I have an opportunity to purchase an original Winchester 1895 (manufactured in the early 1920's) in .405 Winchester. The stock has been checkered (a decent job) but not cut and is in good shape with no serious dings, cracks, etc. The metal has been reblued and the rear sight was replaced with a Lyman 16A sight, a barrel band swivel stud has also been added. No additional holes have been drilled in the receiver. Bore is spotless. I would be purchasing as a shooter not as a collector so the rebluing, the Lyman rear sight and the barrel band swivel do not really bother me. I was curious what reasonable range of values for such a piece might be. I have long wanted to pick up a Winchester 1895 in .405 for nostalgia reasons. Thanks.

you might check with dpcd...

Mike,
You did not say whether you want the 1895 .405
to be an original Winchester or if a Miroku made Browning or Winchester 1895 .405 would make you happy.
I bought Miroku because I planned to hand load heavy loads and wanted the most modern steel available. My TD shooter and my looker:


The standard grade Miroku Winchester 1895 .405 in good condition can be found for around $1000 to 1400.
The Deluxe goes for double that or more depending on how much decoration has been added.

CR, the one I am looking at is an original (manufactured in 1923). I have told the seller I am going to purchase it. As I say, no non-factory holes have been drilled, stock has not been cut, bore is excellent . . . it has been reblued, a Lyman 16A rear sight has replaced the factory rear sight and the stock has been checkered. I am more interested in the rifle as a shooter than a collector and the seller has agreed to take $900 for it.

Sounds like a fair price for a hunter and it should be safe with 300 grain Hornady factory loads and the hand loaded equivalent.
When it is yours, you can tune it to your satisfaction, such as adding a good recoil pad and such.
Enjoy it and please continue to report on your progress.
PS My 1895 .405 is much more fun to shoot offhand than when seated at a bench, especially with 400 grain DG hand loads.

That offer seems fair to both parties to me. As others have said, the Miroku ones bring more than that, though they're new and modern, and the originals are way more than that. For $900, enjoy the rifle and shoot the barrel out of it.

At $900, you done good!

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
At $900, you done good!

I think so too. Continuing to search around and it seems that original 1895's in .405 are being offered at much higher prices . . . in some cases exponentially higher prices.

quote:

Originally posted by crshelton:
Sounds like a fair price for a hunter and it should be safe with 300 grain Hornady factory loads and the hand loaded equivalent.
When it is yours, you can tune it to your satisfaction, such as adding a good recoil pad and such.
Enjoy it and please continue to report on your progress.
PS My 1895 .405 is much more fun to shoot offhand than when seated at a bench, especially with 400 grain DG hand loads.

Cr,
Did you have to get any modifications done to your rifle to handle the 400 gr loads? what speeds are you getting with the 400 gr loads?
Thanks.

Bill73,
I spent $75 having the chamber lengthened so that the Woodleigh 400 grain .411 bullets could be seated at the cannelure with 25 thousandths clearance from the rifling. This gave more space for powder and lowered pressure.

All my final test loads were 2050 fps or above. The final hunting load was 2076 fps and I stopped there as that was the regulation velocity of a friends 450/400 double AND because the load was VERY accurate with an average deviation of one (1) FPS for a 5 shot string. The pressure was 48,000+ psi average and would have been up into the 50,000+ range if fired in the factory chamber. This load is OK to shoot off hand, but does push back when fired from a bench rest.

This is the load that I took my cape buff with and that was the reason for the project. Since then this ammo has been used on a couple other large animals with good success.

I did not lengthen the magazine and that limited me to two 400 grain Woodies in top of the mag.
When tracking the small herd of buffs, I loaded two 300 grain NF FPS first, then two 400 grain solids and put a 400 grain Weldcore in the chamber. My PH said I was loaded for bear!

What I do not like about the new 95s is that they got the barrel contour completely wrong for a .405. It was sad to see that they did no research before they built them. I have rebarrelled several of them with the correct contour.
Original 405s now command very high prices.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
What I do not like about the new 95s is that they got the barrel contour completely wrong for a .405. It was sad to see that they did no research before they built them. I have rebarrelled several of them with the correct contour.
Original 405s now command very high prices.

Could you elaborate please? what is not right with the barrels? too light?
I have several 71's,how does the 95 action rate against the 71 or 1886 actions?thanks.

Wrong contour in all of it's dimensions. Which does make it lighter, but once you have seen an original, it stands out like an M1 Thumb. They just picked a random commercial contour; nothing like the original, which is a straight taper.
The 95 is a stronger action; the 71 and 86 share the same design.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Wrong contour in all of it's dimensions. Which does make it lighter, but once you have seen an original, it stands out like an M1 Thumb. They just picked a random commercial contour; nothing like the original, which is a straight taper.
The 95 is a stronger action; the 71 and 86 share the same design.

What psi is safe in this action?

They made, and make, them in 30-06, so that is a good indication of the safe allowable pressures. Originals suffer from indented breech faces, but that is not a problem with new ones; they were just soft and I have refaced a couple.

You could saw it in half and still have that rifle worth $900..Ive seen that model sell for as much as $2000 in awful condition..Today gun values are down, but that's only temporary, it comes and goes with the economy. Even though some stuff has perhaps devalued it somewhat, they are pretty rare and the excellent barrel and the caliber will allow for a lot of mistakes made in its lifetime..

Buy it, or send it to me and I'll pay you a nice finders fee. Have it inspected by a Win. collector just to be safe since you did not know the value.

Have it inspected by a Win. collector just to be safe and know what you have since you did not know the value. If you tire of it, I'll see that you don't get hurt financially.

CR,
Interesting conversion, I sent one of our posters to Africa for Buffalo with such a gun as you have..It basically has the ballistic recipe of the 450-400-3" but in a lever gun as opposed to a double rifle..I can't imagine a better lever action rifle for Dangerous Game..

Who did the conversion work for you and at what cost: I think you have ruined my day, I feel that itch coming on that sez, gimme, gimme.. AND what about a Saddle Ring Carbine, and you have enough velocity aT 2076 FPS for a carbine to still get the 450-500s magic 2025 FPS...