My new AHR DGR in 404 Jeffery is in the way.....

Sandman that is amazing. Happy for you. My personal search for 404J continues. Damn this forum costs me a lot of money. For the record my 375 Sako recoil is around 36 to 38. A 404 around42 my 400HH is like 54 and my 416 rigby is at 63 and my470NE is like 72. Excellent caliber choice. Enjoy
 
Buy one buy one
 
My personal search for 404J continues. Damn this forum costs me a lot of money
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Buy one buy one


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Evil Evil people on this forum
Cheers jacques. By the way 3 days to wheels up (last laugh)
 

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See EVIL. That square bridge is off the charts but I can’t imagine what the blonde would say as I break it to her gently that I traded her to Duke for a Mauser
 
With all of the talk and musings, on this forum and elsewhere, over the last several months of the history, effectiveness, manageable recoil, and downright "cool factor"of the 404 Rimless Nitro Express (a.k.a. 404 Jeffery) cartridge, I decided I really "needed" a rifle chambered for this cartridge. Having owned several rifles that were built by Wayne Jacobson at American Hunting Rifles, I had no doubt that he was the one I wanted to build it. We decided to base the rifle off of his standard action that he uses for his dangerous game rifles, the CZ 550 Magnum. The project was started almost a year ago.

The specs are the following:

AHR DGR series rifle in 404 Jeffery
CZ 550 Magnum Action trued and polished
Premium Chrome-Moly barrel cut and crowned at 23 inches and in a magnum sporter contour
Weibe one-piece bottom metal and magazine box
AHR trigger set at 3.5 lbs
AHR 3-position (Winchester style) safety
NECG hooded front sight with ivory bead
NECG masterpiece rear sight island with folding express leaves
Barrel band front sling swivel and inletted rear sling swivel
Deep satin blued finish
Jeweled bolt
Nitre Blue Extractor
AAA+ grade English walnut with deep marbling and rich color along with a Macassar ebony fore-end tip, shadow line cheekpiece, and wrap around checkering with Fleur-de-Lis and ribbons accents
Steel grip cap
Red recoil pad
Matching satin blued Talley 30 mm rings

The rifle was built to weigh between 10-11 lbs with a scope (Leupold VX-6 1-4 x 20 and FireDot reticle)

My plan is shoot 0.423, 400 grain North Fork Semi-spitzer "softs" and North Fork Cup Point Solids at around 2400 fps, and Wayne made sure the rifle would feed those bullets.

As I've said on here before, I think for the price, Wayne's work as far as function and aesthetics is as good as any in the custom (semi-custom) arena. Certainly, these rifles may not be on the level of a "bespoke" rifle, but I think if one is in the market for a rifle that is absolutely trust worthy in the execution of it's intended job, and that looks good doing said job, they could not go wrong by talking to Wayne at AHR. Needless to say, I am a big fan.....

The rifle is set to ship out in the next few days, but I was sent a few "teaser" pics to tide me over.......

So, it's off to the reloading bench to start loading up some rounds. If anyone out there has any experience with loading the 400 grain NF SS and CPS for the 404 Jeffery, I'd be curious as to what your load recipes were for it....

My intention is to take this rifle with me to Tanzania next year, along with my AHR 9.3x62 (Mauser) for Cape Buffalo, Leopard, and plains game.......

View attachment 178133 View attachment 178134 View attachment 178135 View attachment 178136

Wayne does excellent stocks...very, very tastefully done. Lots of class.

The metalwork is obviously up there, too!
 
I'm back to report on my load development for my AHR DGR CZ 550 Magnum Rifle in 404 Jeffery. It's taken me a while to get back to the range since I posted the results of my load development with the North Fork 0.423, 400 grain Semi-Spitzer (SS) Bonded Bullets (Softs). I've been working a lot, and it's rained a lot this spring, and I'm just getting around to it. Oh well....

