I have an 1895 Winchester in .405. I was wanting to know if you can use it for buffalo hunting in South Africa. I've been looking into an all lever action safari. The outfitters I talked to seem to want a scoped super mag. I was hoping someone here could point me in the right direction.

I have a 405 Mdl95 that was built for me by Kreiger when he was moding the Brownings to this caliber. It was my intention to take it to Zim for Lion and Buff and I had absolutely no trepidations in doing so. A moratorium on lion was declared on Lion in Matabeleland and I never had the opportunity, and so it will probably never be used by me in Africa. I feel the 405 to be adequate for Lion and Buffalo but too light for Ele and see absolutely NOTHING wrong with the Mdl 95. Combine with a scoped BLR for plains game and I personally don't see any big drawback. I imagine you will find considerable debate on the subject on this forum. The 405 is not looked upon favorably and Lever guns are not traditional arms.

ragland 1969,

I think your 405 will work fine with proper bullets and prudent shot placement. I think finding that most PH would like you to show up with a scoped 375 etc. is normal because most people shoot better with a rig like that. Open sights in shadowy heavy cover will not let you make some shots you could take with a scoped rifle. As long as you are willing to work within the 405's limitations I see no problem.

My question is why would you pick RSA for a buffalo hunt? Considering everything it is very expensive for what you get. We represent a great operator there that offers 2 types of buffalo hunts but they are nearly twice as expensive as what we can offer in most southern African countries. I can offer you what may be the best buffalo hunt in Africa in Masailand for what you might pay in RSA for just a buffalo.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by ragland1969:
I have an 1895 Winchester in .405. I was wanting to know if you can use it for buffalo hunting in South Africa. I've been looking into an all lever action safari. The outfitters I talked to seem to want a scoped super mag. I was hoping someone here could point me in the right direction.

If you take anything other than a nice broadside shot, do not be surprised if the PH has to shoot your buff for you due to penetration issues with the .405.

The Hogdon's website lists a load with 400 grain Woodleighs at 1950 fps. The only problem (rather, two problems) is that the magazine is too short (back to front) to put more than two rounds in it before they "stick". (It slopes rearward the deeper it gets) and the throat may be a bit short if the bullet is crimped as designed.

Barnes makes a 300 grain X-bullet (s.d. of .254 with good weight retention) that would be fine on broadside shots. The factory loaded Hornady bullet is way too soft for a buffalo. Mike at North Fork, at one time, was going to market .411 caliber 350 grain cup points, and, in fact, made me some, but I don't know if they are on the market. If available, fyi, they fed fine in my 1895 and shot wonderful groups. That would be the way to go, I believe. I think they easily exceed 2000 fps.

I hope Mike will again make a bunch as they would do well in a .450/.400 Searcy?

I would point you in the direction of a more suitable rifle and caliber.

For cape buff, the right direction would be toward a bolt action rifle in at least .375 H&H Magnum caliber with a low power variable scope on top.

I would also point you north, towards Zimbabwe or Tanzania, rather than RSA.

Judge

You should know better than anyone that
"landed" 411 solids won't work in the New M95s. We both went down that road and the 411s went sideways in both our rifles. The new 95s are .413+ and the bullets have to be compatible to that. Also the nose needs to be shorter on the 405 to function with the magazine. So any 411 that I make for the Searcy or Ruger will not work with the M95-405. 413s are special order only (10 box min).

Mike:

The Woodleigh's (in my rifle, anyway) were just fine. I shot several groups with them that were less than 2" with a peep sight at 100 meters.... but they hung up in the magazine occasionally.

The bullets you made for me originally keyholed and then you slugged the barrel and made larger ones, which performed wonderfully, killing a bunch of African plans game. The 350 grain (obsolete) Barnes x-bullets performed just fine, too, but were too long. I admit not using the 300 grain x-bullet and it may well not have enough "bearing" surface to stabilize, unlike the 350 grain x-bullet... or obdurate like the Woodleigh apparently does.

I agree that the bullets that you make for the Ruger won't spin properly in a .405, and I appologize if I implied they would.

That said, the cup point bullets you send me (after the experimentation, are just wonderful in my rifle, be they .411 or .413 and if anyone is serious about using a .405 for buffalo should special order some from you, ten boxes or a thousand... they are worth it.

No one makes better bullets for Africa than you, Mike... no one!

I would not hesitate to shoot a buff with cast gas checked bullets. My 1895 Japanese takedown w/ vintage Redfield receiver sight shoots into one and onehalf inch groups @ 1900 fps, making adequate power and excellent penetration. Bullets are reasonably hard and weigh 330 gr.