My friend, Mbogo375, and I went to the range today to shoot a few rifles.



I particularly wanted to shoot my new toy, a Winchester 1895 in .405. It was all I hoped it would be. Even with these tired eyes, I was able to group 300 grain factory SP's in 3", and right "around" the bullseye at 100 yards. I have ordered some left over and discontinued .411 diameter, 350 grain X-Bullets. I should get them to shoot about 2000 fps (I hope!) and with a sectional density of .296, they should do the Pink Bunny trick and keep going and going and going.



Hornady lists a load with Woodleigh 400 grain solids at 1950 fps and only 44K p.s.i. Anyone tried that and duplicated the velocity? Since it is equal to the old .450/400 tropical load, I'd be sorely temped to shoot a buffalo if my .470 double was in the Land Rover. (Sectional Density of that bullet is a zillion or so so don't start telling me that it is just a .45/70 in disguise!!!) I believe that the crimp grove is in the wrong place on the Woodleigh bullet, so I may get Lee to make me a crimper?? Any thoughts?



I also shot my 9.5x56 Mannlicher (.375 2 1/4"). It's a takedown model with the pop up tang peep. After realizing that I'm old and half blind, I quit trying to be superman, relaxed some and got it to shoot well enough to break a teacup, albeit a large one, again at 100 yards.



I have a .356 Winchester in a 94AE that I never could get to shoot worth a flip and today tried 220 grain flat points with a healthy load of AA2520 and it was the trick. To begin with, the first bullet would hit 2" high and on centerline. The next few would group about 3" higher. Finally, I shot a group of 2" after Jim figured out that the the recoil was banging the bullets back a bit, making those in the magazine seat deeper and go high. Single shot, the gun is really scary accurate for a full magazine and barrel band rifle. I'll crimp a bit and see if I can stop the problem of shots 2 through 5 going above the first.



So... Thank you Jim for your knowlege and help. That's what AR is all about. Sharing what we know!



Anti-climaticly, my new Model 84 Kimber in .243 shot 1" with 85 grain partitions... Damn... Just another accurate and beautiful rifle, right out of the box. So what.

Hmmmpf! It must be nice. I went to the range to fireform some more .318 cases trying out a new, "light" load and found that it blew the primers right out der pockets! So I came home, pulled out all the bullets and reloaded with five grains less. I'll try again on Monday.

JudgeG,



I used the 400gr Woodleigh loaded to 2,050 fps from my .405 Winchester Ruger #1 in RSA this year to kill a Blue Wildebeest at 30yd +/- with one shot.



My rifle has a 24" Douglas barrel and I'm using a bit more powder than Hodgdon lists as max but my data showed similar velocity as their data as far as they went. The 400gr soft is @ 3.30" crimped in the groove and the 400gr solid is @ 3.28". Loaded with a grain less powder the solid is the Pink Bunny load. From my gun at 40 yards one of the solids penetrated three layers of a Military PASGT vest, six gallon jugs of water and almost a foot of wet sand in a sand bag, the bullet looks like it could be reloaded.



hth



Rick

JudgeG certainly did have a good morning. I think that he has found a new friend in the 405 Win Model 95 .

I will have to say that I was pleased with the two rifles that I shot this morning as well. First was my Rigby 350 Mag that had been giving me problems finding a load that did not shoot well below point of aim at 100 yards with the express sights. Today I increased the charge of RL 15, and shot a group that was just over 1.5 inches in size and 1.5 inches below point of aim at 100. I think that about 1 or 2 more grains of powder will get me to point of aim!!!!!!

The other rifle that I worked with is a Ruger #3 in 375 Win that I bought recently. My purpose for this rifle was to change the wood for factory Ruger #1 Alex Henry forearm and buttstock. I have found a buttstock, but am still looking for an Alex Henry forearm. I then intended to rechamber for 375x2.5 Flanged Nitro Express. As they say, the best laid plans........... On cleaning the bore of years of accumulated crud I discovered that there was rust, and that the bore was slightly rough in places. After seeing this I really did not expect too much in the accuracy department, and decided to try it as-is before going further with my project.

After sighting in the scope I tried two loads with the 270 Hornady spire point. I was pleasantly surprised that both loads grouped inside 1 inch at 100. Guess that the project is back on .

Help guys!!!!!! I still need an Alex Henry forearm (and Ruger won't sell a forearm without sending the proper model #1 rifle in for fitting. Has anyone out there got an Alex Henry forearm (or set) that they would be willing to sell ?

Jim

Guess I better get one..A 400 gr. bullet at 2000 FPS with that kind of SD always gets my attention....A 350 gr. Barnes x would also be a dandy bullet for Buffalo as they penitrate forever, sometimes from Tanzania to the Sudan taking out a couple of Buff, two impala, a wandering Masai and two feral pigs....

Ha!! Ern, I'm gonna checker mine!! and I might even stock it in a lovely piece of Turkish. add a receiver sight and lay low a couple of elk, deer, surley a bison and perhaps a King ranch Nilgai and then off to the dark continent........

Careful Ray,next thing you know you'll be wanting to pester lions to death from horseback with that .405!

Rick

I have a long throat .405 win in an Encore rifle that will easily hit 2150fps with a 410 gr woodleigh with a new crimping groove added about .250 out.Recoil is also very manageable! This and a .270 win barrel makes a handly little rig for inconspitious travelling and hunting on a worldwide basis.-Rob