I am planning to build a 405 Winchester rifle on a FBW single shot action. The standard barrel groove diameter for the 405 Win. is .412". Jacketed bullets for the 405 Win. from Barnes and Hornady are .411" diameter and are .410 diameter from Swift. Do these under groove diameter bullets typically result in good accuracy? Barrels are available with .411" groove diameter, but all things being equal, I would rather stay with the standard for the cartridge.

Years ago I owned several of the old .405s. The cartridge and rifles were wonderful within their limitations--i.e. the light 300-grain bullet. I recall shooting .411" bullets. A .001 difference should not be noticeable with jacketed bullets and less so with lead bullets. And, even if a small difference I doubt many will notice when shooting an open sighted rifle.
Enjoy your trip!
cal

I have owned a Model 95 (built by Kreiger before they were available from Winchester - he must have had some agreement with Winchester as it had all proper Winchester markings) Have no idea what the barrel bore dimensions were but since it was a Kreiger barrel I assumed it to be correct. I loaded for it and used Barnes Solids which are marked 350gr .411 caliber and .411 diameter. I also loaded some 300gr softs from DKT Inc. which were marked .411 diameter for 405 Winchester. I curretly use them in a Ruger No. 1 and they shoot excellantely in both guns. Have no idea what the Ruger No1 dimensions are. either.

GMeyers,
I own and load for a Miroku/Wimchester 1895 .405 and have not slugged the barrel, but can share some bullet diameters with you as follows:
Hornady 210 gr XTP .410
Hornady 300 gr FP and PSP .411
Barnes 300 gr TSX .411
Barnes 400gr "X" .411
Woodleigh Weldcore 300gr RN SN .412
Woodleigh 400 Gr Weldcore .411
Woodleigh 400 gr Solid .411
North Fork 300GR SS (bonded soft point) .411
NF 300gr CPS .413
NF 300gr FPS .413
Cast 300gr .414

In my experience, all the above jacketed bullets of diameter .411-.413 shoot well in a clean or fouled barrel. The bullets of .410 shoot accurately from a fouled barrel.
Also the design of the NF solid causes it to be most accurate with a diameter of .413.

Please keep us posted on your .405 project progress.

I shoot my 400PDK in a Douglas barrel. I've used .410 and .411 and can tell no difference.

I have built several .405s; using the original .413 groove diameter barrels. I never thought that was optimum for shooting bullets in the .410 and .411 diameter so I have started using .410 groove barrels. Have not done a 95 like that yet, but one High Wall and one Mauser shows it to be a better idea. But since 95s have iron sights and heavy recoil, it would be hard to tell the difference in accuracy. Generally we like our bullets to fit better than a .002 slop.

Thanks to all that have responded. You have given me a lot of good information to consider.

quote:

Originally posted by GMyers:
I am planning to build a 405 Winchester rifle on a FBW single shot action. The standard barrel groove diameter for the 405 Win. is .412". Jacketed bullets for the 405 Win. from Barnes and Hornady are .411" diameter and are .410 diameter from Swift. Do these under groove diameter bullets typically result in good accuracy? Barrels are available with .411" groove diameter, but all things being equal, I would rather stay with the standard for the cartridge.

I tested the 350 grain Swift A Frames in my 400 Whelen. It has a .411 bore and the Swift bullets I received miked .4095. They were one of the most accurate bullets I tested.

quote:

Originally posted by mart:

quote:

Originally posted by GMyers:
I am planning to build a 405 Winchester rifle on a FBW single shot action. The standard barrel groove diameter for the 405 Win. is .412". Jacketed bullets for the 405 Win. from Barnes and Hornady are .411" diameter and are .410 diameter from Swift. Do these under groove diameter bullets typically result in good accuracy? Barrels are available with .411" groove diameter, but all things being equal, I would rather stay with the standard for the cartridge.

I tested the 350 grain Swift A Frames in my 400 Whelen. It has a .411 bore GROOVE and the Swift bullets I received miked .4095. They were one of the most accurate bullets I tested.

IIRC, those Shilen .411"-grooved barrels have a .404" diameter bore.

I also found them to work great with either .410-caliber or .411-caliber bullets.

1:14" TWIST.

I have had excellent accuracy with monometal and jacketed bullets as much as .002" below groove diameter in other calibers too.
They will give lesser pressures and velocities for a given powder charge,
may require use of a faster powder to get pressures and velocities back up to desired,
but accuracy is usually no problem.

.001" smaller than groove bullets:
Good accuracy, just lower pressure and velocity by small amount,
due to some gas blow-by.
Gas cutting of barrel?