At the advice of the North Fork technicians, I targeted a reduced charge weight of 1.0 grains of IMR 4831 as a starting point for my loads utilizing the North Fork 0.423, 400 grain Cup Point Solids (CPS) which would have been 89.5 grains. I actually had a range of 88.0 grains to 90.5 grains (same powder charge as my softs) in 0.5 grain increments to play with. I loaded up several of the NF SS bonded bullets as a reference, and then for each charge weight with the NF CPS, I loaded up 3 rounds. I used a large sight in target at 100 yds with several aiming points, and for each point, I fired 3 softs, and subsequently 3 solids. I then went with the load with the closet POI between the 2 bullets.

I'm happy to report that I think I found a winner. The targets pictured below were shot at 100 yds:

IMG_0002.jpg


For reference, the top left hole is the original cold bore shot from the rifle using my "soft" load. The 2 closet to dead-center/bullseye, are the other 2 softs. The small cluster of 3 bullets just above the bullseye to the top left, are the 3 consecutive shots I took with the "solids". The next closest "node" if you will, was interestingly the highest charge loads (90.0 grains). The target is below for that, and is still pretty darn good for a large bore, dangerous game rifle....

IMG_0001.jpg


The softs are in the center, and the solids in the top right. The groups were very tight for a rifle of this caliber, and even the POI between the softs and solids were plenty good enough for a minute of buffalo rifle.

My final load recipe for the NF solids were as follows:

Rifle: American Hunting Rifles Dangerous Game Rifle (CZ 550 Magnum)
Cartridge: 404 Jeffery
Case: Norma (fully prepped, annealed and FL resized)
Bullet: North Fork 0.423 (400 grain) Cup Point Solid
Primer: Federal 215 (Large Rifle Magnum)
Powder: IMR 4831
Charge Weight: 88.0 grains
COAL: 3.610 inches
Ogive Jump to Lands: 0.040 inches
Crimp: Yes (Lee Custom Factory Crimp Die)

Chronograph Data:

Average Velocity: 2355 fps
Extreme Spread: 1 (not a typo)
Standard Deviation: 0.78
Group Size: 0.56 inches
Muzzle Energy: 4927 ft-lbs

The other thing that I am happy to report is that with much warmer temps than my original load development for the "softs", the CPS loads showed no signs of increased pressure. Ambient temps originally when I shot my rifle with the NF SS Bonded bullets were around 45 degrees F with 40% humidity. It was also very windy with sustained winds in the 10-15 mph range and gusts of 20 mph. The most recent session had ambient temps of around 80 degrees F, with 60% humidity, but calm winds of 3-4 mph.

Hopefully this load development data will help others shooting North Fork bullets in their 404 Jeffery, but per my usual disclaimer, what worked in my rifle may not work in yours, so be safe, be observant, and work up your loads slowly.
 
I'm back to report on my load development for my AHR DGR CZ 550 Magnum Rifle in 404 Jeffery. It's taken me a while to get back to the range since I posted the results of my load development with the North Fork 0.423, 400 grain Semi-Spitzer (SS) Bonded Bullets (Softs). I've been working a lot, and it's rained a lot this spring, and I'm just getting around to it. Oh well....

At the advice of the North Fork technicians, I targeted a reduced charge weight of 1.0 grains of IMR 4831 as a starting point for my loads utilizing the North Fork 0.423, 400 grain Cup Point Solids (CPS) which would have been 89.5 grains. I actually had a range of 88.0 grains to 90.5 grains (same powder charge as my softs) in 0.5 grain increments to play with. I loaded up several of the NF SS bonded bullets as a reference, and then for each charge weight with the NF CPS, I loaded up 3 rounds. I used a large sight in target at 100 yds with several aiming points, and for each point, I fired 3 softs, and subsequently 3 solids. I then went with the load with the closet POI between the 2 bullets.

I'm happy to report that I think I found a winner. The targets pictured below were shot at 100 yds:

View attachment 230241

For reference, the top left hole is the original cold bore shot from the rifle using my "soft" load. The 2 closet to dead-center/bullseye, are the other 2 softs. The small cluster of 3 bullets just above the bullseye to the top left, are the 3 consecutive shots I took with the "solids". The next closest "node" if you will, was interestingly the highest charge loads (90.0 grains). The target is below for that, and is still pretty darn good for a large bore, dangerous game rifle....

