1911 404 Jeffery Take down by WJ Jeffery

[nztimb]

Wonderfull results, but then having had contact with a number of 404 Jeffery owners over the years as we discussed various aspects of this superb old cartridge that is thoroughly modern again, I have yet to hear of one that has not performedup to expectations.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

My wife takes her Zimbabwe PH proficiency exam in two weeks. What calibre is she using .404J! I say no more!

 

[Ridgewalker]

Tell her the best of luck Lon!

 

[Shootist43]

Dittos on wishing her luck. However with you for a teacher the outcome should not be in doubt.

 

[Troubleshooter]

Very impressive rifle.
How or where were you able to obtain access to the ledger information? I am trying to research one also, but without luck thus far.

 

[Frederik Badenhorst]

That was a mission on its own!

Luckily one of the amazing members of this forum, Wheels, put me on the right track

He said the last he heard off was that Charles Williams had access to the records.

So I googled him and after a while, I found the above-named gentleman running a business called
Safari Adventures Worldwide. So I took a chance and emailed him

He emailed me back and informed me that the WJ Jeffery records were now owned and held by the Friedkin Group, based out of Houston, Texas

He took the liberty to shoot off an email on my behalf to the president of the company about my inquiry!

So naturally, I assumed that I would never hear anything from them, them being a large corporation. I was dead wrong, the CEO took the time to send the email onwards to a Mary Warley from the Friedkin group and she, in turn, took the time to do some digging

She supplied me with a photo of the ledger!

I asked her if they could supply any more info than the photo and she send my request to their contact in the UK.

Mr. Richard Arnison-Newgass promptly replied via email. Unfortunately, the only info available to him was the production ledger and not the sale ledger.
No official reports(certificates) from the company are at this stage forthcoming but he did mention, unlike most of the other gun companies they don't charge any fees looking into these types of enquires. All the ledgers are kept in the US, so he was not really able to physically access the ledgers.

The whole process was made painless due to the amazing people that were willing to help a complete stranger dig up some info on an old gun! I love our community of gun enthusiasts!

If anyone is interested in getting the email addresses of the people that may give you more info on Jeffery Firearms just shoot me a PM and I will forward the details

Cheers

Frederik

 

[cmk]

Great looking rifle with a lot of history in it. Have you tried detaching/re-attaching the barrel? Does it still hold zero after reassembly?

Have you managed to decipher the ledger entry? I'm stumbling in a few places between "1000yds" and "Pistol grip".

I'm a bit curious regarding the front sight. From the picture of the muzzle, it looks like barrel is sleeved, but maybe that is just the barrel band of the front sight? There is no obvious such band to be seen, but in the first picture there is a hint of a line which may be a join, i.e. the band is made flush with the barrel.

 

[Frederik Badenhorst]

I have attached and detached the barrel and it keeps zero, mind you this is at 50yards with open sights, as soon as the scope is fitted I will give a better account of the rifle.
I was able to decipher the ledger with the help of the gentleman in the UK,Mr. Richard Arnison-Newgass

In regards to the front sight , it bothered me too, it looks sleeved doesn't it, but I googled Jeffery Rifles of the same era and I found many rifles from that manufacturer that looks identical(Front sight attachment). The barrel is recessed to accommodate the barrel band.

 

[Wheels]

Jeffery subcontracted work out to other gun manufactures from time to time. This may cause some of the differences between rifles with close serial numbers, or from year to year.

 

[Troubleshooter]

That was a mission on its own!
Frederik

Thank you for the information, I will be sending you a PM for the email addresses.

Incidentally, this one has the identical rear sight, with leaves and a ladder graduated up to 1000yds. As you say, it may be just a bit "optimistic"!

Great rifle in a fine old caliber, and a takedown to boot! What's not to like?

 

[Frederik Badenhorst]

Hi Troubleshooter

I received your PM and shot you one back with the info requested

Cheers

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Great find I am very jealous, I know where there is a mate to it. Unfortunately #1 it is not for sale (yet) #2 the barrel/forend is a bit loose. One thing I noticed in addition to the normal locking lever yours has a screw on the right side yours also has a witness mark on the top of the barrel. Do you know if this work was done at a later time? I have seen two other take down Jefferies neither had the screw on the side?

The other part of this message is for shootist 43. I picked up an original Jefferies not to long ago, I do not plan on shooting it until I bed and cross bolt the stock. I am a bit concerned about the 84 grn. 4350 load? My wife and I both have CZ 550s .404 and I have one old Rigby Single Square bridge that was rebored from .350 to .404j by Rigby. I would not be concerned with any of them with that load, what do you think?

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Dittos on wishing her luck. However with you for a teacher the outcome should not be in doubt.

My wife is waiting for the results of her Zimbabwe Proficiency to be posted, any day now!

 

[Pheroze]

Another gunsmith to consider in Canada is Lemieux Armurier in Chateau Richer, QC. European trained and they are quite good. Beautiful rifle and nice find

 

[sestoppelman]

Very nice rifle! You can get factory speeds using 4064 and 4320 pretty easily, around 72 grs or so, check some manuals. I was shooting Barnes Triple Shocks and loads were out of their manual IIRC. Good luck with the old war horse.

 

[Shootist43]

Lon, both of my 404(s) are of relatively recent manufacture. The 84 Gr. load I got from Von Gruff. His 404 Jeffery was built on an old Military Mauser action. That old action handled the load just fine. Another AH member currently owns that rifle I think his moniker is Stug. I wouldn't be afraid to try the 84 Grs. of H4350 pushing a 400 Gr. bullet at least one time to see how it likes that load. Von Gruff and I both used jacketed lead bullets. He used a Woodleigh PP and I used a Swift A Frame.

Von Gruff and Stug, please reply to Lon's question re. an original Jeffery being able to use the 84 gr load of
H 4350.

 

[Frederik Badenhorst]

Hi Guys.

The screw on the rifle action is the original configuration with what the rifle came out of the factory with.
No modifications there. I have seen similar configurations, I believe that Chaplins has a 333 Jeff that almost looks exactly the same.

I recently had the stocked cleaned up and redone. I will post some photos.

Cheers

Frederik