WoodrowS,
Please let me know if you will part with your takedown 1895 .405. A close hunting buddy has the itch for one and would likely snap it it up.
Heck, I could even use it as backup on my next African hunt.

I saw one today at a show in the Phoenix area. New with box asking $850.
I want to buy it but I have too many projects going that I must pay for.

Mark

Just for some additional info I recieved a Reciever sight from Williams today that I ordered for my Winchester new made 1895 in 405 WCF.

Mine is the take down model that was drilled and tapped from the factory.

I am happy to report that the sight fit the rifle with no Drama.

I ordered it direct from Williams, it is the model FP-71.

The Sight Tech guy was very helpful on the phone when I was doing the order.

I will shoot the rifle next week and report back if the factory front sight will work.

I also ordered a cpuple of different diameter aperatures and will be testing them as well.

NE450Num 2
The take down feature makes for easy cleaning of the bore and easy chamber reaming. Should you pursue the 400 grain bullets at a velocity above 2000 fps, I recommend the chamber be reamed as mine was to keep pressures below 50,000 psi. I also am looking into a powder such as VV530 (now they are back in production) to achieve the desired velocity at a reasonable pressure.
Though the TAC was very accurate and burned clean, it required 49,000 psi in my extended chamber to reach 2080 fps with the Woodie 400 grain bullets.
FWIIW, More experienced and knowledgeable ammo persons than I tell me this would have been around 55,000 psi in the factory chamber.
If you decide to go for the fast 400 grain bullet loads, let me know and I can share with you some of the results of my .405 pressure tests.

cr

Thanks for the info. I amn taking the 405 toi Australia in June. I plan on shooting all 300gr bullets. I will take @10 of the North Fork 300gr Softs, and @30 rounds of North Fork FP Solids. I also have some factory Hornady 300gr Softs waiting for me there.
My NF Softs hit the same place at 100 yards as the Hornady factory ammo and I think I can get the FP solids to do so as well.

The factory Hornady 300gr FP Softs clock 2265fps.

My velocities with the NF Softs are 2250fps.

The velocities of the NF solids with the same charge of IMR 3031 as the NF Softs was 2244fps for the one I fired over the crono.

My loads are not what I would consider Hot...

Also, instead of putting a folding sight in the original dovetail, I am going to just get a second Williams Reciever sight.
The measurements I made indicate the folding sight might be visible in the bottom of the peep and be a distraction.
[Same reason I like folding sights on an AR so they are NOT visible when using a red dot.]

I am also going to get a couple of extra front sights and the pins that hold them in place.

On a long far away trip I always carry a spare scope, so I also like to having a spare set of iron sights for this rifle.

Oh, man, I've got to find and re-read your hunt report CR! Tony, can't wait for yours when you get home from Australia.

Ordered dies, some .413 gas-checked flatpoints and a FP71 from Buffalo Arms. Found a box of brass at a small shop here. If my rifle ships today from Wisconsin, I should be up and running by the weekend. Really looking forward to this .405 adventure.
Jim: Sending you a PM for details on your Mountain Molds mold.

Hunting Africa with an 1895 in .405 is simply classic. My kudos to you, my friend. Good shooting, and I'll be following along with this thread.

Brandon

I've shot enough buffalo with the 450-400 both 3" and 3/1/4" to say without hesitation that your buffalo ready..Mostly I loaded my 450-400s at 2125 FPS so your real close and good to go. I'll guarantee that!

Giving some thought to using my .405 on an upcoming bison hunt. Anyone have any feedback with the Barnes TSX on critters?

I took my Asian Water buffalo with my .405 and 300 grain North Fork CPS bullets. It was very effective.

A friend used his .405 and my hand loaded North Fork FPS for his bison and it did the job.

Another friend used my 1895 .405 rifle and my hand loaded .400 grain Woodleigh PSP on a BIG Asian buff bull and it did the job.

