Has anybody seen or shot one of these? I have the same model in 416 Rem Mag. How does the 405 Win compare? I see Hornady makes a 300 gr. load, but I was unable to find ballistic data on this load. Handload data is equally scarce. What is the intended purpose of the 405 Winchester?

The 300 grain bullet gets about 2200 FPS. The case is smaller in diameter, but a little longer, than the 45-70. I would rather have a 45-70 myself.

The "intended purpose" of the .405 Winchester was to be the most powerful rifle produced in the United States, a mission it fulfilled, in the 1895 Winchester lever action, for more than 30 years until Winchester started chambering M70's in .375 H&H. Winchester reproduced the M95 a couple of years ago in .405, and I had 100 built up as Tongass National Forest Centennial commemoratives last year. They are gorgeous, and mine shoots pretty well too. I bought Bertram brass and Hornady bullets and dies from Midway. Loading data is available -- I just did an internet search and found several sources of data. Which were all pretty consistent with one another -- a fact I found somewhat comforting.

The .405 is a great round, and makes a wonderful chambering for a single-shot rifle. Plenty of power -- Teddy Roosevelt shot lions, rhinos and elephants with his.