375H&H--->400H&H

JohannS

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I am itching for something larger than my 375H&H but not too big since I will only hunt one or two buffalo in my life(Just an excuse to get something larger). Looked at everything from 416Rigby-458 Lott. Decided to stay within the H&H family and see if the 400H&H is possible. I have very little experience with these things so will it be possible to build a 400 on a 375 action? The 400 shoots .411dia bullets and those seem to be hard to come buy in 400g. Do you think it should be done?
Thanks.

Picture is of 375H&H(left) and 400H&H(right).
-With a baboon's canines.
FullSizeRender.jpg
 
Interesting question....I'm not sure how much work it is?
 
Looks like a 375 blown out with a longer taper (improved feeding). It appears it is the same length cartridge as the 375 so should fit in the same length action. Open the bolt face, re-chamber, ream a new barrel. In other words, unless someone makes a factory, you are looking at a custom gun.

I'm curious - why not just go with a 416 (Rem, Ruger, Rigby)? Factory rifle choices, ammo availability, etc. With a 400 H&H it is going to be a handloading proposition to get max performance (I would think). I'm not sure about this, but there are probably more bullet choices in 416 than 400.

I have a 375 H&H that's been to Africa twice and accounted for a buff and a bunch of pg, all with one shot. What are you gaining by going to a 400?
 
all ready out there, Holland and Holland developed it in the early 2000's.. Just google 400 H H and you will get all info necessary, all you would need to convert would be a new barrel and have it chambered with a 400 H H reamer by competent gunsmith, open the neck on a 375 HH and load with a 411 bullet and fireform. Life would be simpler with a 416 remington, it is off the 375 case with a 416 bullet.
 
For sure it would be easier to buy a .416 Rem, but if a guy wants a one of kind rifle.....I can understand that to. I agree with the gentlemen above on what they would have to do to convert it too. It won't necessarily be cheap to do and you have to reload. It could be a very interesting project.
 
For sure it would be easier to buy a .416 Rem, but if a guy wants a one of kind rifle.....I can understand that to. I agree with the gentlemen above on what they would have to do to convert it too. It won't necessarily be cheap to do and you have to reload. It could be a very interesting project.
I think the same as Enysse.
Witold
 
I also have a fascination with this caliber. I think it is a better pairing with the '06 for the two rifle safari.
 
Been shooting the 400H&H since 2011 a .3785H&H action is the one you want as the OAL of the 400H&H is 3.60. Pheroze brought this topic up in another post
http://www.africahunting.com/threads/400-h-h.21018/
You can check there..
Here is some info that I have collected any questions please send me a PM

Remember there is not any known pressure data out there for this cartridge....so this is trial and error so use caution using someone else data please. Start low work up
You can also find good information in Pierre van der Walt's book
African Dangerous Game Cartidge

Been shooting and loading for the 400H&H since 2011. Got the 400H&H bug from Duke McCaa and his son of Gulf Breeze Fire Arms after meeting them at the SCI show 2010. Gulf Breeze is a Dakota dealer and they have been selling 400H&H bored Dakota's for some time.
I have shot numerous animals with the 400 including a Cape Buff in Zim in 2012. Can't say enough about this cartridge other than there is no commercial loadings for this round or SAAMI specs, there are a few custom loaders like Superior that loads for the 400H&H. Gulf Breeze worked very hard to get Barnes to load for the 400 H&H but they stopped short at getting it SAAMI approved perhaps cost? Gulf Breeze purchased all of Barnes’ brass and .411 dia 400gr TSX bullets (would like to get a box or two) they have also aquired .410 dia Woodlieghs with the proper jacket thickness for the faster velocities of the 400 H&H
It will push a 400gr bullet at 2400fps for the magical 5000lbs of energy and send a 300gr TSX down range at 2700fps. Perhaps it is the stock dynamics of my gun but, it's is a very soft shooter and the cartridge feeds extremely easy. My rifle started as a new Win mod 70 in 375H&H, a Shilen barrel in .411 dia was chambered and fitted with irons and a Z6 1x6 scope. So far it seems to shoot everything I have put through it sub MOA.Some of the .411 dia bullets on the market are, Barnes, Hornady, Northfork, CEB, Swift and Hawk. Varget, RL15 or H4895 will get you down range.


Brass..
Been buying it from Quality Cartridge http://www.qual-cart.com/ , or Midway. 375H&H brass is easily resized I’ve been re-sizing them in the 400 H&H re-sizing die then loading them with a light load to iron the wrinkles out of the neck. I’ve been trimming to 2.840 If you resize 375H&H brass it will be a little short, but the neck is so long in this cartridge I don’t think it matters much.