Surely the Barnes bullets are up to the task.

crshelton:a couple months ago i bought a nib winchester 405 made by miroku.it is a takedown model.i have purchased everything i need to reload it except a case holder from wilson.also have some factory ammo.but i have never fired the rifle because i sent it off to turnbull to have the safety removed a recoil pad installed new front sight to match a williams fp receiver sight and original winchester red finish.one reason i bought a takedown model is for ease of cleaning and transporting but many say that using that takedown feature will result in the rifle eventually becomming loose and a resulting accuracy loss.or that taking down the rifle will alter the zero of the rifle.having never owned a takedown rifle i dont know so what does everyone think about this or what is someones experience with this.thanks john

The Win 95 takedown mechanism has a built in feature that adjust for wear. It can be adjusted to remove all looseness between the two halves.

As for zero retention, well it is not a varmint rifle with a 32x scope, so your expectations for accuracy should be adjusted accordingly. Plus you can leave the barrel sight on or get a folding one, so that you can look through your peep and insure the alignment is correct. That is what I do.

What dieselten said +1.
My 1895 .405 TD has the feature to avoid loosness in the TD. However, I wonder how many thousand times the rifle would have to be taken down in order to wear the metal surfaces? Mine show no surface wear, so the TD will likely outlive me(I do show a little wear here and there).
Some folks that have not owned TD rifles (my 1886 45-90 and a couple of .22s are TD also) seem to believe that they are not accurate; not so for mine.
I think the 1895 .405 is a hoot to shoot factory ammo standing, but heavy loads can become tiresome if shooting from a bench rest.
If you decide to load heavies (350-400 grain bullets) above 2000 fps, let me know and we can share notes.

crshelton thanks for the offer to help on 350-400 grain bullets.to accept the longer bullets how much does the chamber need to be reamed out.i ask turnbull about it and they said they dont like to do it but mabey would ream it just a few thousands.thanks john

EHSA,
From above_

NE450No2, In order:
1. The chamber was lengthend a few thousandth so the crimped Woodleigh dummy cartridge would not engage the rifling.
2. 54 grains of TAC has a very low deviation. The reference load was 53.5 grains TAC and at 55 grains I think there were signs pf possible pressure and deviation increased.
3. No trimming, just used new Hornady brass and crimp both Weldcore softs and solids at crimping groove.
=====================================

I asked my gun smith to ream out the chamber so as to provide 20 to 30 thousandths clearance between the dummy round bullet and the rifling. After considerable research, this seemed OK for solid bullets launched under high pressure.
Therefore, you could make up dummy rounds for any bullets you wish to use and ream the chamber to accommodate the one that is most likely to touch the rifling; that would suffice to work for all the bullets.
You will see that even that small amount of reaming lowers pressures measurable without adverse effect on the velocity and accuracy of 210 or 300 grain bullets.

PS When you exceed the maximum COL, you limit the number of longer rounds you can load in the 1895 magazine. My DG loading routine is to first load down two 300 grain NF FPS, then two 400 grain Woodies crimped at the cannelure, and then one 400 in the chamber; = 5 rounds of very serious firepower.

To be sure, the 300 grain premium bullets such a NF and Barnes loaded to 2250 or higher are adequate for most critters. I went through the 400 grain Woodie project to equal the 450-400 performance and because it provided me a rifle that would accurately shoot bullets from 210 to 400 grains- great flexibility in a big bore lever action.
PPS I did load and fire Hornady and Woodie 400 grain bullets BEFORE reaming the chamber, but not at the velocities as after the reaming. If you decide to proceed with shooting 400 grain bullets at 2000 fps, I will can email to you the results of pressure charts on a few bullet weights and this should convince you NOT to push the upper limits with a standard chamber. oreaming

I would like to install a front sight with a slightly larger bead. Any suggestions on where to find one?

Would also like to find a dovetail slot filler for the rear sight since I removed it as the rifle has a Williams receiver sight on it.

Snow,
No help on the bead as I kept mine and it works fine for me with my Williams receiver sight.

You might consider a Marbles folding barrel sight; that works well on my 1886 with a Marbles tang peep.