Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers any Other 405 winchester shooters?

I just got a winchester 1895 405 Win Teddy Roosevelt high grade.I have shot it about 150 times with 210 gr hornady xtp and 210gr Nosler 41 mag bullets.They are going around 2300fps.It blows gallon jugs to pices.I put a limbsaver pad and canes chapes on it.Its is too fun to shoot.I need to get more brass and bullets.I have been using aa1680 powder and I am going to try reloader 15 powder.I hope to get some 300 gr hornady bullets and 300 gr barnes and woodleigh for hunting .I hope to get a moose with it and a buffalo if I ever get a permit.

dgr, Mine likes RL15 and the Barnes 300gr the best, H4895 I use with the Hornady and Woodleighs. I've stopped at 2200fps with the Barnes in my rifle, no need to go higher for me. I know there are others here that are M95 405 shooters, best of luck with it, stevek

I've got one of the new model 95s and love it.
I bought mine to use as a cast bullet gun exclusively, can't see wasting money on condum bullets.
I got Mountain molds to make a wonderful 350 grain gas checked mold, out of brass that has proved very accurate. My research turned up a case full of IMR 3031 as the powder to go to. Prior to that I had used IMR 4064 and IMR 4895. Again case full.
I've sent these bullets to hunters in Africa and Denmark, Finland, Norway where they were used with good results.
Anything you can do with a jacketed bullet you can the same with a hard cast bullet.

Jim

Mine is in a Ruger #1H. I have tried several powders and a couple different bullets, and they all shot good, except Varget. H4895 works good as does Benchmark, maybe Benchmark just a tad better. Mine is giving me 2450 ft/sec with a 300 grainer, but it is a strong action -- might could go a little faster, but WHY? I have also used 210 grain Sierra JHP's and AA5744 powder -- never chronied them, but I am guessing around 1500 ft/sec. Good for takin the heads off rabbits and grouse, and letting my 120 pound women folk try Dad's Rhino rifle.

Your bullets with the gas checks are still "condum" bullets -- just that the condoms are a little shorter, that's all.

I got my Winchester 1895 when they first came back in 2001 or so
I sent mine to Fred Zeglin at Z-HAT.com who installed
NECG Express sights old style recoil pad and Robar NP3 super slick finish.It is the Last gun I would part with now or ever.
I have had pics of it posted on here before.I can get the kid next door to e-mail some photos of my 405 WCF TO SOMEBODY WHO CAN POST THEM HERE.
AMRA

My short condumed bullets are still cheaper.
Why pay, what do the jacketed bullets cost, 25 cents or more when you can get the same out come for a few cents.

Jim

Arkypete - It sounds like you have worked up a good gas check cast bullet load for your 1895 .405, but my experience led me to try the Northfork premium bullets. After a factory Hornady 300 grain jacketed flat point failed it shoot through both shoulder blades of a Nilgai at less than 50 yards, I looked for a stronger bullet for larger tougher game. I have loaded the 300 grain Northfork CPS and FPS to 2250 fps with N133 and they shoot to the same point of aim as the factory Hornady. I was extremely satisfied with the CPS performance on a water buffalo at less than 50 yards and Northfork posted the story on their web site:
http://www.northforkbullets.com/magento/blog/?p=204

I have been tinkering with 400 grain Hornady and Woodleigh bullets also, but that is another story.

There's few guys over at Accurate Reloading that have extensive experience reloading for the 405. Some of their loads are enough to scare me, I cring at the powder charges behind 400 grain bullets and the steel butt plate.
With a wheel weight and tin alloy water dropped bullet at casting , I get a bullet harder then an ex wife's heart.. This summer I'll make some babbit metal bullets, my red alloy, has copper in the mix. This alloy is about as close as you'll get to armour piercing and not have it machined out of bar stock.
I'm sure this bullet would penetrait, without expansion, through most any critter smaller then a rhino. Hitting a large bone may shatter the bullet, that would have to be determined by some one with more experience then I.
Good hunt and perfect results.

Jim

Search the archives here I left a couple of threads several years ago on loading the 405.
Basically for hunting with jacketed bullets you'll want to go with either the Northfork or the Barnes. Unless Hornady has toughened up the jackets they're to frangible to be of much use for hunting.
Cast bullets of the proper size are much more numerous than they were back in 02. The ones I have come to favor the most are the Lyman 412263, RCBS .416 and Buffalo Arms now has a 300 gr .413 that uses a gas check and the gascheck step is properly sized to use the Hornady .416 checks.
Powders with jacketed bullets, most anything between 4895 and 4064 work well. My favorite being the now extinct RL12, with second place going to Rl15.
Cast bullets need look no further than 5744.

I'm shooting a new 1895 and my favorite load is 4320 behind a 300gr Hornady. I know there are "better" bullets available, but i have killed a bear and three deer with this and never recovered a slug, even after full length penetration. I will call it "good enough".

3031 did not work well for me and I have some RL15 that I need to try. I have used 250gr Hawks but was not impressed. I have yet to try cast bullets....just need some extra time!

405wcf

Oops...the 250gr hawks were in the 348!

Carp: that load with the Barnes and RL-15 sounds about perfect for me. Care to share specifics? jorge

arkypete, could you expand on that "red alloy" babbit metal mix that you're using? Sounds interesting! Bill.

Bill
I don't know the exact alloy. It's very hard. When I found it at the scrap yard, I rapped it with my pocket knife and it rang like a bell.
I used it orginally in my 375 Whelen. It worked like a charm. There's very little reloading data available for the 375 so I used 35 Whelen data as a starting load.
For the 45-70 and 405 I used a more diluted mix of two ingots in a 20 pound pot of wheel weights.
The bullet is sized to .413, lubed with LBT, annealed 416 gas check.

Jim

Thought I'd add:

The closest alloy I could find would be Rotometals Copper Hard.

Your bullets will be lighter when mixed with babbot than with just lead alloy. I mixed up some with some babbot and wheelweights, and what usually weighed 300 grains came out about 10 grains lighter. Gotta be careful too, that you don't make the bullets too brittle.

i too prefer the defunct RL-12 in the 405. too bad it's gone and i'm down to my last pound. RL-15 is still very good and has good load density. IMR3031 and either 4895 also works well in my rifle. i personally think a 350gr. bullet is the ideal weight for a lever gun. i cast and 350gr. LBT LFN gc @.414" and run them 2150 fps.

Well test fired the 405 today with factory Hornady 300gr FPs first. About a 2" group@ 50 yards and 2270 on the chrono. I then tried 300gr TSXs and Woodleighs coming in with sligtly bigger groups (two almost touching) behind 53.5gr of RL-15 and those came in at 2160-75. Adding half a grain and if I can break 2200 with reasonable accuracy I'll call it a day. I also ordered a Lee Factory Crimp die as that seems to help with accuracy. Will report back tomorrow after the range session. jorge

did the buttplate give you any grief???

Just got back, no grief, it could use a nice red English style pad, but recoil is much less than the Sharps. Took it as well today BTW and I still have issues with those paper rings. On the 405, slowly working my way up to factory specs. The new loads by Hornady are fast, around 2285 or so. Today the TSXs averaged 2210 for a three shot group and the Woodleighs 2190. The Woodleighs shot much better though. Tomorrow I'll add another half grain and that should get me to near what I want which is ~2250.