Primers.. Magnum either CCI 250 or Federal 215

COAL... Dakota Rifles was cutting their 400H&H chambers to load Woodlieghs at an OAL of 3.540. this is what I had my chambers cut for.. The CEB Bullets I load out to 3.60 as they are a bore riding bullet as well as the TSX’s out to 3.60 as the have a very long ogive, if you think you can use some more powder space.

Bullets.. Hornaday.. makes a .411 300gr Spire point designed for the 405 Win good training and varmit bullet
Barnes… makes a .411 300gr TSX,
Hawk ….makes a variety of .411 dia bullets I use these for practice
CEB… I had Dan at CEB turn .411 dia bullets 400gr Solids and 370gr Raptors. These bullets were especially designed for the cartridge demensions I gave them they have them in stock.
Woodliegh…. their Bullets are .410 dia which would not seat in my cases if I had a collet sizing die I could fix this problem. The Woodlieghs are also designed to perform at a lower velocity and I would not use them.
NorthFork… makes a .411 360r SP have a couple of boxes waiting for loading. I am considering this bullet for a possible Buff and Eland hunt.



300gr Hornady and Barnes TSX COAL 3.540

H4895---ADI2206H
77gr.......2633
78gr.......2695
78.5gr.....2683
79gr.......2700
this load has been deadly on elk size game and an honest 300+ meter round. Using the Hornady 300 at 2700fps has become a favorite varmit/pest load as it turns everything into a grey mist..

I started out using the Reloader powders then switched to Hogdons
RL15 300gr TSX COAL 3.540
78gr......2620

I used 69grs RL15 and a 300gr Hornady to fireform 375H&H brass that had been re-sized in the 400H&H die.

400gr CEB Solid COAL 3.60
76gr Varget.....ADI2208.....2400

370gr CEB Raptor COAL 3.60
75gr Varget.....ADI2208.....2400
(I was REALLY hung up on getting 2400 fps and 5000lbs of energy out of this round)...

400gr Hawk Bullet COAL 3.540
Win 760
77grs.......2190...Fun practice load

I hope this helps at least it is a start..
I can cut and paste some Quick Load data that was done for me It was a good starting point but honestly I found it some what lacking but then again I had nothing to compare them to other than my chronograph..
Let me know if I can do anything else for you
 
^That's everything I was wondering and more. Thanks for all that information.
 
I agree with zephyr, go for it.
 
Article on the 400 H&H in the latest African Hunting Gazette.
 
As mentioned by zephyr, Duke McCaa of GulfBreeze has been primarily responsible for driving sales and interest of 400H&H - both here and on the other side of the pond. While I was in London recently looking at some toys to add to my collection, the H&H gunroom manager told me they had a meeting with Hornady about production runs of 400H&H ammo and the short answer is that the minimum run would supply something-like more than ten years worth of ammo, so it will likely forever be a hand loading experience. FWIW.
 
H&H need to talk to Prvi Partisan.

A 4 gun H&H battery is in my future. 300, 375, 400 and 465.

The fact that I have a 416 Rigby and a 470 Nitro has nothing to do with it.......(y)
 
I read the article in the gazette. It is a good read but I am wondering about the 400 H&H whennwe have a 350gr woodleigh in 375 H&H. I just picked some up because...well, just because I want to know what they are like. With a good SD and heft I just wonder about the advantage of the 400 H&H.
 
H&H need to talk to Prvi Partisan.

A 4 gun H&H battery is in my future. 300, 375, 400 and 465.

You need to add the 275 H&H to the mix .... Than you would have 4 out of the five based on the same cartridge. The 465 is based on the 378 Weatherby. Same performance as the Lott but less pressures.
 
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I read the article in the gazette. It is a good read but I am wondering about the 400 H&H whennwe have a 350gr woodleigh in 375 H&H. I just picked some up because...well, just because I want to know what they are like. With a good SD and heft I just wonder about the advantage of the 400 H&H.
A bunch more frontal area and about 500lbs more of energy
 
You need to add the 275 H&H to the mix .... Than you would have 4 out of the five based on the same cartridge. The 465 is based on the 378 Weatherby. Same performance as the Lott but less pressures.


The 244 is in the mix as well, but the odd barrel size is an issue. Realistically I'll probably do them with the nearby common barrel and proceed......
 

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