded by Kynamco (Kynoch) and personal import of upto 50 cartridges as personal baggage.

Regards.