.404 Jeffery

The .404 Jeffery is a rifle cartridge designed for hunting large, dangerous game animals, such as the "Big Five" (elephant, rhino, cape buffalo, lion and leopard) of Africa. The cartridge is standardized by the C.I.P. and is also known as .404 Rimless Nitro Express (Riml. N.E.). It was designed in 1905 by London based gunmaker W. J. Jeffery & Co. to duplicate the performance of the .450/400 Nitro Express 3-inch in bolt-action rifles. The .404 Jeffery fires a bullet .422 inches (10.7 mm) in diameter of either 300 grains (19 g) with a muzzle velocity of 2,600 feet per second (790 m/s) and muzzle energy of 4,500 foot-pounds force (6,100 N⋅m) or 400 gr (26 g) with a muzzle velocity of 2,150 ft/s (660 m/s) and 4,100 ft⋅lbf (5,600 N⋅m) of energy. It is very effective on large game and is favored by many hunters of dangerous game. The .404 Jeffery was popular with hunters and game wardens in Africa because of its good performance with manageable recoil. By way of comparison, the .416 Rigby and .416 Remington Magnum cartridges fire .416 in (10.6 mm) bullets of 400 gr (26 g) at 2,400 ft/s (730 m/s) with a muzzle energy of approximately 5,000 ft⋅lbf (6,800 N⋅m). These cartridges exceed the ballistic performance of the .404 Jeffery but at the price of greater recoil and, in the case of the .416 Rigby, rifles that are more expensive.