My 404J is finally finished!

[feralbuster]

Not sure where to put this, as it ain't a varmint rifle really , but thought you fellas might be interested all the same. My 404J turned up this past week, just in the nick of time (last day of my PTA!)

I want to say Tony Small (Nickal Traditional Gunsmithing) and Darryl Stevens (stockmaker) did a fantastic job of building this rifle up, it points brilliantly and the open sights come up to the eye quicker than my Miroku 12g :toocool:

After my last three 'gunsmith' experiences being a bit disappointing, it was great to deal with two gentlemen who are masters of their trade

Barrel is a Lothar walther, sights are recknagel though the fixed rear leaf was made by Tony (& regulated to 75 yards). He also made the trigger to replace the horrible lever type triggers these old 602 Zkk Brnos have on them. Holds four in the mag.













FATBOY (some of you might know from other forums) has kindly lent me his dies, as I'm having trouble getting hold of any just at the moment. I've got a load of 78gr 2209 behind a 400 woody which is what Tony has regulated the sights to, though I've also got 80grains of the same (Harvey max load), and 82gr 2209 (FATBOY max load ) to try also. was going to shoot it this weekend, but we are having crap weather to go with the crappy state election we are having this weekend

[MISSED]

That is a lovely bit of kit(drooling emicon)way way to cool.


I can almost see the dead Buff

[jeffk]

That's lovely. Tony built my 500NE on a Ruger No. 1, and is both an artist and a gent!

[chris.tyne]

Thats the shit,very nice

[trevort]

I'm a varmint rifle type of bloke. But I like that a lot!

[Teepee]

That's one mean bit of kit.
Love to have something like that but a bit big for what I hunt.
Good luck with it.
Teepee

[223 fanboy]

That sure is a nice rifle.

What are you going to shoot with it, camels, buffalo?

[stinkitup]

Magnificent! what a beautiful rifle.

Wouldn't one shot groups be sufficient in that thing

[curan]

Very nice indeed.

[crackers17]

Very nice rifle. .. I do like

[Branxhunter]

Yep,have to agree with everyone up there ^^^^.

I would have absolutely no use for a cannon like this but I still think it is a great looking bit of gear. Looks very well thought out.

I would be interested in seeing a photo of the trigger mechanism - is it something simple like the early model 70, or a box design like the Rem 700?

Marcus

[shearfun]

Awesome!!!
What did it start as?
What is the plan for it?

[mn1863]

Very nice, makes me miss my 404j even more.

[feralbuster]

Thanks for the kind words fellas

Branx, I haven't seen the trigger, but yes, I believe its like a Model 70

Shearfun, it was a 375H&H with a cracked stock that I bought more than 2 years ago. It was a toss up between a 404 & 416 Rigby (don't like belts on cartridges, so that made it easy to narrow the choices down). I hope to take buff & scrubbers with it, and maybe cape buff in Africa if I can get there one day. I also plan to join the Big Game Rifle Assc & shoot group 2 with it for fun.
Big bangers are addictive, whether its a classic like mine, or Harbs long range cannons. The mistake people make on being offered to shoot a rifle like mine is to shoot it off a bench, or prone with a scope on it. Offhand, with open sights they aren't much different to a shotgun, especially if the rifle has some weight & a good fitting stock

[mn1863]

Offhand, with open sights they aren't much different to a shotgun, especially if the rifle has some weight & a good fitting stock

So true! The big bores are a hell of a lot of fun.