Who chambers for the 414 Supermag?

[gjn]

I thought I saw a 414 by Alan Harton (?) and someone mentioned Jim Stroh. Anyone else chambering for the 414?

[sixshooter]

Reeder will do it but will try to talk you into one of his GNR wildcats. Has some weird idea that the 414 is slow. Which it certainly isn't.

[kings6]

Alan got the 414 reamer when I had him do my 414. He also used it on the 414 I bought from Aggie01. I am not sure who else has one on hand.

[xs56gun]

I wish Lee would give us a quick tutorial on how to make chamber reamers.
Having minimal access to machining equipment, I don't have much time for trial and error...
I've been thinking of locating old rifle reamers, annealing them, and choping them to make some pistol wildcats.
Hopefully my work scheduling will open up a little so I can take night courses at the local college to get access

[madbadger]

Bowen Classic Arms did mine. Pic's are in the Gallery, back a couple years. Let me know if search doesn't find them.

I also have an 18" Encore chambered in .414 by Match Grade Machine.

[rex]

For what it is worth, I finally broke down and ordered a finishing reamer from Pacific Tool & Gauge, cost $147.00.
I have been remaking a Marlin 444 into a 414 with lots of help from a retired machinist. We tried to rent one to no avail as this is a rare chambering.
Bought the custom contoured barrel with a 1 in 16 twist from Pac-Nor and initially used a 41 Magnum roughing reamer rented from 4D. We did not go any deeper than just touching the rim and then finished off with the 414 reamer. I will note that although SAMMI has cartridge and chamber dimensions for the 41 Magnum they do not for the 414. The Sierra Edition V reloading manual has the easiest obtainable cartridge dimensions.
Since this rifle was designed to handle the longer 444 Marlin round I have not had to fret over the 1.880 max. cartridge length for the 414. This is good as I will be using Hornady 300gr flat tip bullets designed for the 405 Winchester.
Len is currently whittling out a swaging die and punch out of M-2 tool steel to bring the bullet diameter from .411 to .410. All this to fit my Redding Ultramag press. I have lost count of the steak dinners in lieu of pay! Once I have made up a dummy round we will adjust the throat length in the barrel with an adjustable piloted reamer.
Simply a labor of love for a .41 caliber fanatic!
I apologize for the ramblings on a single action site though I do shoot a Ruger Blackhawk in 41 Mag, as well as my S&W M57. Superb caliber for those of us who know. I wish the 414 had been given a better chance in the marketplace. Someday I will have a pistol.

[Lee Martin]

Sounds like a neat project. I have quite a bit of 414 SuperMag load data listed here if you're interested:

www.singleactions.com/414SuperMag.html

Speaking of middle-bore leverguns, I've always wanted to convert an XTR 94 to 408 Winchester. It was an experimental round from the mid-1960's. I have a couple of the prototype cases and it measures up as follows:

.408 Winchester Dimensions Inches:
Bullet Diameter---------------.400"
Rim Diameter----------------.506"
Base Diameter---------------.446"
Case Mouth Diameter ---------.430"
Case Length-----------------2.030"

You'd have to make it off of either 303 Savage or 220 Swift (the latter would be less rim diameter).

If I do one now I'll probably neck 356 Winchester up to 41-cal. It would involve less case forming.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Building carpal tunnel one round at a time"

[rex]

Lee,
Thanks for the loading data, you have a pretty extensive list.
The .408 Winchester is an intriguing cartridge, never heard of that one before and you certainly did your research in reforming from the .303 Savage or .220 Swift cases. I wonder if it was inspired by the .44 Ballard extra long center fire, just a thought.
I hear you concerning case forming, personally I have run the gamut from fun to frustrating, depending on how far I was willing to push it.
I really like your idea of reworking the XTR into a 410/356 Winchester. Seems as though it would be an efficient cartridge in an 18 inch barrel.
A huge benefit is in not having to modify the carrier (well, maybe minimally) or alter the bolt face. We have ended up reverse engineering the 444 bolt by making a new one out of stress relieved 4140 CM steel. The rim diameter of the .414 is significantly smaller than the .444 and I could not come up with a Marlin 336 bolt for the .35 Remington, which would have entailed a relatively simple opening up of the bolt face. Still have a ways to go on the milling machine. I bet we end up having to TIG weld the carrier and mill a new profile to better match the cartridge, have to wait and see.
I just had to have a .414 however; afterall, I got to shoot a rechambered Contender at the range 15 years back, went ahead and bought brass and then did not get back to playing with the round. I ended up with the old Marlin as part of an all-or-nothing lot at an auction last year but no ammo or components came with the buy...but I have those 250 peices of brass.
Given all the efforts I could have been shooting by now if I had simply gone with the .411 JDJ. Then I would be saving up for a BFR that could be massaged into a .414, 20/20 hindsight or something. I am quite sure I will have nothing to carp about once this project is finally done!
Rex

[CraigC]

Never heard of the .408, sounds cool!

[Lee Martin]

It is a neat round Craig. I haven't taken pictures of my prototype 408's yet but here's what one looks like:



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Building carpal tunnel one round at a time"