by
Don Davie

The spread of European imperialism in Africa, the Indian sub-continent and the Southeast Asian lands in the second half of the 19th century created a demand for powerful rifles capable of coping with the large and dangerous species of game found in those regions and hunted for sport or profit. With their advanced stage of industrialisation and their extensive colonial holdings, the British and Germans were pre-eminent in the development of cartridges and rifles satisfying this requirement.

In a time of rapid advances in firearms technology, the London firm of W. J. Jeffery and Co. Ltd., gun and rifle makers, produced double-barrel and falling block, single-barrel rifles in calibres from .256 inch to .600 inch. One of their most popular chamberings was the Jeffery .450/.400 Nitro-Express Cartridge, also known as the .400 Cordite Express or .400S and advertised as adequate for the largest and most dangerous of game. Jeffery turned to the production of bolt-action repeating rifles with their 1905 model rifle, utilising the Mauser 1898 magazine action. Their catalogue for the 1910-1911 season presented the rifle in a new chambering, the .404 Rimless Nitro-Express, or .404 Jeffery. It is not clear why the cartridge was called the .404 as groove diameter is .423 (10.75 mm) but this is consistent with the lack of standardization in British and American calibre designations. More precisely, the Germans called the cartridge the 10.75 x 73 mm.

In its highest grade, Jeffery offered the model 1905 chambered for the .404 cartridge at 25 pounds sterling, the same price as their falling-block rifle of similar quality in .450/.400 and significantly cheaper than their best quality double-barrel rifle in that calibre at 35 pounds. The .404’s performance equaled the 450/.400  – with standard Cordite as the propellant, velocity with a 400 grain projectile (solid, soft–nosed, or split) was given as 2200 fps and the then new high velocity flat strip Cordite was said to increase velocity to 2400 fps with rather lower pressure. Cordite is particularly sensitive to variations of ambient temperature and cartridges loaded for tropical use had their charges reduced from 60 grains to 55 grains without, it was asserted, lessening performance in the tropics and other high-temperature regions.

Kynoch later produced the .404 cartridge with a 400 grain projectile (metal-covered, solid, soft-nosed, or split) and 60 grains of Cordite at a stated muzzle velocity of 2125 fps, and with a 300 grain bullet (metal-covered, solid pointed, or copper-pointed) and 70 grains of Cordite giving a muzzle velocity of 2625 fps. Velocities were taken from a 28 inch barrel and pressure was given as a very moderate 16 tons per square inch at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Production of the 300 grain copper-pointed projectile, designed for  long-range  shooting  in  India,  was  discontinued  after  its  use  against inappropriate African game resulted in the injury of death of hunters. Although theoretically the energy of the 300 grain bullet was greater than that of the 400 grain projectile, the lighter bullet was not as effective against large and dangerous quarry.

In the current RWS loading, the .404 cartridge has a 26 gram (401 grain) full-jacketed projectile and a stated muzzle velocity of 2315 fps giving muzzle energy of 4720 ft. lbs. One source, Mackinnon, quotes 2330 fps with pressure of 44 000 psi, marginally better performance than the old Kynoch load for the .416 Rigby with a 400 grain bullet. In its RWS loading, the .404’s recoil is substantial but quite tolerable, even at benchrest, in a properly fitting rifle of adequate mass and having a good butt pad.

As a large medium bore cartridge with a broad range of applications, the .404 Jeffery gained wide acceptance in Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Craig Boddington in his Safari Rifles (a work giving a comprehensive and objective appreciation of big-game rifles, based on considerable experience in Africa) noted that, of the five game departments of the British East African colonies, Kenya, Tanganyika, Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia had the .404 Nitro-Express as their standard issue rifle. As the exception, Uganda issued rifles chambered for the proprietary .425 Westley Richards Magnum cartridge,  also an excellent cartridge  but one requiring a very precise fit of the underside of the receiver rails to prevent occasional problems of misfeeding arising from its rebated rim.

As the  RWS loading  provided  a  significant advance  over the old Kynoch offering, so judicious handloading will further improve performance. In the 1980s-90s, Greg Matthews used Mulwex AR2208 to gain reported muzzle velocities of 2475 fps  with  the 401 grain  bullet  and 2666 fps with the 347 grain projectile produced by RWS for their 10.75 x 68 mm cartridge. With W-W 748 powder and the 401 grain projectile, he achieved 2581 fps. These are heavy loadings, the Mulwex charges being far in excess of those recommended by ADI, but Matthews noted no indications of excessive pressures in his rifle. He did, however, remark that recoil in the heavier loadings could be rather intimidating.

Rifles in .404 Jeffrey calibre have been offered in Britain by Jeffery, Churchill, Cogswell and Harrison, Parker-Hale, Vickers, Westley Richards and others. The .404 enjoyed something of a renascence in the late-1980s, with rifles in the calibre advertised as stock items (albeit at prices exceeding those of the usual run of calibres) in recent years by A-Square, Dakota, McMillan Gunworks and Ruger in the United States. Rifles chambered for the .404 have also been catalogued by Continental makers, including Auguste Francotte and Heym, again at higher cost, and the long established British makers of quality rifles have always been prepared to chamber for the .404 Jeffrey, but at rather daunting prices. The .404 is also available from custom gun makers in Australia and the United States.

With the possible exception of Asian water buffalo, here is no requirement for the use of the .404 Rimless Nitro-Express, or any similar cartridge, on Australian game, native or exotic, which may be dispatched with lesser cartridges. Even so, for many enamoured of classic cartridges with proven records on the most formidable of game, the pleasure of shooting a good cartridge in a fine rifle is sufficient reason for having a .404 Rimless Nitro-Express.

Published sources consulted give variations in dimensions, perhaps being minimum against maximum. Measurements taken from an RWS cartridge loaded with a 401 grain bullet provide the third set of dimensions given.