I have a Ruger No. 1 in .405 Winchester and I am wondering what would be the best (which I know is relative) diameter for cast bullet shooting. As a second note, would I have any trouble shooting .410 bullets cast for the .41 mag.? What velocity can a plain base bullet reach before leading becomes a problem (I realize that it depends on the alloy)? I am only wanting to reach 1500 - 1600 fps.

Thanks,

Jesse

im shooting 459 out of my 45-70 no.1 at 1300 fps with no leading, i think the 410 dia. would be worth trying but you might want to slow down a little more.

I've had various .41 calibers go from .408 to .414 in bore diameter. I usually slug all my barrels for sizing my cast bullets. I'd go with a .411 to start and check accuracy and leading.

Jesse,
I have a double chambered for the .405. My last reload was a .411/265grs lead flat nose from Oregon Trail Trueshot, befor a charge of 30grs Vith N110. At 50m, I use it only for practice at the moving wild boar target, this powder/bullet combination shoots great, without leading.
A other question, are you satiesfeed with the #1 in .405WCF. I´m thinking about to buy the same rifle, but here in Germany, nobody have such a rifle/round combo. Price is about 1150.-€, are ~1600.-US-$.

Martin

Jesse

I ;oad for a Winchester 95 in 405. I use annealed 416 gas checks and size the bullet .413, LBT lube and use a case full of IMR 3031.
Works like a charm.

Jim

I shoot a .40-65 Browing BPCR using a bullet that was designed for the .405. The mold was made by NEI and is a 320 grain gas check design that casts a RN with a small flat meplat. As cast is .410 diameter. This is a gas check deign and the guy that I got them from provided them less gas checks. Luckily I have a lifetime supply of 41 cal Lyman gas checks. The groove diameter of my rifle is .408 and I shoot them at .410 after lubing in a .410 die. These bullets shoot close to 1" groups with the Browning supplied aperture sights. I use SR4759 with velocity running about 1200 FPS. I am not sure how fast you can go but I get no leading with the gas check but my barrel is probably smoother than the .405 barrel too.

quote:

Originally posted by ruger270:
I have a Ruger No. 1 in .405 Winchester and I am wondering what would be the best (which I know is relative) diameter for cast bullet shooting. As a second note, would I have any trouble shooting .410 bullets cast for the .41 mag.? What velocity can a plain base bullet reach before leading becomes a problem (I realize that it depends on the alloy)? I am only wanting to reach 1500 - 1600 fps.

Thanks,

Jesse

I would make a Cerrosafe cast of my chamber throat, and size them to the next even .001" smaller than my rifle's throat. For instance, if the throat was .4118" diameter at its largest point, I'd go with .411" bullets. If it was .4111" I'd still go with .411 sizing diameter". If it was .4121" to .4129", I'd move on up to .412", and so on.

I too have a Ruger No.1 in .405 Winchester AND an original Winchester barreled .405 repeater. That works for me in both instances. Going to the next .001" under measured throat diameter has a couple of advantages. One, it reduces any problems of blow-by and gas cutting as the bullets fully obturate the bore more quickly than smaller diameter ones of the same alloy would, and it still leaves the bullets small enough in diameter to not stick in the bore if you extract an unfired round.

One caution. Using a commercial die marked .411" does not assure it actually sizes bullets to that diameter. It depends on the manufacturer's production tolerances.

I have three different Lyman sizing dies marked ".311" for instance, which produce bullets of .310", .311", and .312". I suspect Lyman dies are made with +/- .001" tolerance, so can make bullets any size between .001" over and .001" under the nominal size, depending on luck of the draw when you buy each die.

quote:

Originally posted by arkypete:
Jesse

I ;oad for a Winchester 95 in 405. I use annealed 416 gas checks and size the bullet .413, LBT lube and use a case full of IMR 3031.
Works like a charm.

Jim

i use the same set up in my 95 405wcf as Arkypete. bullet is from an LBT mould weighing 345gr. in an LFN.

quote:

Originally posted by admiral:

quote:

Originally posted by arkypete:
Jesse

I ;oad for a Winchester 95 in 405. I use annealed 416 gas checks and size the bullet .413, LBT lube and use a case full of IMR 3031.
Works like a charm.

Jim

i use the same set up in my 95 405wcf as Arkypete. bullet is from an LBT mould weighing 345gr. in an LFN.

I had Mountain Molds make a single cavity using my design, done on their great mold design program.

Jim

arkypete sent me some of his .405 bullets to send to a friend in Namibia. he has an original 95 in .405 with british proofmarks.
Anyway, he loved them and shot a bunch of warthogs and a couple kudu with them. He had exits on all but a frontal shot on a kudu.