View attachment 230242

The softs are in the center, and the solids in the top right. The groups were very tight for a rifle of this caliber, and even the POI between the softs and solids were plenty good enough for a minute of buffalo rifle.

My final load recipe for the NF solids were as follows:

Rifle: American Hunting Rifles Dangerous Game Rifle (CZ 550 Magnum)
Cartridge: 404 Jeffery
Case: Norma (fully prepped, annealed and FL resized)
Bullet: North Fork 0.423 (400 grain) Cup Point Solid
Primer: Federal 215 (Large Rifle Magnum)
Powder: IMR 4831
Charge Weight: 88.0 grains
COAL: 3.610 inches
Ogive Jump to Lands: 0.040 inches
Crimp: Yes (Lee Custom Factory Crimp Die)

Chronograph Data:

Average Velocity: 2355 fps
Extreme Spread: 1 (not a typo)
Standard Deviation: 0.78
Group Size: 0.56 inches
Muzzle Energy: 4927 ft-lbs

The other thing that I am happy to report is that with much warmer temps than my original load development for the "softs", the CPS loads showed no signs of increased pressure. Ambient temps originally when I shot my rifle with the NF SS Bonded bullets were around 45 degrees F with 40% humidity. It was also very windy with sustained winds in the 10-15 mph range and gusts of 20 mph. The most recent session had ambient temps of around 80 degrees F, with 60% humidity, but calm winds of 3-4 mph.

Hopefully this load development data will help others shooting North Fork bullets in their 404 Jeffery, but per my usual disclaimer, what worked in my rifle may not work in yours, so be safe, be observant, and work up your loads slowly.

Awesome. I have a .404J needing attention and the NorthForks are my favorite bullet. Will try and duplicate your results.
 
Congrats on your new rifle it is absolutely beautiful and seems to shoot as good as it looks. I just got my first taste of a 404 Jeffrey and i must say someday i will hopefully own one. For now I must just enjoy shooting my Dad's. I will say a fine 404 is sure hard to beat.
 
With all of the talk and musings, on this forum and elsewhere, over the last several months of the history, effectiveness, manageable recoil, and downright "cool factor"of the 404 Rimless Nitro Express (a.k.a. 404 Jeffery) cartridge, I decided I really "needed" a rifle chambered for this cartridge. Having owned several rifles that were built by Wayne Jacobson at American Hunting Rifles, I had no doubt that he was the one I wanted to build it. We decided to base the rifle off of his standard action that he uses for his dangerous game rifles, the CZ 550 Magnum. The project was started almost a year ago.

The specs are the following:

AHR DGR series rifle in 404 Jeffery
CZ 550 Magnum Action trued and polished
Premium Chrome-Moly barrel cut and crowned at 23 inches and in a magnum sporter contour
Weibe one-piece bottom metal and magazine box
AHR trigger set at 3.5 lbs
AHR 3-position (Winchester style) safety
NECG hooded front sight with ivory bead
NECG masterpiece rear sight island with folding express leaves
Barrel band front sling swivel and inletted rear sling swivel
Deep satin blued finish
Jeweled bolt
Nitre Blue Extractor
AAA+ grade English walnut with deep marbling and rich color along with a Macassar ebony fore-end tip, shadow line cheekpiece, and wrap around checkering with Fleur-de-Lis and ribbons accents
Steel grip cap
Red recoil pad
Matching satin blued Talley 30 mm rings


IMHO you made some super choices here, beautiful rifle well done!
 
I'll be sending my 375 to Wayne for some work later this summer.
He does amazing work, as evidenced by the pictures you have posted.

Thinking my next rifle he will be doing the build from scratch.

Beautiful rifle and a true shooter.
Cheers and happy hunting.
 
Impressive rifle, congrats!
 
The photo of that stock on the early post is worth framing, specracular not just for the grain and figure, but the colour is great.
 

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