I bought a box of "stuff" at a local auction. In amongst the brass and reloads was a plastic box with what looked to be 15 loaded, and 5 fired, Bell 404 cartridges - or 404 Jeffery! At least that's what was inferred by the headstamp. I was going to try to recoup some of my investment by listing them for sale on the other site, but when I was handling them to take a picture, something just didn't look right. I grabbed my calipers and measured the diameter of the bullet. Huh... .338 - not .423. I looked through the specs on a bunch of other cartridges, and I couldn't find any that matched. Close, but not quite...
The loaded cartridge OAL is @ 3.660. They are loaded with a Swift 250gr A-Frame and 87gr. of extruded powder. The fired cases measure 2.833 to 2.842, with one of them at 2.870. Case length on the loaded cartridges is about 2.845. The rim measures @ .543 and the base just above the extractor groove is @ .547. Also, one of the empties has Black Mesa .375 Express for a headstamp, and another says RWS 404, and an empty and one loaded say Bell 404 Jeffery. All the other cases just say Bell 404
So, what do you think I got here??
The loaded cartridge OAL is @ 3.660. They are loaded with a Swift 250gr A-Frame and 87gr. of extruded powder. The fired cases measure 2.833 to 2.842, with one of them at 2.870. Case length on the loaded cartridges is about 2.845. The rim measures @ .543 and the base just above the extractor groove is @ .547. Also, one of the empties has Black Mesa .375 Express for a headstamp, and another says RWS 404, and an empty and one loaded say Bell 404 Jeffery. All the other cases just say Bell 404
So, what do you think I got here??
