The .404 Jeffery is a large-caliber hunting rifle cartridge developed in England by W.J. Jeffery & Co. in the early 1900s.
History[]
Although production numbers of rifles chambered in the cartridge indicated that it sold very well, it never received the accolades that the .416 Rigby did. The reason being is that the .404 Jeffery was used by many Eastern and Southern African countries as the cartridge of choice for their Game Rangers in controlling dangerous animals.
In fact, according to African Rifles and Cartridges, written by John "Pondoro" Taylor; "The Game Warden of Tanganyika (now Tanzania) who started his hunting career shooting buffalo for their hides in Portuguese East (now Mozambique) with a rifle of this caliber, found it so entirely satisfactory that he has armed all of his native game scouts in the Elephant Control Department with Vickersā .404 magazine rifles."
Design Details[]
The .404 Jeffery is a bottlenecked, rimless centerfire cartridge designed to duplicate the performance of the .450/400 Nitro Express in bolt-action rifles.
It uses a .423 inch diameter bullet, driving a 400-grain (25.91 grams) projectile at a muzzle velocity of 2,125 feet per second (647.7 meters per second) with 4,020 ft-lbf (5491 J) of muzzle energy, or, for lighter game, a 300-grain (19.43 grams) copper pointed projectile at 2,625 feet per second (800.1 meters per second).
The casing has an 8Ė-20ā shoulder angle, allowing it to feed reliably with little to no problem in headspacing.
It can be housed in a standard-length Mauser action, making rifles that are chambered for the cartridge an economical alternative to the more expensive single-shot and double rifles, as well as a sensible, effective, and all-around choice for big game hunters visiting Africa or India.
While not as flexible as .375 H&H Magnum, it is a better choice for large African game animals.