425 Express.....anyone have one?

wannabe

wannabe

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"425 Express

Notes: This round was designed by Cameron Hopkins and Whit Collins as a project to be featured in the May 1988 issue of Guns Magazine. The original rifle to fire the .425 Express was designed by John French, based on a Ruger M-77 action. The round itself is a .300 Winchester Magnum case, shortened somewhat and then necked out to the .425 Express bullet’s dimensions. It is more powerful than the .375 H&H Magnum, but less than the .458 Winchester Magnum, and fills the gap neatly, yielding excellent power and range. Since its debut, it has proven itself on African game as well as in North America and Australia. The round was at first available only as a handload (being essentially a wildcat at its inception), but is now available from A-Square.

The .425 Express is an exciting cartridge that fits in a standard .30-'06 action, yet delivers magnum power levels. It utilizes a 400-grain bullet from the classic .404 Jeffery and delivers 2,400 feet per second - identical ballistics to a .416 Rigby."
 
I remember reading that article with enthusiasm at the time. I still think it is a viable alternative to the other big boomers today and probably more power than required for anything except as a stopping rifle for Grizzly. Would I build one today, maybe! The recent influx of "standard action Length" cartridges is really filling up the pipeline starting with what I think was the first to comercialize the standard length cartridges by "Dakota Arms" followed with a short series by Lazarroni and now Ruger. The big deal with all of those is their departure from cases with a belt and for good reason I may add. SO although the 425 Express is an excellent round I for one would rather see it done on a beltless case like the Dakota's (aka 404 Jefferies) but then the competition gets really heated up so in the end I think the 425 will not survive but it's memory will be kept alive by the very few that managed to buy one of the factory Savage rifles that will certainly become the rearest caliber Savage has ever chambered their rifles for!
bigbull
 
I built two on M98's, found them just a bit faster than the .404 Jeffrey. One got a myrtlewood stock, the other, that I kept, a Pacific Research. The big advantage I find, besides using a regular standard length action, is that the base brass is .300 Win, available to anyone anywhere, and most likely for a long time! The difficulty facing the future of many cartridges is the availability of brass, and a concern of mine whenever looking at a new rifle. So the .425 Express is a "working man's rifle".
For North American game, try using cast bullets on elk, moose, and the bears, ...........you don't need eight feet of penetration and can save two bucks per shot!
The .425 was born just as every manufacturer was getting into the big bores and wanted something with their name on it and proprietory rights to manufacture it. It couldn't compete with big money advertising and just never got any public attention. Savage did manufacture a few after A-Square commercially produced ammunition, but without the advertising hype, it just didn't catch on, so has remained in the shadows for someone in the future to "rediscover".
It will do anything that the .404, .416 Rigby, 450/400, or .45NE did and really is just another "400 grains at 2150 fps" , good cartridge for anything, anywhere. Why build or own one? ..........'cause it's different and it'll be the only one on the block!

~Arctic~
 
wannabe said:
"425 Express...The round itself is a .300 Winchester Magnum case, shortened somewhat and then necked out to the .425 Express bullet’s dimensions. It is more powerful than the .375 H&H Magnum, but less than the .458 Winchester Magnum, and fills the gap neatly, yielding excellent power and range.

The .425 Express is an exciting cartridge that fits in a standard .30-'06 action
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so what would be the advantage over the 416 Taylor?...a simple necking down of 458 Win brass and you have a Taylor.....
 
dan belisle said:
Slightly more case capacity and that magic .425 bullet diameter. - dan
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wow...a whole .009" bigger ......:D

and the shoulder is bit further up resulting in a small increase in powder capacity....

hey, don't those same two things make the 280 a whole lot better than the 270?...:p...and the difference is only .007"..:);)
 
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