The record is long run on BP Turkeys, shot by Eric Stevens at Shippensburg, Pa silhouette range, with Barry Harmon spotting. They held up the match so he could go for a long run record. I was there that day, and if memory serves he shot 34 turkeys in a row (at 385 meters). He shot with iron sights, using a CPA rifle. The last few hits were a bit shaky because he was running out of ammo and was down to his chicken loads.

Eric's record was with the 40/50 Bottleneck cartridge. Either one will shoot with the proper loads and technique. It is a good cartridge for a youth or lady or a shooter with neck or shoulder problems. Heck, its a good cartridge for anyone.

That running out of ammo reminds me of shooting the Quigley Bucket offhand at 500 yards. The target was the size of a 5 gallon bucket.  I only had 3 shells left and they were foulers; 2 of one loading and one of another. I told my spotter to watch close on the first shot because it may hit off my point of aim.  Got lucky and hit the bucket    Got a second hit out of the 3 shots.  We shot that for several years at Ravensdale and Tacoma.  Only time anyone hit it twice in 3 shots    Luck trumps skill ever time 

Wonderful Rem-Hepburn, Al!

Do you believe you will have any worrisome excess headspace using reformed .303 brass?

When I reformed some .303 brass (and some .30-40K brass) for my .40 2 1/2" Hepburn years ago....I could hear the cases rattling in the chamber when I shook the rifle hard back and forth. The primers also sat a bit "proud" after firing. Tapping the rims forward a bit solved that problem, and I lived with that until BACO began offering "stretched" Krag cases of the proper length. They also swaged the rims somehow to proper thickness.

My R.-Hepburn example is an early one with 3-digit SN.

marlinguy wrote on Sep 27^th, 2018 at 11:49am:


You assumed something incorrectly. Cases that had been fired many times rattled and showed "proud" primers. That's when I decided to bend the case rims forward a bit to take up more space in the rim cut of the chamber.

When that Hepburn came to me in ~1977.....Hornady .405 Win. brass did not exist. Initially, I had to use a small batch of ancient .40-70 UMC brass that came with the rifle, and when that stuff wore out, I had to "make-do" with formed .303 and .30-40 cases. Even though they are too short, they worked satisfactorily for several decades........and we do what we have to do to keep the old rifles shooting. The BACO "stretched and rim-swaged" Krag cases have worked perfectly for my Rem-Hep ever since they became available. Besides that, the "stretching" thins the necks enough for me to be able to seat the proper size grooved bullet without thinning the inside of the necks. I've tried a few of the .405 Hornady cases....and the necks are too thick to do that. I'm not interested in fooling with paper patch bullets in this rifle.

I didn't have any issue with cases rattling once they were fire formed, as they expanded to fit well. But being so short I didn't want to use them. 
I started using .405 Win. brass and outside turned case necks, as I didn't like inside turning myself. Once fire formed the necks expanded out and bullets worked fine as fixed grease groove bullets.
I went to Hornady as soon as they became available as the cost was cheaper, and they were plentiful. I also share the .405 Hornady brass amongst several Ballard rifles and the Hepburn, as the .405 brass works well for the .40-63/.40-70 Ballard also. Unfortunately it appears Hornady has dropped the .405 from their lineup and I hope I have enough brass purchased to ensure I'm good for some time! Hate to have to start scrounging again at this point in life!

My brother in law is out from Manitoba and staying with us for a visit and I always take him out for a range day when he is in town, so yesterday we spent the day up at one of my local ranges and I let him shoot several hundred rounds in a variety of rifles.  While he was shooting I fire formed another 70 or so rounds of .40-50 SS in the Remington Hepburn.  I fired up my RCBS bottom pour pot a few days ago and finally cast a batch of 300 grain RCBS CSA bullets so now I need to make a bunch of test loads since I have about 120 formed cases.  The project continues ...