I have both rifles and I think the stock design of the 71 leaves a lot to be desired. Some suggest the stocks of the pre-war long tang rifles were more comfortable. When Winchester moved to the short tang, the point of the comb was also moved forward, crowding the grip somewhat. Personally, I prefer the more open pistol grip of the 1886 rifles and this design is more comfortable to me.
That aside the 348 cartridge has a lot of history and its design is similar to British offerings of the day. It's long neck, tapered case and gentle shoulder angle for easy chambering and extraction and use of heavy for calibre bullets at modest velocities are features that may look dated these days but are what made it such an enduring, reliable cartridge. The surprising thing is that there are so many bullets available in this calibre these days despite there only being one cartridge in this calibre.
The 405 is also steeped in history and despite having a fairly fast twist it generally uses light for calibre bullets and suffered from poor penetration and bullet performance back in the day. These days though we have better bullets and its magazine allows more streamline bullets to flatten the trajectory. Aside from the protruding mag I also like the 95.
If you can only have one get the one you like best but eventually you will probably get both.
Last edited by JFE; 10/20/15.
