Bought one of these in the laminated stainless version and it sure is a pretty rifle. Hornady factory loads are going the advertised 2200 fps. The three I chronoed had a spread of only 7 fps.

WW748 is one of my favorite powders so I started at 50 grains and worked up to 64 grains which is all I could get in the case. Velocity didn't beat the factory load by much. No pressure sighs at all.

As the recoil is pretty stout at 2200 fps I'm not sure if I am going to go much higher but would like to know what powders anyone has used and the velocity if chronographed.

Next project is to try some .41 Magnum pistol bullets.

Bob

I have a .405 win throater which will allow you to seat 410 gr woodleighs out about .300 . The extra powder capacity will let you push a 410 gr woodleigh to 2150 fps thus duplicating the horsepower of the old 450/400 Jeffery. That was and is considered an excellent Buffalo cartridge.-Rob

What load recipe are you using to get 2150 fps with the 400 grain Woodleigh with the old 405 Winchester?

ASS_CLOWN

Unless I go to Africa, where my friend NE450No2 is right now with his .450/400, I doubt I need to put myself through such abuse. I would however like to get some of the now discontinued Barns 350 grain solids just to try them. What powders have you tried to get slugs up over 2200 fps...

Thanks again...Bob

RJM,

Did you get any load data?

ASS_CLOWN

FWIW, Hodgdons has .405 data listed on their web site.

I used my 1-B which has a Douglas barrel in .405 in RSA last month to take a Blue Wildebeest at about 40 yds. The 400gr Woodleigh went through and through and Mr. Wildebeest went about 50yds before piling up.



Biggest animal I've taken to date, I'm quite happy with the .405 and feel pretty confident with it. We'll probably go deer hunting together this Fall but using 265gr WNFP cast bullets designed for the .41 Mag at @ 1,400 fps.

Rick

Nicely done, Rick! What sort of velocity do you get with the 400 grain bullet? Did it expand much? My blue wildebeest is the one prize of which I have no photo...of course the euromount in the family room tends to make up for the lack of documentary evidence. Good hunting! McB

I am going to guess that Rick R's load for the 400 grain Woodleigh runs around 1900 fps - 1950 fps.

RickR, are you able to achieve the muzzle velocities claimed by Hodgdon on their website?

ASS_CLOWN

The 405 is about as perfect a cast bullet caliber as a fella could want. NEI does make a few molds for this caliber, otherwise it's Mountain Molds for a custom mold. I had Mountain Molds make a 350 grain gas checked round nose mold. The standard rifling for this caliber, I think it's 1 in 13.5 or something close, should handle most any of the 400,maybe 450, easily.
I found that the lube I was using was not up to the task once the velocity moved over 1600 fps, with air cooled WW/lino alloy. Once I get some hardened bullets with LBT Blue I should be able to continue on up to factory velocities, with accuracy.
Jim

okay, dorky question..

what's the rim diameter of a 405? heh heh....

I have this fairly nice nagant, and I could get a barrel fairly cheap...

jeffe

jeffeosso,

Pretty much the same as the 303 Brit and 30-40 Krag. From memory.
OD - 0.545"
Thickness - 0.7"

It is smaller in diameter and thicker than the MN is set-up for. I would most likely work though, although I doubt is would be as reliable a feed as it would be with the 7.62X54R. Consider the reliablity of the MN feeding the 7.62X54R, I don't think I would do this conversion.

ASS_CLOWN

I'm not sure how much expansion I got as the bullet sailed through the bottom portion of the chest leaving an exit hole about 1" in size. I missed any major bones but still managed to fell the poor man's buffalo with one shot.



I use a load with 54.0 gr of Varget seated to 3.30" in new Hornady brass, CCI magnum primer and crimped in the groove on the 400gr Woodleigh softs, that yields 2,050fps over my Chrony. Kinda splits the difference between the 450/400 normal and tropical loads of 2,150 and 1,950fps using the same bullet. Accuracy is under an inch at 100yds.



That load seems safe in my #1 but you're on your own if you decide to go over Hodgdon's data which lists 52.0gr for 44,300 PSI and 1,900fps as being max. Varget has seemed to plateau at just over 2,000fps and adding more powder didn't produce any more velocity for my rifle once I'd passed 54.0 grains. I'm interested in Robgunbuilder's idea of using a longer throat but I'm out of animals that I need a 400gr bullet traveling over 2,000 fps to kill and the throat in my rifle is already long enough that the 300 gr bullets don't shoot well.



I've also played with the Woodleigh 400gr solid and I get the same point of impact using a grain less powder, but I haven't chrony'd that load. My lead bullet load uses a Oregon Bullet Co. 265 gr WNFP/GC over 15 gr of Unique and crimped in the top grease groove. I add a half cotton ball to keep the powder somewhere near the primer and that seems to help with accuracy. Point of impact with this load is very close to the 400gr soft but it's a 2" load at 100yds. Low muzzle signature and recoil make this a favorite load for my sons to shoot.



My latest .405 flight of fancy has been a load using 10gr Unique, a .410 shot cup, 250 gr of #8 shot and a .410 overshot card crimped over that whole mess. Should be pretty deadly on things that travel without legs but the pattern is too open to hit flying critters past ten yards. What can I say? I came back from Africa with an aversion to things that slither.



hth

Rick

I have an Encore with a 26 inch custom barrel by ER Brown in .405 win for which I designed a custom throater. This piloted throater produces a 1 degree 30 min leade and allows me to seat a 400 gr Woodleigh solid out .250 inches. It takes 2 minutes to do with a hand tool. Accuracy is just fine and with 58-60 grs of Varget I can easily get 2150fps. In an encore this is a very very handy little cannon! With a .270 win barrel with scope you can go to Africa or the NT in OZ and basically do everything in a handy takedown package!-Rob

Robgunbuilder,

That does sound like a very compact travelling set! How is the recoil with, what a ~ 6 pound rifle, in 405 Winnie spitting out 400 grain pills at 2150 fps? Does the rifle jump around alot, or is it easily manageable?

ASS_CLOWN