Developing a .404 Jeff Cast Bullet plinking / practice load

[Ray B]

One option to obtain .424" cast bullets is to get cast bullets for the .44/40 which measure .427" and run them through a sizer die squeeze down the .003".

 

[3nyala]

Why not Hawk bullets, from 300 to 400 tn, $110 vs $68 for the bengals. Nice thing is they are soft copper and lead and would extrude well at reduced velocity here in this thread.
And a 404J is not one of the cheapest rifles to build or feed, so why not Hawks?

I searched for 404 bullets and only got main stream premium bullets. Hawk never came up. Also Bengal does not seem to have a way of ordering. I may have used an old link or something. I’ d go with bengals for practice for sure.

But does anyone think this will work?

 

[farmer_john]

Why? They’d be more expensive than the coated gas-checked HC .424” boolits that Bengal Bullets makes now.

.404 (.424

tiiarmory.com

Whats the difference in the hardness options?

 

[3nyala]

One option to obtain .424" cast bullets is to get cast bullets for the .44/40 which measure .427" and run them through a sizer die squeeze down the .003".

They seem to only be 200 grainers though. Want closer to 400.

 

[Jack Stevens]

Whats the difference in the hardness options?

Due to velocity differences, i.e., how fast do you intend to send them?

There’s Rigby velocity, original.404J velocity, and downloaded “plinking” velocity (typically using 5744 or similar).

.404 (.424

bengalbullets.com

 

[3nyala]

From Bengal Website,

Bullets will be unavailable for order for the time-being. Current turnaround for standing bullet orders is approximately 6 weeks.​

Not sure what that means.

 

[Jack Stevens]

From Bengal Website,

Bullets will be unavailable for order for the time-being. Current turnaround for standing bullet orders is approximately 6 weeks.​

Not sure what that means.

What it likely means is that BB went from a full-time gig to a part-time, "made-to-order" business model. I'm sure these guys have other jobs. The custom hard-cast boolit business is fickle, with times where orders come slamming in, and then dry spells where orders only trickle in.

When I ordered my first batch of the .404J 390grn/.424" boolits, they listed a lot of their other boolits as in stock and didn't have the above "Unavailable" banner on the site. Emails were answered right away. That banner was up in June 2025 when I last ordered more .404s and some of their .358 slugs.

The guy I've dealt with is "James." Nice guy. I emailed him to place the order, and when it was ready to ship he contacted me, and I sent him a check.

Email: kbt452@gmail.com (although the name in the header of James' reply email was "Keith Tow"). There's also: bengalbullets@gmail.com

Regardless, their boolits are well made and, I think, reasonably priced. I would do business with them again. If anyone's seriously interested, shoot James an email and see what their current status and wait time is for ordering the 390grn .404 slugs.

 

[farmer_john]

What it likely means is that BB went from a full-time gig to a part-time, "made-to-order" business model. I'm sure these guys have other jobs. The custom hard-cast boolit business is fickle, with times where orders come slamming in, and then dry spells where orders only trickle in.

When I ordered my first batch of the .404J 390grn/.424" boolits, they listed a lot of their other boolits as in stock and didn't have the above "Unavailable" banner on the site. Emails were answered right away. That banner was up in June 2025 when I last ordered more .404s and some of their .358 slugs.

The guy I've dealt with is "James." Nice guy. I emailed him to place the order, and when it was ready to ship he contacted me, and I sent him a check.

Email: kbt452@gmail.com (although the name in the header of James' reply email was "Keith Tow"). There's also: bengalbullets@gmail.com

Regardless, their boolits are well made and, I think, reasonably priced. I would do business with them again. If anyone's seriously interested, shoot James an email and see what their current status and wait time is for ordering the 390grn .404 slugs.

View attachment 754258

What hardness do you recomend to practice with and what velocity range for the hardness levels?

 

[tward1604]

Do yall ever have any issues getting these to chamber in your rifles? I have a batch and none of them will chamber in my rifle. The bullets I have from Bengal measure .425

 

[Ray B]

Do yall ever have any issues getting these to chamber in your rifles? I have a batch and none of them will chamber in my rifle. The bullets I have from Bengal measure .425

i'm guessing that the part that doesn't fit is the cartridge neck? If the bullets being .001" too thick and your rifle has a minimum diameter one solution would be to turn the case necks, but the cases would be strictly for those larger bullets.

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

Do yall ever have any issues getting these to chamber in your rifles? I have a batch and none of them will chamber in my rifle. The bullets I have from Bengal measure .425

Do you have a bullet sizer with a 424/423 die? I run my cast through a 424 die when I lube and fit the gas check
Gumpy

 

[Jack Stevens]

What hardness do you recommend to practice with and what velocity range for the hardness levels?

I went with the 15BHN. My practice loads are 2050fps-ish.

 

[Jack Stevens]

Do yall ever have any issues getting these to chamber in your rifles? I have a batch and none of them will chamber in my rifle. The bullets I have from Bengal measure .425

They chambered in mine at .424", and I played around with COAL, but felt the coating was still a bit too thick. So I got a Lee bullet sizer die and knocked them down to .423." Worked fine and didn't affect the GC.