This may not make sense, but I did it anyway. That is, bought a Savage 110 ‘Trail Hunter’ chambered in the new cartridge, 400 Legend.

The only reason this round exists is to qualify inside the new regulations for deer hunting in States previously only allowing shotgun slug guns, muzzle-loaders and certain handguns. I hunt a fair amount in Central Illinois. There’s not a 10 pointer behind every corn stalk, but it’s one thing IL has going for it, nice bucks.

My main iron the last many years has been one of my several, tricked out, Knight ‘Elite’, muzzle-loaders’. I shoot Blackhorn 209 powder, Zeiss 3-9, Barnes or Hornady bullets at 1950-2200+ FPS(50/45 cal). I’ve done shoot-offs with slug guns and even my 444 Marlin, the Knight wins.

Now enter the 350 Legend, been around a handful of years, fairly popular in ‘restricted’ States. I’ve never really liked it, beyond setting up for the youth hunter, modest ranges. Last fall a bear hunter showed up at a relatives hunting setup, with his 350 Legend. He said it, ‘works great on deer’. To make a 12+ midnight story short, the 300+ lb bear ran off after the shot, scant blood trail, after midnight in the swamp. It was a ‘good hit’, sorta, his buddy video taped it. There was never an exit.

Then we get to IL last fall, the one guy did get a nice deer with his 350. The other guy lost 2 deer and a coyote with his 350. Yes I know, one will rave about overloading the buck pole with deer harvested with his 350 Legend. I also know the moniker of ‘shot placement’.

The 400 Legend is what the 350 should have been, 180-200+ grain bullet at 2200 or more FPS. I also have a bunch of .400” bullets from the 40 S&W years, though I still like the round.

My plan is to load this round up & see if the ballistics match or surpass my muzzle-loader. I don’t mind fiddling, but it is easier with a modern cartridge over the M-L.

The 400 Legend calls for a slow handgun powder, Win-296, 4227, Enforcer, etc.. I’ll start with some older 4227 I want to use up, the 296/110 is usually listed as a top choice.

Of course, hunting without restrictions, I’ll use one of my 284 Winchester rifles. I also post this in case one of you are thinking along similar lines.

I’ve done a little testing, again, this is all targeted for deer hunting in Illinois.

I kinda like exploring & experimentation, part of the process.

I loaded two weights of Barnes bullets, 140 & 155 grain. I used Win-296 powder, listed as a top performer with the 400 Legend.

The 140 grain choreographed at 2780 FPS average. The 155 grain, 2648 average. This compares to my muzzle-loader at 2200 fps.

I think next to to do accuracy testing with mostly the 155 grain loads. With limited shooting at modest range the accuracy seemed pretty good. All I ready need is inside 125 yards, maybe 150 max.

These bullets average slightly light for the cartridge. Even though they are advertised as ‘pistol bullets’ the Barnes usually stay together better than standard bullets, at higher speeds.

I agree, if not for the restrictions in a handful of States, unlikely there would ever be a ‘400 Legend’.

How is a recoil compared to a bottleneck cartridge, straight wall cartridge of similar power.

I am interested in the .400 -- not sure why.
But I like the .40 SW bullet and pistol magnum powder combination...
seems like a 'set' to go for a .40 SW reloader

For me it’s 100% about the IL deer hunt. I have a plethora of other rifles I would normally use for deer.

The other part of it, I’m not real smitten by the 350 Legend, which has more years on the market.

Unless one has reason in a ‘straight-wall’ deer hunting State, I don’t see a great reason to buy the 400. If one has a use, I would buy the 400 instead of the 350 Legend. The ballistics speak for themselves.

Much of my experience is real world, in addition the property line may be 75 yards away. It can vary is to recovering a deer across lines.

As I recall, recoil with my 400 felt less than the average 308.

Back to the bench today, two friends setting up a 400 Lengend, one for the youth hunt early Oct.

I’ll start with plated 165 grain ‘40 S&W’ bullets, IMR-4227, familiarization loads. There is ammo available mail order, but the in stock choices are rather limited now, I looked myself. And for nearly $2 a round, who wants that?

Those plated bullets are just for practice, hunting loads will have Barnes bullets. The other part of this is some field evaluation before I use the round in November, IL.

Just back from the IL youth hunt, 2 youths hunting.

It was the 9 y/o girls first time, well motivated, excited. She dropped an adult doe at 35 yards, pass-thru with my 400 Lengend hand loads, Barnes bullets.

The boy, 13 shot a few anterless but never a buck. He shot a modest size 10 pointer, 40 yards, broadside, went about 30 yards after the hit. The same hand loads. I’ll see the bullet once they are done cutting it up, near the offside hide.

Anyway, went well, weather was great.