| 400NitroExpress |
| (.400 member) |
| 19/04/06 07:12 PM |
Re: 400/350
|
Bill:
This sounds promising.
The flanged .350s, and the double rifles chambered for them, are confusing at best because what little information that has been published about them is usually wrong.
In reply to:
"The correct bullet weight for the rifle you're looking at should be stamped on the barrel flats."
Barring the extremely rare exception, THIS IS FLAT WRONG. Original .400/.350 and original .350 No. 2 rifles will almost always bear the exact same proof marks. The proof marks for the .400/.350 are, of course, supposed to be "Cordite 43, 310 MAX". The problem is that the proof marks of original .350 No. 2 rifles are almost always "Cordite 43, 310 MAX" also. No. 2s marked "Cordite 51 1/2, 225 MAX" are very rare. Out of something like 20+ No. 2s I've handled over the years, I've only seen two. Thus, unless the rifle is one of the rare exceptions, the proof marks will not help you discover which load it was intended for.
Most .350 doubles will have the appropriate load engraved somewhere, usually on top of the barrels. Absent this information, If the rifle is engraved ".350 Rigby", as opposed to ".400/.350", I would strongly suspect that it is a .350 No. 2.
The correct ballistics for the .400/.350 cartridge were 43 grains Cordite behind a 310 grain bullet for 2000 fps, NOT 2150. Some time ago, I spoke to David Little at Kynoch at some length about the .350s. He speculated that an error in a manufacturer's catalog (probably Nobels) was picked up and repeated in various retailer's catalogs, and the error persists to this day. This error is significant because, for someone trying to duplicate factory ballistics in a vintage .400/.350, 2150 fps would be a serious overload.
For any practical purpose, the ballistics of the .350 Rimless Magnum and the .350 No. 2 were the same. Most references seem to list them at 2600 and 2550 fps respectively - the normal relationship for rimless/flanged pairs. John Taylor stated that the .350 No. 2 was actually loaded hotter than the Rimless. One of our posters here had a lovely Rigby best SLE in .350 No. 2 that he got with a supply of original "Kynoch for Rigby" ammo. He wrote a nice article about that rifle which was published in Double Gun Journal. Ten rounds of the original factory Kynoch averaged 2660 fps over a Pact chronograph from it's 26" barrels.
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