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Shooting & Reloading - Mausers, Big Bores and others >> Rifles
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NitroXAdministrator
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The .400 "Legend"
      #383017 - 01/03/24 07:04 PM

https://www.americanhunter.org/content/behind-the-bullet-400-legend/

Behind the Bullet: 400 Legend

https://www.americanhunter.org/media/k4cibfii/btb-400-legend-lead.jpg

by PHILIP MASSARO posted on February 26, 2024
NEWS, GUNS & GEAR, AMMO

Support NRA American Hunter DONATE
BTB 400 Legend Lead
Give an American a new set of laws, and before the ice melts in your drink, someone will have an idea to work around it. With the numerous and varied laws regarding what makes a legal deer cartridge in many of the Midwestern states, a good number of cartridges have been relied upon or developed to meet as many of the criteria as possible. Among the popular choices were the 450 Bushmaster, the .45-70 Government, the .444 Marlin and the .38-55 Winchester; more recently the 350 Legend and 360 Buckhammer were specifically developed to adhere to as many of those parameters as possible.

Released at the 2023 SHOT Show, Winchester/Browning’s 400 Legend took their previous 350 Legend concept further, giving the shooting public a straight-walled cartridge, fully suitable for both a bolt-action rifle as well as the AR platform, conforming to the collective statutes set forth by a number of those Midwestern states.

Continued on link ...


I'm not really sure of what purpose this cartridge serves, other than a cartridge fitting into a AR.

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DarylS
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Re: The .400 "Legend" [Re: NitroX]
      #383025 - 02/03/24 04:24 AM

.30/30/.32 Win. Spl, .38/55 case with the rim turned off and new extractor groove cut & trimmed to length, if stuck for cases.

--------------------
Daryl


"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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kuduae
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Re: The .400 "Legend" [Re: DarylS]
      #383030 - 02/03/24 08:41 AM

Quote:

I'm not really sure of what purpose this cartridge serves,


Afaik, to fill a gap in the hunting laws of some US states. Several states traditionally mandated “shotgun only” for hunting white-tailed deer. Recently, some of those states allowed the use of short range rifles too, essentially rifles in pistol calibers like the .44 and .357 Magnum. They did not name legal cartridges, but set up some arbitrary specifications for legal deer cartridges:
The cases must be straight taper. So all bottlenecked cases are out.
The cases must be shorter than 2”. This outlaws many existing straight cases like the .38-55, .45-70, .444 Marlin, .375 Winchester and old European or British cartridges like the .360, .375 flanged NE, 9.3x72R and so on.
These limitations only spurred American wildcatters to develop more potent deer cartridges to fit into the rules and the now popular actions, though some forgotten numbers like the .351 WSL and .401 Winchester Self Loading would fill the bill too. Btw, the .400 Legend seems to be nothing else than a modernised version of the .401 WSL.
Remember, all the British big bore Nitro Express cartridges, the .465s, .470s, .475s and so on were created because the .450s were outlawed in India and other British colonies.

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DarylS
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Re: The .400 "Legend" [Re: kuduae]
      #383032 - 02/03/24 10:14 AM

Absolutely correct. The .401, iirc, drove a 200gr. bullet at 2,10000fps & a 250gr. bullet at something around 1,900fps.

--------------------
Daryl


"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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NitroXAdministrator
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Re: The .400 "Legend" [Re: kuduae]
      #383053 - 03/03/24 02:58 PM

Makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

I'm always amazed at how popular the AR rifles are. And the cartridge variations.

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John aka NitroX

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DarylS
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Re: The .400 "Legend" [Re: NitroX]
      #383067 - 04/03/24 04:08 AM

There are SO many accuracy parts available. There are a lot of guys with small calibre AR's, .17 Rem. .17 Practical (.223 necked down) and .204's and .Tac .20's (.223 case blown out)
that shoot sub 1/2" at 100yards. These are used for coyote, fox and ground squirrel shooting in the States.
Some, are used for shooting hogs from choppers. Quite the videos of that on U-tube.
Here's one outfit that does it.
https://www.helicopterpighunting.com/

--------------------
Daryl


"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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9.3x57
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Re: The .400 "Legend" [Re: DarylS]
      #383070 - 04/03/24 10:42 AM

kuduae is correct. The regulations were written in states where previously hunters had to use shotguns.

The history is rather interesting.

As late as the '70's, buckshot in these states was very popular and some had only recently opened to slugs. Then the fully rifled slug barrel became popular especially for sabot slugs.

That tested the laws and eventually more or less it was made legal as the ballistics were still similar enough to shotgun smoothbores.

Reality was the sabot slug guns were producing ballistics more or less equal to the .45-70 and the legal game was on. Pressure to allow some sort of rifle was permitted. But what? Enter straight-walled "rifle" cartridges. The with that came a growing number attempting to gain traction in that ever-increasing market. Some of the states w/ these restrictions have some of the largest deer populations and now pig as well. The increasing use of the AR15 added increasing incentive to design rounds suitable for that action.

Interestingly, there are some .223 rounds fully capable of killing deer and some guys use them in various stated where the bottleneck is allowed. I know of some that have shot thousands of deer in control actions using heavy bullets in .223 in AR15's. But w/ the bottleneck outlawed, that option is gone.

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What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

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