Hard-hitting straight-walled power with the Mossberg Patriot in 400 Legend. (Image courtesy of Mossberg)
The history of fish-and-game laws is filled with tales of authorities devising new crackdowns to preserve wildlife (or sometimes human life)… and gearmakers, ammo manufacturers, firearm designers and hunters themselves figuring out how to work with said laws. The new-for-2024 400 Legend Mossberg Patriot is the perfect example. It isn’t the traditional break-action or lever-action rifle that many lawmakers might have envisioned when straight-wall cartridge laws were introduced. It’s a modern bolt-action that just happens to shoot a new-fangled cartridge with old-fashioned characteristics. Sort of.
Mossberg @ TFB:
There’s nothing new with the rifle itself; the Patriot has been in Mossberg’s lineup for a while. The rifle comes with twin-lug push-feed machined-steel action, a free-floating 20-inch barrel made of carbon steel, with 11/16-24 thread at the muzzle and an 11-degree match crown. Mossberg’s user-adjustable LBA trigger is standard from the factory, able to be set in the range of 2-7 pound pull. The rifles come with such niceties as sling swivel studs, checkered bolt handles and spiral-fluted bolts from the factory.
Same old, same old then! The difference is that the new rifles are chambered in Winchester’s new 400 Legend cartridge (with a 4+1 magazine capacity).
Also available in a swank walnut-stocked version, which will set you back quite a few more shekels. (Image courtesy of Mossberg)
This cartridge is intended for jurisdictions that allow hunting rifles chambered in straight-wall cartridges while banning bottleneck cartridges such as the .30-30 Winchester. The idea is that straight-wall cartridges are lower-performance than hotter traditional hunting cartridges.
Maybe that’s true. But as Mossberg’s PR tells us: “400 Legend is a straight-walled cartridge described as having energy equivalent to the 450 Bushmaster but with 20% less recoil; 20% more energy than the 30-30 Win; 25% more energy than the 350 Legend with greater penetration; and 100% more energy than a 12-gauge slug at 100 yards with 55% less recoil. This versatile cartridge provides deep penetration, excellent accuracy, and efficient knockdown power for medium to big game animals at mid ranges of 200 to 250 yards.”
Sounds like it has plenty of jam, then, and it’s no wonder that serious hunters might prefer it to something like a .357 Magnum or .45 LC.
The 400 Legend version of the Mossberg Patriot will come in either a synthetic-stock version (weighing 6.5 pounds, MSRP $484) or a wood stock version (weighing 7 pounds, MSRP $669). More details at Mossberg’s website here.
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